Pitt to Sponsor Twelfth Annual Slovak Heritage Festival

October 22, 2002

PITTSBURGH––The twelfth annual Slovak Heritage Festival, featuring Slovak song and dance performances and educational lectures and displays, will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Nov. 3 at the University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Avenue, in Oakland.

This year's free event will include a 1:20 p.m. lecture by Lisa Alzo, author of "Three Slovak Women: Telling the Story of One Slovak-American Family Using Oral and Social History"; a 2:15 p.m. talk by Robert Carl Metil titled "Pride Breeds Passion: Romas, Racism, and Music in Eastern Slovakia"; and a 3:15 p.m. presentation by Helene Cincebeaux titled "More Treasures of Slovakia." The lectures will be held in Room 139 of the Cathedral of Learning.

Artists from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Slovakia will perform traditional Slovak songs and dances in the Cathedral's Commons Room. Vendors will offer ethnic foods, pastries, and imported Slovakian folk art, music, dictionaries, books, and Christmas ornaments. A complete schedule is included.

Alzo grew up in Duquesne, Pa. She received the Bachelor of Science degree in nutrition from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1987 and the Master of Fine Arts degree in nonfiction writing from the University of Pittsburgh in 1997. A resident of Ithaca, N.Y., Alzo works as an editorial assistant at Cornell University. She also is an instructor of genealogy and family history courses. She has been invited to speak for several genealogical conventions and historical societies.

Metil, who earned the Ph.D. degree in ethnomusicology at Pitt in 1999, conducted research in Slovakia, living there for two years beginning in 1980. The Washington, D.C.-based International Research and Exchanges Board, established in 1958, twice awarded Metil research grants to study in Slovakia. He is a founding member of the Study Group on Music and Minorities in the International Council for Traditional Music, part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

Cincebeaux has visited countless villages in Slovakia to gather information about Slovak history, customs, and folklore. During her talk, she will display a collection of Slovak folk dress. Cincebeaux and her mother, Helen Zemek Baine, are the founders of the Slovak Heritage and Folklore Society International, a group with more than 1,500 members. Cincebeaux is the editor of Slovakia, the society's quarterly newsletter and has published articles about Slovak folk dress, folk art, travel, and genealogy. Cincebeaux and Baine published "Treasures of Slovakia," a book with 100 color photographs from Slovakia.

MUSICAL PERFORMERS

1:15 p.m.

PAS (Pittsburgh Area Slovaks)—a folk song and dance ensemble, of adults and children, directed by John and Angela Jumba Lipchick and dedicated to the preservation of Slovak folk music and dance.

1:45 p.m.

Lucina—a folk ensemble from Cleveland directed by Michael Anderko. Lucina has performed throughout the East, the Midwest, and Canada—and in Slovakia, during the famous Detva and Vychodna Folk Festivals.

2 p.m.

Jerry Jumba and Friends in a medley of Slovak songs and musical numbers. Jumba has been involved in Slovak folk music and culture since 1968. He served as an accompanist to Pittsburgh Slovak performer Roman Niznik, and as a choreographer for both the PAS and Pittsburgh Slovakians folk ensemble.

2:45 p.m.

Lucina

3 p.m.

The Pittsburgh Slovakians and Pittsburgh Jr. Slovakians—Founded in 1955 by Roman Niznik, the singing group has spread its Slovak heritage throughout Pittsburgh and beyond. Under the direction of Sue and Rudy Ondrejco, the group's songs and dances rekindle for many the feeling of "the Old Country." The Ondrejcos are the hosts of the Slovak Radio Program, which airs at 3 p.m. Sundays on WPIT.

4 p.m.

Slovak sing-along

Pitt's Slovak Studies Program and the Pitt Students' Slovak Club are cosponsors of the festival. For more information, call 412/624-5906.

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