"Had the program ended after these five short, consonant works, it would have been a forgettable evening. Fortunately, for the last 20 minutes of the program Ukrainian composer/vocalist/harmonium player Mariana Sadovska joined Kronos in a riveting performance of her Chernobyl.The Harvest, a piece that, at last, made an impact.
With a richly complex text that intermixes fragments from the official announcement of the evacuation plan with traditional widow songs and lullabies, Sadovska’s work reflects on the Chernobyl disaster and the resiliency of survivors. Much of the piece — the driving post-minimalist string passages, the harmonium’s droning like radio static — evokes industry, yet there are also mournful melodies, including a particularly moving viola-voice duet in the first movement.
Sadovska has described herself as “more a singing storyteller than a composer,” and Chernobyl.The Harvest is less a chamber work than a monodrama, immersive as a story and large in scope. Sadovska is a nuanced and emotive performer who, despite singing in a language few San Francisco audience members understand, commands the stage. If her performance at times grew extravagant, it at least had a strong point of view, taking the risks that were so lacking in the first part of the program. This was a souvenir worth keeping" https://www.sfcv.org/articles/review/only-risk-rewards-kronos-festival