World-renowned bass-baritone Pavlo Hunka will perform live on Classical 96.3 FM on Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 3:20 PM ET. Be sure to tune in to Classical 96.3 FM in the Toronto broadcast area to listen to Hunka's live interview with host Alexa Petrenko, and enjoy a short program of classical Art Songs by the eminent 19th-century Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko, which are currently being recorded at the Glenn Gould Studio and scheduled for release on CD next spring.

Internationally acclaimed Hunka has performed in more than 70 operas, including 45 major operatic roles in many of the worlds leading opera houses. He debuted with the Canadian Opera Company in 2004, singing the title role of Giuseppe Verdis Falstaff and in the role of Hunding in Richard Wagners Die Walkére. Hunkas performance this season with the COC as Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande was hailed as magisterial & perhaps the most dramatically complex and moving portrayal of all.

Hunka is the artistic director of the Ukrainian Art Song Project, which aims to produce a comprehensive CD anthology of Art Songs by Ukrainian composers for dissemination throughout the music world, which knows little about these classical European works. Along with Hunka, featured on the Lysenko CD (the second in the series) are several acclaimed vocalists and instrumentalists, including Isabel Bayrakdarian, Russell Braun, Monica Whicher, and Kristina Szabó. During Thursday's 20-minute live broadcast, Hunka will be accompanied by pianist Albert Krywolt, one of Canada's foremost opera musicians and chief coach for the COC. The broadcast will be videotaped and posted for viewing at http://www.classical963fm.com under the video link.