Suzirya The Anniversary Show 2015

Do you miss the adrenaline rush, the dancer habits, the chaos of rehearsal schedules, the escapism through physical engagement in dance, your former flexibility,the costumes, stage makeup, pounding dance music, and trusting friendships of your dancing days?  If even one of these applies to you then you have to hurry and get your tickets!

In just over a week, Suzirya will be pulling out all the stops to celebrate their 10th Anniversary Show! I imagine Serhiy and the dancers will be beaming with exhilaration! Tickets are still available! Come and join Suzirya and special guests, the Barvinok Ukrainian Dance Society, the Yalenka Ukrainian Dancers Society and theKorinnya Ukrainian Folk Ensemble as they celebrate 10 years of Ukrainian dance in Calgary!

Date: Sunday, May 17, 2015 @ 7:30 pm

Location: Martha Cohen Theatre (220 9 Ave. SE, Calgary, AB)

Tickets are available through the Arts Commons website (https://shop.artscommons.ca/single/SYOS.aspx?p=8649) or at the Arts Commons Box Office (Centre Court at 225 8 Ave. SE, Calgary, AB).

Korinnya 2014 Sing Requiem Song "Zhuravli"

The perfectly blended sounds of the chamber choir size Korinnya Choir of Calgary 2014 performed beautifully at Calgary's well attended, and excellently organized Annual Holodomor Commemoration on Saturday, November 22, 2014. It takes a talented group to delicately yet effectively communicate the solemn sentiment embedded in the famous requiem song ‘Zhuravli’ (Cranes) by Bohdan Lepky, composed by his brother, Lev Lepky.

Hey, do you hear my brother?, my friend?,
Hear the sound of the cranes as they make their lacy grey passage into the world.

Refrain:
Calling "Kroo, Kroo, Kroo! ,oh to die in a foreign country,
But before I cross the ocean sea, with my wings I will wipe the tears.

Shimmering, blinking eyes seek the infinite path
As the grey mist obliterates, the fading, traces of the cranes.

In Western Ukraine, as early as 1894, a growing national consciousness among Ukrainians was stimulating much thinking, and community solidarity. A generation or so after serfdom was abolished the common people were aspiring to more than a subsistence living. Among the developments of the age was a fitness and firefighting organization called Sich rejuvenating the ideas of the Cossack Zaporozhian era. Many parallel community groups organized including women's groups training for nursing, community newspapers, and by the start of WW1 there were at least 2000 such groups. The enthusiasts coalesced around the idea of a legitimate scouting movement, and soon organizations called Sich, Sokil and Plast took shape. Each group was fostering their variant on the standard scouting curriculum through the lens of national patriotism - to love/serve God and one's people. Branches formed in villages and towns, and when WW1 arrived the young scouts heard the call to duty and many joined the liberation movement.

And a hundred years after the formation of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, Українські cічові стрільці, Ukraїnski sichovi stril’tsi, so appropriate to hear the Requiem Song that continues to tug on the heartstrings of so many. Thanks, Korinnya!

Calgarians Remember 2014

Calgary's Ukrainian community gathered Saturday afternoon, November 22, 2014 for its annual Holodomor Commemoration. The warm embrace of friends, familiar faces, all drawn like moths to a flame, to the flame of remembrance.

The Calgary Branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress hosted a Prayerful Memorial Panachyda with the participation of local clergy, Korinnya Ukrainian Ensemble raised their voices in the soulful remembrance of The Cranes (Zhuravli), Ukrainian Youth read poems, sang and hung images of Holodomor victims, contemplative of past days and the world to come. Calgary mezzo soprano Stephania Romaniuk and Cellist (?) performed a beautiful, newly composed lyric piece in honor of the Holodomor.  then Mr. Bohdan Romaniuk spoke eloquently about the causes of the Holodomor, as a precursor to today's events in Ukraine, and Calgary Conservative MP Rob Anders, incredulous at the sheer horror of the facts he was speaking, shared his empathy and humanity with the assembly.  Thanks to the many contributors, UCC Calgary's program today held the listeners spellbound with respect and deeply felt emotion. Diakuyemo!!

Participants could not help to be moved by the speakers, the presentations today.

Among the participants today, an extremely well informed gentleman waited the opportunity to share his passionate concern to educate and inform anyone within hearing distance about Ukraine and Ukrainians. Today, Mr. Mykola Woron held a remarkable and rare book, released from a Soviet era publishing house in 1991 - Kyiv, the year Ukraine gained its Independence from the USSR, about the Holodomor, written by two authors who were thereafter "removed" by the authorities. Mr. Woron believes the second author,  Manyak V.A is buried in Kyiv. The masterwork of Mr. Woron's life is the Library at St. Vladimir Ukrainian Cultural Centre, a resource about all things Ukrainian!  Time to visit the library!  "Learn, my friends!  Think and read......."

 photos courtesy of Olena Pavlyshyna 2014

Kerby Centre Malanka 2014

Malanka
http://www.artbylarisa.com/

Sending the old year packing, and embracing the changes coming in the new year, Calgary's Kerby Centre is inviting seniors to MALANKA 2014!

MALANKA is the Ukrainian folk holiday celebrated in accordance with the Julian calendar, to welcome the new year.  Across North America, some MALANKA events focus on the traditional ancestral ways of Ukrainians, imbued with rich wisdom, filled with symbols, and images.  Tenaciously and precariously pitched between the old and new times, the Ukrainian New Year MALANKA is conceptually a treasure chest full of folk strategies for life enhancement, so good may ultimately conquer evil, paving the way for peace, good health and prosperity in the new times ahead.  Cold winter nights may be ripe for pondering, but Malanka isn't just an excuse to party, it is part of the ancestral lifestyle to create community together!  Of course, a modern-day Malanka function tends to embrace the social fashions of the day, frequently a New Year's banquet and dance with lovely entertainment of a cultural flair.   

The Kerby Centre's very enthusiastically received Ukrainian New Year's MALANKA 2013 celebration, has encouraged the leadership there to do it again! This year's KERBY CENTRE MALANKA 2014 is being held on January 21, 2014 - it's time to get your tickets!

KERBY CENTRE MALANKA 2014 will again showcase Ukrainian food (pyrohy, holubtsi, kovbasa and a sweet), dancing and music with the talented dedicated people from Suzirya Ukrainian Dance Theatre and Korinnya Ukrainian Folk Ensemble as ambassadors of Ukraine's great cultural traditions. The Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Calgary Branch (located at 404 Meredith Road NE Calgary) will provide cultural artifacts to enhance the traditional ambiance required of this important MALANKA event!

Located in the heart of Calgary, the Kerby Centre is an agency committed to enhancing the lives of seniors through education and recreation. MALANKA 2014 at the KERBY CENTRE is very soon, so it is important for families to pre-register their requests early to reserve a spot. Call 403-705-3233. For more information call 403.265.0661 or visit 1133-7th Ave. S.W.,  Calgary, Alberta. 

Christmas Carol Festival 2013 Calgary

Every year Canadians of Ukrainian ancestry face the same dilemma.  One Christmas, two Christmases?  The Canadian calendar places the feast day on December 25th, but the church calendar of ancestral tradition places Rizdvo - the Nativity of Christ, on January 7th.  And each year we say we're going to cut back, simplify, to have a family Christmas that focuses on the real reason for the season.  But every year we fall under the spell of commercialism,  the advertisement, the need to indulge, even though the heart yearns for something sacred, for something more peaceful and true.  Something of depth, of wisdom, and of ancestral significance, in the language of familial homeland somehow just fills the spirit in deep places you didn't even know you had, until it is filled.  That is the koliada of the ancient Ukrainian tradition.  

This Nativity season, try to cut through the hype, leave behind the things that exhaust you, and make you broke.  Instead, try to experience the joy of common truths, of community, of togetherness and understanding.  Cultivate a different kind of Christmas - and this year join the Ukrainian community of Calgary in its Ukrainian Annual Festival of Carols, the celebration of Ukrainian Christmas Carols!

You will hear the charming voices of Korinnya Ukrainian Choir, of Ukrainian school children, of perhaps a bandura player or two.  And your heart will melt in a feeling of peace, togetherness and understanding. 

The annual Calgary Ukrainian Festival of Carols 2013 will be held on Sunday, December 8, at 7:00 pm  at the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at 704 6 Street NE, Calgary, Alberta.  

And for samples from last year's Ukrainian Festival of Carols 2012, check these links.

Iryna Kalinovich performs bandura Спи, Ісусе- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jonIBJFbds

Calgary Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Choir performs Bethlehem Rejoice (in Ukrainian) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBvArPHZJZg

Calgary's St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Orthodox Church Choir performs Proclaiming Joy (in Ukrainian) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqpTCMhUYgY

Don't you just wonder what beautiful Ukrainian Christmas sounds you will hear this year?

Standing in Solidarity - Calgary EuroMaidan Євромайдан

It has been a particularly busy Ukrainian Calgary weekend; warm, satisfying, thoroughly moving, and an indication of the values retained by Canadians of Ukrainian decent here on the western prairies of Canada. 

Filling St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Cultural Centre upper hall, Saturday's Commemoration of the Holodomor began with the singing of Otche Nash by Korinnya Choir, conducted by Iryna Kalynovich.  Then the Ukrainian clergy of Calgary led the Panachyda/Requiem.  Korinnya then sang the traditional Song of the Cranes, a song of farewell.  Dr. Bohdan Klid spoke about the intense academic and research work being conducted worldwide in regards to the truths hidden in documents only recently available to the public!  Very special guests Spiritus Chamber Choir of Calgary performed the Ukrainian Requiem for the Holodomor,as composed by Roman Hurko, with amazing bass-baritone soloist Paul Grindlay intoning the priest's part, conducted by Tim Shantz.  Svitanok, a girls singing group performed a couple of beautiful pieces. Then a dramatic reading/presentation involving the young people of CYM Ukrainian association was followed by a communal singing of Vichnaya Pamyat' - Eternal Memory.   

To a person, the community was very focused, still and extremely attentive to the program.  Appreciative of the great effort, love and care taken by the program participants in preparing for this important commemoration, comments included, "tremendous!", "so thankful to have been here", "what an important community connection we have here", "these are the best people!" Many, many were especially thankful for the deeply moving singing of the Requiem by Spiritus, an English speaking, Canadian choir.  It was an important day to honour the memory of the Holodomor victims in a quest to sensitize people to the lessons in world history.  May we never forget, and may the world be protected from such horrendous cruelty!  Never again!

Ukrainian churches across Calgary served memorial requiem Panachyda prayers Sunday morning. 
And on Sunday night in peaceful solidarity with thousands of Ukrainians across Ukraine, Canada and the world, about a hundred Calgarians gathered at Olympic Square across from City Hall for Calgary's EuroMaidan, Євромайдан, Showing their solidarity with the 100,000 (in Kyiv alone!) Calgarians voiced their concern for Ukraine's disengagement with their landmark opportunity for association with the European Union. Singing anthems, hymns, and joining together in common support for Ukrainian aspirations to European democratic values, and economic opportunity, these are Canadians of merit and principle!  

Together, we are many!  This weekend in particular, those of us with ancestry in another land, far away, were intensely thankful for our Canadian way of life! Appreciative, and aware that people in other lands aspire to such opportunities and privileges, we stood together in solidarity! 

To hear Korinnya check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR1e83UfIGU&feature=youtube_gdata 
And for a melodic reminder of how long Ukrainians have carried these ancestral aspirations check here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E09kWXwsEj8  for

Боже Великий Єдиний (God Great One) - spiritual anthem of Ukraine

ps proud to say Calgary was only one of the 92 ( to date ) EuroMaidan events!
check the map here https://a.tiles.mapbox.com/v3/euromaidanmap.gccpeja0/page.html#4/50.82/44.47

Happiness is Singing in Korinnya Choir

Happiness is Singing in Korinnya Choir
http://www.korinnya.com/

Making music is one of the special human talents that persists across cultures, languages and through space and time. Researchers are beginning to confirm that music making may actually be a necessity of life, perhaps even a self-medicating process. There is recognition that listening to music, passive participation, gets more dopamine to the brain's pleasure spots. I have heard that music activates, stimulates and lights up the entire brain!

Active listening enhances hearing, a good thought that could help prevent age-related hearing loss. Active singing makes the speech process more effective too. And it has been proven that children who have musical training show increases in IQ, memory and verbal skills, too. Singing augments and sustains speaking.  When the beat, the rhythm and lyrics synchronize, and others hear, focus, listen actively and join in, there is learning.  All that curiosity about how to fit together helps develop empathy, anticipation, and intuition.  Solving the puzzle of what will happen next in the music makes a person feel positive, enthusiastic, confident and alert!  Singing takes focused breathing which takes discipline and increases aerobic strength. Your immune system and hormone responses are more healthy after singing too!Music making is like playing a game, and the brain actually lights up with delight!

Korinnya 2013

Even singing nonsense words, or snippets of songs from a deep place of memory can induce a health enhancing mystical, stress releasing reverie.  Music making breaches the uncomfortable chasm of social and emotional distance between humans and makes us more resilient!

No doubt your personal instrument is simply waiting for an invitation  - so while you ponder, put a bunch of Ukrainian Youtube karaoke videos on your playlist and make music! And for an enhanced feeling of belonging to a great group, that embraces the Ukrainian idea here in Calgary - Korinnya Ukrainian Folk Ensemble is inviting you!

Rehearsals take place on Monday evenings at the CYM Hall at 924 Edmonton Trail NE, but for more information check at info@korinnya.com or 403-283-7663.

New Musical Director for Calgary's Korinnya Ensemble

Exciting news for Calgary's choral music scene!  Korinnya Ukrainian Folk Ensemble has recently welcomed its New Musical Director, Iryna Kalinovich (Melnyk).  Ms. Kalinovich, formerly  of Lviv, Western Ukraine brings a wealth of music expertise to Korinnya, for many years Calgary's only Ukrainian folk choir and ensemble. With an extensive performance background in voice, and specialist at the string instrument, the bandura, she is a graduate of the S. Lyudkevych State Music College in Lviv, as well as the M. Lysenko National Music Academy in Lviv.  Musical Director of Soli Deo Choir of Lviv, Ms. Kalinovich led  performances for audiences in many European countries, and recording three CD's over the course of 6 tears tenure with the choir.

Korinnya welcomed Ms. Kalinovich in spring 2013, thrilled to again make wonderful sounds as an ensemble. Korinnya is a mixed voice chorus originally founded in Calgary some 25 or more years ago.  Audience pleasing performances of Ukrainian folk music, carols, anthems and songs from Ukraine's cultural treasure chest formed the repertoire under Cathy Klopoushak-Lebedovich, founder and artistic director of many years.

Looking forward to hearing Korinnya again, with its new maestro? Intrigued by the new opportunities for Calgary's choral music scene?  Calgary may glimpse the new baton in action at Calgary's Ukrainian Festival on June1-2, 2013.  See you there!

For more information check calgaryukrainianfestival.ca  and www.korinnya.com.

Korinnya Ukrainian Folk Ensemble Gearing Up

2011-2012

Korinnya choir is commencing their fall season with rehearsals on the second Monday of each month, beginning on November 12, 2012.  To join this enthusiastic group and participate in Calgary's Ukrainian Folk Choir - Korinnya, contact info@korinnya.com

For more information contact the group President, Marcia Maluta, at mmaluta@hotmail.com.
 

Musical Director Position in Calgary

Korinnya Ukrainian Folk Ensemble is currently accepting applications for Musical Director.  Korinnya has been entertaining Calgary audiences since 1993.
Korinnya is a dynamic choral folk ensemble with a mission to cultivate, educate and promote Ukrainian folk music to the people of Calgary and beyond.  Dedicated in service to the choristers, the Musical Director director will confidently lead the choir with vision and creative energy to deliver the mission and mandate of Korinnya Ukrainian Folk Ensemble. 

Required qualifications for Musical Director include:

• choral conducting experience
• Ukrainian language proficiency, and
• a love of Ukrainian folk music

Deadline for applications is August 15, 2012.  For more information, or to apply, please contact Marcia Maluta, Chairperson, Ukrainian Folk Ensemble Society at mmaluta@hotmail.com.

For more information or to join Korinnya, please visit www.korinnya.com.