Conducting Workshop 2015

Recently I spoke with a group of young people who noticed the cherubim and seraphim angels in the church - many winged, many eyes, but no body.  What job do they have?  To sing!  Simply to sing to the heavens!

Anyone who can breathe can sing, and should!  But joining voices together in community - well that takes talent and training!  So it is tremendously opportune that the Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta is again hosting a Choral Conductor's Seminar! The treasury of choral music, the synergy of voices energized to with purpose - well that is a classy combination - don't you think!.

As a chorister, an aspiring musician, an instrumentalist who admires the human voice - what greater treasure can there be than to develop the skill to lead - to conduct - to blaze trail and shape the voices that "simply sing!"

Please share this invitation widely, the Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta has a great reputation for quality, and so have the esteemed instructors of this valuable course - an equal opportunity for all!  

Ukraine: Sacred Choral Concerti - Calgary - September 27th and 29th, 2013

For over 200 years, a veritable musical treasure, composer Artem Vedel's original manuscripts of liturgical and concerti gathered dust in various museums and libraries. Priceless, yet inaccessible, the true value of this musical legacy was hidden from view.  This horrendous silence was exacerbated by intentional destruction, "editorial correction", and "fixing" by "imperial admirers".  Yet in 2000 the first complete published edition of the autograph manuscript appeared directly as a consequence of the Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta and others, edited by Wolodymyr Kolesnyk (formerly the conductor of the Kyiv Opera) preserving the authenticity of the composers' intent.

Artemi
 Luk'ianovych Vedel' - 1767-1808, was one of Ukraine's most gifted composers privileged to have been able to pursue his musical career in his homeland, unlike many of his peers.  His life coincided with a particularly tragic period in Ukrainian history, the time when Catherine II of Russia destroyed the Hetmanate, the Zaporozhian Sich,  and forced re-enserfment (slavery) of normal people like you and me.  Vedel's life was therefore a never-ending search for truth and justice, which he expressed so eloquently through his captivating contributions to Ukrainian musical culture.

Vedel's style is a synthesis of classic, baroque, and sentimental elements drawn from folk songs, kanti on religious themes, traditional liturgical chant, partesny polyphony, and early classical contemporary practices in Western European music.  One can hear the subtle grace of his contemporaries, Mozart and Haydn, in Vedel's music.  It is organically tied to texts, rhythms, an abundance of melodic invention and sophistication, all requiring considerable vocal skill.   Its artistic merit cannot be denied; the repertoire is innately dramatic, refined, nuanced and expressive.  

Western Canada, it seems, has many admirers of Artem Vedel's works.  Through the forethought of the Ukrainian Millennium Foundation - the group that was formed way back in the 1980's to celebrate the Millennium of Ukrainian Christianity in Edmonton, a special event is in the making. Through their initiative and sponsorship, Calgary's own award winning Spiritus Chamber Choir is blazing a new, visionary path for their first performance of the 2013-14 season.  The ambitious project involves performing several of Artem Vedel's works, in musical juxtaposition with the more recent works of Canadian composer Roman Hurko.

Roman Hurko is a Toronto born (1962) Ukrainian Canadian composer whose works have now been published and recorded to wide international acclaim.  Influenced by his Byzantine Christian ancestry, among Hurko's works are at least three Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrystostom (in English and Ukrainian) and a Panachyda/Requiem for the Victims of Chernobyl (2001), both of which will feature in Calgary's performances at the end of September 2013.  

Spiritus Chamber Choir has had a tremendous artistic trajectory with international recognition and prize winning choral competitions both in France and Canada.  Led by conductor Timothy Shantz, the Calgary ensemble has been winning audiences over for nearly 20 years with a considerable amount of new choral music, commissioned and premiered works, intriguing collaborations, and creative initiatives. Adding to its collection of recordings, Spiritus Chamber Choir's newest ambition to record these and other Ukrainian Sacred Choral Masterpieces is a project which will blossom over the next years.  More news to come on that front!!

Spiritus Chamber Choir's performances of Ukraine: Sacred Choral Concerti is bound to bring great joy and satisfaction to its diverse audience of listeners and admirers.  See you there!

UKRAINE: SACRED CHORAL CONCERTI
(sponsored by the Ukrainian Millennium Foundation)
Friday, September 27, 2013 at 8pm
St. Stephen Protomartyr Ukrainian Catholic Church
4903-45 St. SW, Calgary
TICKETS:
$25 Adults/$20 Students/Seniors
AND
Sunday, September 29, 2013 at 2:30pm
St. Mary’s Cathedral
219 – 18th Ave. SW, Calgary
TICKETS:
$25 Adults/$20 Students & Seniors

Ukrainian Sacred Choral Music in Calgary -September 2013

Spiritus Chamber Choir in Dijon, France

Exciting news for Calgary's choral music lovers - especially those whose tastes lean to the Ukrainian Sacred Choral Music tradition.  Calgary's Spiritus Chamber Choir will be performing a program of all Ukrainian Sacred Choral Music on the last weekend of September this fall 2013!  Their program will present Calgary an excellent opportunity to hear some of the masterpieces of Ukrainian Classical Choral Music - especially the work of Artem Vedel' (1767-1808). 

Spiritus Chamber Choir has earned acclaim as a growing presence in the Canadian choral world, and beyond.  www.spirituschamberchoir.ca With this Ukrainian Sacred Choral Music project, Spiritus Chamber Choir, and Calgary's Luminous Voices, led by Artistic Director Tim Shantz will embark on an exciting journey.

The first complete published edition of the autograph manuscript of Artem Vedel' (1767-1808) was published in 2000 (Kyiv, Edmonton,Toronto).  Edited by Wolodymyr Kolesnyk, the publication credits the Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta, V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine and P. I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine.   An impressive volume, the Divine Liturgy and 12 Sacred Choral Concerti by Artemi Luk'ianovych Vedel'  are considered masterpieces of Ukrainian Classical Choral Music.  ( ISMN N-9001310-0-3)



Father Peter and Tim Shantz
St. Stephen Protomartyr Church

More information to come - but book the last weekend in September 2013 for a wonderful evening of Sacred Ukrainian Choral Music sung by Spiritus Chamber Choir of Calgary.



Choral Conductor's Seminar - Edmonton August 10-18,2013

Spiritus Chamber Choir performed
at the Egllise du Sacre Coeur
in Dijon - acfea.com

I am so excited about another summer full of music! Touring France singing as a member of a chamber choir was great,

but now it's about conducting too! It's going to be another summer gloriously filled with music making! Thanks to the great forethought of the Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta, Edmonton will again play host to another invaluable training program for choral conductors. Forty years of care for the Ukrainian music tradition in Canada has been a great service to the Canadian and Ukrainian choral experience, not to mention the numerous other music genres the society has promoted over the years.


Have to put August 10-18, 2013 on the calendar - those are the dates for this Ukrainian Choral Conductors' Seminar. Seminar work on vocal technique, conducting techniques, cantoring, score analysis, text delivery and diction, secrets of running a rehearsal efficiently, history of Ukrainian choral music, conducting church choirs will be great fun! Canadian and Ukrainian specialists will instruct, among them Prof. Mstyslav Yurchenko, of Kyiv, a specialist in liturgical tradition, (especially of Maksym Berezovsky), and Canadian Maestro Laurence Ewashko of Ottawa. Because Canada has a wealth of talented practitioners the program is certain to draw attention of the experienced and novice to the event. Church and community choir repertoire will be studied, and a seminar choir of local volunteer talent will be engaged.

The venue for this workshop is the ideally located St. John's Institute, Edmonton, just blocks from the University of Alberta and its Fine Arts Building and Music Faculty.

You may not know, but Ukraine's musical tradition is unique in its span of history, cultural, religious, and political perspectives. Many of the artistic treasures are relatively new to Western audiences, with a refreshing sound reflecting musical, linguistic and cultural trends of a truly Ukrainian nature. The new stuff is amazing too!

Thanks to Luba Boyko-Bell for sharing this - call her at 780-469-4890 or at luba.bell@shaw.ca for more information.

Edmonton Shevchenko Event 2013

Can you imagine telling your child, or any child for that matter, to stop being artistic? To stop drawing, to stop painting, to stop versifying?  Can you imagine your child being held in serfdom for years - picking up after the "boss" and polishing shoes, folding undergarments for a grown man?  

This was the experience of the little boy who was Taras Hryhorievych Shevchenko.  Born in 1814, and left an orphan by the early passing of his parents, he was caught in the spiral of serfdom.  He was a slave.  A little boy, a slave.  

In today's terms, his childhood was stolen by a system of serfdom he had no hope of escaping.  But he did.  Moments of benevolent care made it possible for him to draw, to paint, to rhyme - and somehow his brilliance caught the attention of a person who could rescue him from a life of servitude.  

He was bought out of serfdom while a student at the St. Petersburg Academy of Art - a serf under the Russian Empire - freed by friends and patrons who saw the huge potential of his genius.  He was a romantic, reveling in the history and folklore of his ancestry, caught in nostalgia, but urged by contemporary events to a more somber portrayal of Ukrainian History.  For this he was forced into exile and compulsory military service.  His crime?  To write the true stories of his people, he wrote about the relationship of the ruling empire and oppression of the land and people of his ancestry.  

Forbidden to write, what is an artist to do?  Trapped by circumstances, his creative juices treated historical and moral issues which resonate in the Ukrainian world today.  They resonate as human rights issues the world over.  The resonate for women, for children and for politicians.   

The Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress-Edmonton Branch invite you to the Shevchenko Concert on Sunday, March 10 at 2:30 PM at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex, 9615-153 Ave. Edmonton. 

Tickets may be purchased at Ukrainian Social Services - 11717-97 Street or 780-471-4477

Meest - 10834-97 Street - or 780-424-1777

Orbit - 10219-97 Street or 780-422-5693

Ukrainian Christmas Carol Concert - Edmonton

The Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta Українське Музичне Товариство Альберти has been active in areas related to arts and culture since 1984.

The Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta is again inviting the community to a celebration of Ukrainian Carols and Schedrivky -Вечір Колядок і Щедрівок  a Ukrainian Christmas Carol Concert on Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 3:00 PM at St. John's Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, in Edmonton, Alberta.

This is always great event that embraces all the Ukrainian community in prayerful song in celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ! Come, bring your children, and seniors - sing in harmony with the many voiced choir of angels - the Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta invites everyone to attend!

Admission is by donation to "Orphanage Project in Ukraine, care of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada Western Eparchy". This year's event will be hosted by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada Western Eparchy. Remember to stay for the fellowship and post concert refreshments at St. John's Cultural Centre (10951-107 Street Edmonton).

For more information contact Luba Boyko-Bell at 780-469-4890