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!  

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.