Olyphant choir brings concerts of liturgical music to New York state (11/07/99)

Olyphant choir brings concerts of liturgical music to New York state

by Jessica Kollar

OLYPHANT, Pa. - The Ukrainian Catholic Choir of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Church recently traveled from Olyphant to New York State to perform several concerts.

First disembarking at Johnson City, at Sacred Heart Parish, the choir sang the responses to the August 15 divine liturgy celebrated by the Rev. Ivan Mazuryk.

Afterwards the choir was treated to a hospitality breakfast by the parish before proceeding on its "cultural voyage" to yet another New York locality, Elmira Heights. There the choir performed a two-part concert at the Arnot Museum, then hosting a 200-photo exhibit depicting modern-day Ukraine by the renowned photographer Wilton S. Tifft.

The first part of this concert consisted of pure sacred liturgical pieces, again in Church Slavonic, and a cappella, as in the tradition of the Eastern Church musical instruments are never used in religious services. This centuries-old expulsion of musical instruments had a great influence upon the choral music development of Eastern countries, evident to this day in choral renditions of sacred pieces by such noted composers as Nedilsky, Vedel and Verbytsky.

American-born and English-speaking, members of the choir capture this Eastern-European essence profoundly. Indeed, upon examining their printed music, one soon discovers it is written in the Cyrillic alphabet. And, while transliterations are available, the Cyrillic format is preferred and used by a large percentage of the choir, even its younger members.

This dedication is traced to their love and loyalty to their own parish's patron saints, Ss. Cyril and Methodius, two 9th century brothers who developed the Cyrillic alphabet and codified the now-obsolete language of Church Slavonic in order to bring the Holy Scripture to the then-pagan Eastern countries. Church Slavonic later evolved into modern-day Ukrainian and Russian, but at one time was the principal literary language of the Kyivan state, particularly in the 18th century, when most of the choir's music was composed.

For the past 12 years the choir has been directed by the distinguished master, Patrick J. Marcinko II. Maestro Marcinko joked with the audience: "This choir is over 100 years old, and as you can see, they still look pretty good!" Not only has the conductor's baton changed hands over the years, but choir members have come and gone likewise - transitions that brought the choir to its current state with members as American as apple pie ... except when they perform.

And despite the conductor's pleas to the audience not to applaud the liturgical works, some concert-goers could not resist. Said one choir member, "Although I did not look at my music much, but concentrated on our conductor's movements, I could not help but notice a sea of smiling faces in the audience beyond him. They were truly enjoying our music!"

For the second part of the concert, the choir presented vibrant, lively secular ballads and marches in the Ukrainian language, including a rendition about Ukraine's national folk instrument, the bandura, featuring bass-baritone soloist Gene Maslar.

The choir also presented a special arrangement by the conductor, a fusion of the Ukrainian national anthem with strains of the American national anthem, in which one could hear alternating soprano and tenor voices singing "O say, can you see" and "the rockets' red glare" amid the marching Ukrainian lyrics. This closing piece brought the audience to its feet.

The choir's members are from Scranton, but their forebears, who came to work in the Anthracite capital of the world, are from many foreign lands - primarily from Ukraine, but there are also Irish, Italian, Polish and Slovak progeny.

The choir's mission is to perpetuate the Church Slavonic a cappella tradition, primarily through pilgrimages to early Ukrainian Catholic churches in America, and to reintroduce it to areas where it has succumbed to the English vernacular. Already, the choir has performed at the oldest parish of its kind, St. Michael's in Shenandoah, Pa. They traveled to Washington, to the National Shrine of the Holy Family, in the autumn of 1997 and also twice visited Toronto.

Through fund-raising and sales of its audio and video tapes, the choir continues its pilgrimage each year to bring the divine liturgy to its sister parishes in this original, virtually obsolete format, proving that the Ukrainian Catholic Church not only survived in the underground, behind the Iron Curtain, where it was deemed illegal, but here on the American soil as well, where it faces other, more obscure adversaries.

Respect for the patron saints and the consciousness of the sufferings and sacrifices of the parish's early pioneers prevails, thus motivating this choir to do what it does best, sing in the language of the "Doctors of the Slavs," Ss. Cyril and Methodius.

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