WASHINGTON – Choral music lovers in this area received a very welcome present from the Kyiv Chamber Choir on November 6 at the National City Christian Church: an emotionally and artistically moving concert of Ukrainian sacred and folk music.
This was the last of nine concerts on the Ukrainian choir’s 10-day 2016 “Sounds of Ukraine” tour that began October 28 in Chicago and continued through Cleveland, Toronto, Rochester, Hartford, Boston, New York and Philadelphia.
Under the direction of its founder and conductor Mykola Hobdych, the 21-member choir (10 women and 11 men) began their concert here dressed in formal attire, singing eight examples of some of the finest Ukrainian sacred music, among them medieval chants, like “Blessed is the Man” from the Kyiv Pechershka Lavra; classical period compositions, such as Maksym Berezovsky’s “I will sing of your love and justice, o Lord,” Dmytro Bortniansky’s “Glory to the Father and the Son”; and, before breaking for intermission, a few more-contemporary compositions, among them Valentyn Sylvestrov’s “Three Sacred Songs” and Petro Turchani-nov’s “God Is with Us.”
Dressed in modernistic Ukrainian embroidered attire, members of the Ukrainian Chamber Choir sing Ukrainian folk music, in this instance with a sopilka flute accompaniment.
The second half of the program was completely different, as was the choir members’ clothing, changed from formal to a modernistic Ukrainian embroidered attire when they walked back in front of the church to perform, this time without their conductor.
The second half was devoted completely to Ukrainian folk music, as arranged by 10 contemporary Ukrainian composers, among them Hanna Havrylets, Ivan Nebesny and Volodymyr Zubytsky.
And the Kyiv Chamber Choir’s performance was as contemporary as the music itself: singing without their conductor, with all the songs blending together without any pauses for audience applause and with the choreographed and animated movement of sections of the choir on, off and around the stage as they sang. Some of the choristers also provided instrumental accompaniment on sopilka flutes and some small percussion instruments.
After the long-lasting standing ovation from the audience, the members of the choir were pressed to quickly change and pack their clothes, board their bus, which – on the way to the airport for their flight back to Europe – stopped at the Ukrainian Holodo-mor Memorial so that they could participate and sing at the commemoration of the first anniversary of the memorial’s dedication.
Having switched from their formal wear to a modernistic Ukrainian embroidered attire for the second half of the concert, the Ukrainian Chamber Choir sings Ukrainian folk music.
This was the Kyiv Chamber Choir’s third visit and performance in Washington since Mr. Hobdych established the choir in 1991.
On its debut tour of the United States in December of 1997, the choir got American audiences acquainted with the best of Ukrainian ecclesiastical and Christmas music. While in Washington, it sang Ukrainian carols at the White House, and baroque and contemporary Ukrainian religious masterpieces at the National Cathedral; the choir combined both programs before a massive audience at the George Mason University Center for the Arts.
A similar, pre-Christmas tour and performance in Washington was repeated in early December of 2012 at the National Presbyterian Church.
This year’s tour was organized by Platinum Concerts International.