June 10, 2016

Vesnivka establishes e-Library of Ukrainian Choral Music

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At the reception (from left) are: Luba Czyrsky, Lesia Komorowsky, Halyna Kvitka Kondracki, Walter Korobaylo, Lesia Chyczyj and Renata Roman.

TORONTO – In the spirit of sharing Ukrainian choral music with others, and with a strong commitment to enriching the Ukrainian choral tradition, Vesnivka Choir has established its e-Library of Ukrainian Choral Music. Last fall, the electronic library of Vesnivka’s sheet music first went online in the public domain on its own webpage (www.vesnivka.com/e-Library).

The official launch of the first phase and public presentation of the e-library was hosted by Vesnivka on March 20 at the Canadian Ukrainian Art Gallery in Toronto. This initiative was created as legacy project of Vesnivka’s 50th anniversary and as a gift to all who share the love of singing and Ukrainian choral music.

A screenshot of the webpage of Vesnivka’s e-Library of Ukrainian Choral Music.

A screenshot of the webpage of Vesnivka’s e-Library of Ukrainian Choral Music.

“The project represents a significant milestone for Vesnivka in its mandate of promoting Ukrainian choral music,” said e-library manager and long-time Vesnivka member Lesia Komorowsky. “Vesnivka has an impressive repertoire of Ukrainian classical, folk, contemporary and sacred music in its archives that it wants to share with singers around the world – thus leaving a musical legacy for generations to come.”

Vesnivka’s collection of choral music is vast, numbering well-over 1,000 works written by Ukrainian and Canadian composers of Ukrainian heritage. For the purpose of choral arrangement, some works may have been modified from the original music score. Vesnivka’s sheet music is proprietary. The first phase of Vesnivka’s e-library allows Internet users visiting its webpage unrestricted access to view some 70 works of music online. They may choose to download a copy of the sheet music either in the original Ukrainian or transliterated form in the English alphabet for use by choirs and others interested in performing Ukrainian choral music repertoire. Plans are under way to expand the e-library and eventually make most of the songs from Vesnivka’s archives available online.

The e-library launch program included an attractive, clear and concise educational presentation on the e-library webpage projected live onto a large screen so that the audience could view and follow step-by-step how to search the catalogue from a multiple choice of categories, successfully obtain results, view Vesnivka’s sheet music repertoire, hear recordings and download no-edit sheet copies.

An elegant reception followed allowing ample opportunity for those who wanted to learn more. The afternoon’s classical music entertainment was provided by Halyna Dziuryn on violin and Olga Bileychuk on piano.

Oksana Rewa, past president of the Toronto branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

Nick Parzei

Oksana Rewa, past president of the Toronto branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

This e-Library of Ukrainian Choral Music was made possible with funding received at the XXIV triennial Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) in November 2013 as the result of a successful business case “pitch” made by the Vesnivka team to the following “Ukrainian Dragons”: Borys Chabursky, Ian Ihnatowycz, John Iwaniura, Nadia Jacyk, Eugene Melnyk and James Temerty.

Recognition and remarks on the significance of Vesnivka’s e-library project were expressed at the launch by UCC National First Vice-President Renata Roman (who spoke also on behalf of the Ukrainian Dragons), and by Oksana Rewa, past president of the UCC’s Toronto branch.

Vesnivka acknowledged the contributions of the following people to the initial development of the e-library: Luba Czyrsky, Myroslava Diakun, Joanna Fuke, Lesia Komorowsky, Halyna Kvitka Kondracki, Talia Lysiak, Nykola Parzei, Christina Sokulsky, Nadia Saragosa and Andriy Kudla Wynnyckyj, with special thanks to Walter Korobaylo.

For more information on Vesnivka, contacts and the e-library, readers may visit  www.vesnivka.com.

An earlier version of this article was published in the Toronto-based newspaper New Pathway.

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