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Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton

 

The Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton was formed in 1984, and for twenty five years has pursued the objective of developing, promoting, and fostering a greater appreciation of the traditions of Ukrainian choral singing. The chorus has performed extensively throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and sang for the President of Ukraine during his visit to Edmonton in 1995. In the summer of 1996, they represented Canada at the International Choral Festival in Missoula, Montana. In 2000, they performed on the main stage in Dauphin, Manitoba at Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival. In 2002, the UMCE toured Poland and Western Ukraine. Later that year, the chorus put on a full concert at Edmonton’s Winspear Centre, with guest artists John Stetch and Ireneus and Luba Zuk.

The choir has commissioned works by Yuri Shevchenko and Willi Zwozdesky. In 2003, the UMCE premiered Zwozdesky’s Malanka Suite to wide acclaim. This work was released on CD, complementing its two previous recordings, That Old Sheepskin Coat (1992) and The Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton LIVE! (2002).

In 2005, the chorus collaborated with the Belle Canto female vocal ensemble of Edmonton on a new production, Slav and Soul. In April 2006 the chorus was invited to sing during the official 20th anniversary commemoration in Edmonton of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. In another highly successful creative collaboration, the UMCE joined the Suzirya Ukrainian Dance Theatre of Calgary in the Kateryna folk-opera ballet, which premiered in Calgary
and Edmonton in June 2007 and went on tour to Winnipeg, Victoria, Nanaimo, Montreal, Ottawa and four cities in Australia. In April 2009, the UMCE lent its powerful male voices to the ESO’s performance of Carmina Burana and the Polovtsian Dances at the Winspear. In November 2009, the choir performed its 25th anniversary concert entitled The Spirit Lives On!

The UMCE’s founding conductor and long-time artistic director was Orest Soltykevych. In 2004 the baton passed to Greg Maluzynsky, a UMCE member who directed the men until 2007. The chorus was then led by Svitlana Lysogor until 2009, when Orest Soltykevych returned to the UMCE.

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