“Our flowers are all over the world”

As a result of the stormy events of Ukrainian history and various peripeteia over the centuries, there is hardly a country in the world in which there is not at least one Ukrainian. Ten million people of Ukrainian origin live outside Ukraine’s borders. The largest Ukrainian diaspora — 4.4 million people — is in the Russian Federation, where Ukrainians constitute the third largest nationality (3 percent of all Russian citizens) after Russians and Tatars.

Despite all-out Russification during the Soviet era, many Ukrainians of the former empire remember their roots. A vivid illustration of this was the gala concert of the 4th All-Russian Oleksandr Koshyts Festival and Competition of Ukrainian Choirs and Vocal Ensembles, held under the slogan “The Ukrainian Song on the Expanses of Russia.”

Whereas the 1st Koshyts Festival was attended by a handful of performing groups, the 4th one gathered nearly 50 choral groups from various corners of Russia — Karelia, Tatarstan, Togliatti, Murmansk, Nizhnii Novgorod, Omsk, Orenburg, Tiumen, Khabarovsk, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and Moscow oblast, as well as from Kazakhstan. All the choirs - large and small, adult and children’s — presented their “little Ukraines” with a lush bouquet of Ukrainian songs grouped under three nominations: professional choirs and vocal ensembles, folk choirs and folklore ensembles, and children’s companies.

There were also guests from Ukraine, including the Dnipro Folk Choir of Kyiv’s Taras Shevchenko National University, which won the Grand Prix at the festival. Another group from this university — the Roksolaniia Ukrainian Folksong Ensemble — took first place. An international jury headed by Prof. Anatolii Avdiievsky, who is a People’s Artist of Ukraine and the conductor of the Hryhorii Veriovka Ukrainian Folk Chorus, included well-known figures from the world of choral and vocal art of Russia and Ukraine.

Included on the festival agenda were such events as the interethnic choral fest “Moscow Meets Its Friends,” charity concerts, and meetings with compatriots in Moscow and other cities in Moscow oblast, a roundtable debate on “Ukrainian Song Culture at the Turn of the Century,” master classes in classic and folklore singing, a friendship evening called “Unity in Music,” and a gala concert “The Ukrainian Song on the Expanses of Russia.”

Oleksandr Koshyts may be rightly considered the spiritual father of the Dnipro Choir. In 1908-1918 the famous composer and conductor headed a choir consisting of students from Kyiv’s St. Volodymyr University, which promoted the works of such talented Ukrainian musical masters as Mykola Lysenko, Mykhailo Leontovych, and Petro Demutsky throughout Ukraine and overseas. Today the Dnipro Folk Choir, conducted by Prof. I. Pavlenko, is successfully continuing the cultural and educational efforts of its inspirer. Its repertoire includes such original and arranged songs as “Long Life” by Dmytro Bortniansky, “Rejoice, the Most Holy Virgin,” “May Our Thirst Be Quenched,” and “I Glorify Thee, My Lord” by Artem Vedel, and many others.

The Dnipro choir has been touring extensively in Ukraine and foreign countries, demonstrating its skills in Russia, Belarus, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Germany, and the Baltic countries. In 2004 the choir won first prize at the international competition of Orthodox Church music in Chojnowka, Poland.

In spite of some organizational difficulties, mostly successfully overcome owing to the efforts of various governmental and non-governmental organizations, the 4 th All-Russian Koshyts Festival and Competition was a real success. Although there were vacant seats in the halls — either because tickets to the Tchaikovsky State Concert Hall were expensive or because of lack of information — the performers succeeded in demonstrating their mastery to listeners who appreciate this refined branch of Ukrainian art.

The competition and other similar events attest to the organizers’ high cultural level and their ability to understand and appreciate the treasures of folk music. Both the Russian and Ukrainian mass medias should react quicker to such extraordinary events in the musical life of their compatriots and provide adequate coverage. We hope there is only a short interval between the 4 th and 5 th Koshyts Festivals, which will help enrich the choral repertoire and polish performers’ skills. Art is a guarantee of the spiritual unity of people.