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The Edmonton-based choral group has been trying to get their gig, Seen the True Light, off the ground since early 2020, when a global event you may have heard about caused it to be canceled two years in a row. Named after a fragment of a phrase from the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, which is worship in the Eastern Church, the concert is an eclectic program featuring works by artists such as Dolly Parton, Frank Sinatra , Handel, Volynsky and Suite. Plus, it’s an introduction to Yurii Hryhorash, a young baritone choirmaster from Ukraine who Melanie Turgeon says will soon have an impact on the music world.
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“He’s just starting to settle down, and I always say hire him while you can still afford it,” she jokes. “We’ve been planning a gig together since I met him in 2019 through something called The Ukrainian Art Song Project in Toronto. Yurii was from L’viv in Ukraine, and I definitely took notes knowing he was someone I wanted to collaborate with again.
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If there hadn’t been a flight cancellation, it’s entirely possible that Hryhorash would be fighting in the war right now. The singer was in the process of leaving L’viv for a five-month stay on a cruise ship, but instead of heading straight to Miami on a later flight, he was immediately rerouted to Poland. Less than an hour later, the border was closed and all Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 were to remain within the borders.
“So he did his five months of singing on this cruise ship, and then he finally settled in a town in Poland, where he has a job with a choir as well as some small roles with their opera cbusiness,” says Turgeon. “He’s recovering and he’s sort of the newcomer to town there.”
Hryhorash will be in Edmonton a week before her performance, but her dance card will be jam-packed with activity over those seven days. He will teach voice masterclasses at King’s College and Concordia, with another tentatively at the U of A, and he will be traveling to meet with the community. Of course, he will also rehearse intensely, using his experience as an opera, jazz and choir singer in a varied and colorful program that also includes the choir, pianist Dr. Leanne Regehr, organist Dr. Marnie Giesbrecht , cellist Josephine Van Lier, Joel Gray on trumpet and Dorothy Beyer on recorder.
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“It’s kind of my approach,” notes Turgeon. “It is important to really attract a large audience, especially if they are not passionate about choral or classical music. Even if they come to support someone in the choir, they’ll come out of there and say, “Hey, I really had fun. There’s a fabulous choral arrangement of Dolly Parton’s Light of a Clear Blue Morning, and because Yurii had a significant career in jazz, before moving into opera, he did a lot of Frank Sinatra. So I wanted to kind of mark his journey as a musician so far, by showing him singing everything from a complicated tune from Rossini to The Barber of Seville to Sinatra.
The Kappella Kyrie Slavic Chamber Choir has been very active in helping with the recent influx of Ukrainian refugees into the city. Last June, they teamed up with the Richard Eaton Singers for the Peace and Reconciliation concert at the Winspear, raising a substantial amount of money which was converted into useful items like grocery gift cards and then distributed in the community. This time around they are offering a specific code for new immigrants allowing them to purchase tickets for $5.
“I think we allow up to 100 of them to be sold,” Turgeon says. “We hope they can come to these kinds of events and make them accessible so they can feel some of what they left behind. We just want to be welcoming to people, letting them know that we we are there for them.
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OVERVIEW
Kappella Kyrie Slavic Chamber Choir
When Nov. 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Where West End Christian Reformed Church, 10015 149 St.
Tickets From $15 in advance on Eventbrite.ca