Dnipro Selected for Inaugural Choir Program at Banff

NP-UN Western Bureau.

The Ukrainian Dnipro Choir had the privilege of being one of the choral groups selected for the inaugural Choral Art: Choirs workshops held at the Banff Arts Centre, located in the National Park, 130 kilometres west of Calgary, February 16 to March 4.

Dnipro, accompanied by three members of Edmonton’s Axios men’s choirs attended the second of three weekends (February 23-25) that the workshops were held.

Dnipro President Susan Romaniuk described the weekend workshop as “exciting and inspirational”.

“We were exposed to so many new techniques that we’ll apply and implement in our future work as a choir,” she said.

“The location was like icing on a cake and the program sessions were well-thought out, carefully organized and masterfully presented,” said Dnipro’s Artistic Director and Conductor Irena Szmihelsky.

“During the bus ride back to Edmonton, it was the consensus that every person found the retreat beneficial and exhilarating and would jump on an opportunity to do it again,” she added.

The program consists of an intensive workshop that explores the creation and presentation of choral music in the 21st century.

Participating choirs explore movement and improvisation as well as refine their sound as an ensemble through workshops and masterclasses. Composers and conductors work closely with the faculty and Banff Centre’s resident choir, Pro Coro Canada, to explore new work and to hone their conducting skills.

The program aims to develop an exchange between a circle of creators and performers active in the choral music milieu. The program also aims to support and bring visibility to the Canadian choral community, and connect to the larger international network.

A portion of each day was spent singing together as a large group to work on various aspects of choral singing, new sonorities, sounds, voicings, and different styles

Faculty members included Pro Coro’s Conductor Michael Zaugg; Latvian composer Uģis Prauliņš, whose opus The Nightingale was featured at the Saturday evening concert by ProCoro, and Lone Larsen, one of Sweden’s most distinguished conductors.

Members of ProCoro also conducted workshops and sectional sessions.

Faculty

In order to qualify for this program, Dnipro had to be selected by impartial adjudicators on the basis of their submitted material. In addition to artistic merit, consideration was also given to the likelihood that the artist’s work will benefit from the program.

Dnipro, a non-denominational mixed-voice community choir, which draws its repertoire from the large and immensely rich repository of Ukrainian choral music of all genres – sacred, art, and folk, is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year.

Events planned for this milestone include an August tour of Ukraine, as well as a special 65th Anniversary Concert at All Saints Cathedral in Edmonton, November 3, 2018.

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