The European Choral Association has issued a statement regarding the war in Ukraine:
'We stand in solidarity with all the victims of this war from every perspective: the ones who lost their homes, those who lost relatives and friends, the many refugees, and also those who are standing up against war and in so doing are risking imprisonment or worse. We are also mindful of all those who are being discriminated against because of their origin or nationality. Wars cause division and enormous physical and mental harm to so many. The act of singing together is in stark contrast to war. As an international singing community, we emphasize singing's ability to unify, demonstrate defiance and bring comfort.'
You can read the full statement here.
The Association of British Orchestras has also issued a set of principles for its members which you can find here.
Via the ECA, we have been sent a collection of Ukranian choral music from the Ukrainian Choral Society Leontovych, their national choral association. They ask everyone "to spread this program as much as possible among the friendly choirs of Europe and the World." They would be pleased to hear from any choirs who perform the music. Much of it is in Cyrillic, but there is a transliteration in some of the pieces, and you can download these below:
Oleksandr Shchetynsky (b. 1960) - Credo for mixed choir
Oleksandr Shchetynsky - Diptych for mixed choir
Oleksandr Shchetynsky - Pater Noster for upper voice choir and flute
Mykola Leontovych (1877-1921) - choral works
From a large volume of complete works, it's easiest to view the music in sections via the UCS website, which you can see here, including a biography in English. If you would like to view the full file of choral works, with a detailed commentary on each, please get in touch and we will share a link with you as the file is very large.
There are both sacred and secular pieces, including arrangements for Ukrainian folk songs, some very short. Find out more about Leontovych here - his 'Carol of the Bells' is widely sung.
Church Slavonic is used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in many countries, including Russia, but also the Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and others, though pronunciation is slightly different. It is therefore the language of much sacred music from these countries, not just Russia. Find out more here.
Alla Sirenko, President and Founder of the Ukrainian Cultural Association in the UK (UCA-UK), who is also a Ukrainian pianist and composer, and an ISM member, explains on the ISM website what she and the UCA-UK are doing to support Ukraine, and how people can help.
Posted: Mon 14th March 2022