In September, CMAA board member David Hughes and I had the pleasure of attending the second annual “singing conference” for musicians of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church held at St. Basil Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut, presented by the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission of the UGCC. For us Westerners, it was a beginner’s opportunity to become acquainted with the music of that Church, characterized by its traditions of harmonized chant.
For the eighty or so attending, it was a time to share with each other their experience as parish musicians and to learn from recognized experts, many of them connected with St. Basil Seminary or with the Sheptytsky Institute based in Toronto.
The program included sung celebrations of Vespers, Matins, some of the Little Hours, and of course Divine Liturgy, which on Sunday was celebrated by Bishop Bohdan Danylo of Parma, Ohio. That liturgy included some works by New York-based composer Roman Hurko, who directed one of the choirs at the “SingCon”:
Next year the conference will be held at the Ukrainian Catholic cathedral in Philadelphia, October 1-4.
More information and videos from this year’s conference appear at our sister site New Liturgical Movement and at the site of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission.