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The Choir
Conductor Roman Soltykewych and like-minded individuals intuitively resolved that the new community of recently-arrived immigrants from Ukraine after WWII would thrive spiritually and emotionally through the rich musical culture of their motherland, Ukraine. On November 6, 1953, the all-male Dnipro Choir, named after the legendary river connecting the most northern and southern parts of Ukraine, was established. Highly skilled Soltykewych led them on a path of excellence which brought many noteworthy awards within and beyond the community.
In 1971, the Dnipro Choir was enriched with the addition of an orchestra under the baton of John Achtemychuk. Shortly thereafter, this encouraged a dance troupe to be organized and, under the instruction and choreography of Natalka Dobrolige and Mike Choloniwsky, new collective performance heights were achieved, and the diverse large group was now identified as the Ukrainian Dnipro Ensemble of Edmonton. Conductor Roman Soltykewych offered unique and varied concert programs. The unique blend of the Ukrainian performing arts was warmly received by audiences within and beyond Edmonton: Spokane, Australia, the Philippines, and Hawaii. Shortly following the South Pacific tour in 1979, the Ensemble status returned to its original form: Ukrainian Dnipro Choir.
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Maria Dytyniak, invited to assume the baton upon Roman Soltykewych’s untimely death in 1976, challenged Dnipro Choir to reach new heights. Motivated by her mentor, Maestro Wolodymyr Kolesnyk, former Director of the Kyiv State Opera and Ballet, Maria Dytyniak welcomed his enthusiasm for Dnipro Choir to undertake substantial choral-symphonic projects: operas, Kupalo by Anatol Vakhnianyn in 1981 and Zaporozhets za Dunayem by Semen Hulak-Artemowsky in 1983; premiere of Sergei Eremenko’s cantata Conquerers of the Prairie in 1982 set to the text of Yar Slavutych, The Neophytes oratorio by Marian Kouzan in 1988; premiere of Valeri Kikta’s commissioned oratorio Sacred Dnipro in 1993, libretto by Sophia Maydanska. Kolesnyk’s legacy continued after his death in 1997: the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s invitation to premier Yuri Laniuk’s cantata Palimpsesty in 1999 and Marian Kouzan’s Poslaniye in 2002. Maria Dytyniak provided Dnipro Choir with rich musical experiences for 35 years until her retirement in June 2011.
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In September 2011, Irena Szmihelsky became the third artistic director of Dnipro Choir. New projects, new adventures, and new challenges dominated the choir's activity: premiere of commissioned works, theme-based concert programs, dinner theatre programs, tours, and adaptation to the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions. Repertoire included original and arranged works of classical and contemporary composers of Ukraine and Ukrainian-Canadian composers: Zenoby Lawryshyn, Joanna Estelle-Storoschuk, Willi Zwozdesky, and Andriy Talpash (Spokonvichni Luny, commissioned oratorio, 2013). Concert tours to Eastern Canada and the USA in 2014, Ukraine in 2018, and Western Canada in 2023 and in 2025 were highly impressionable for choristers and audiences alike.
