On August 20–21, the All-Ukrainian Orthodox Singing Gathering 2.0 took place in the village of Moshchun, Kyiv region – a two-day gathering dedicated to church singing, choral tradition, professional communication, and community building.
The Singing Gathering brought together choir directors, church singers, clergy, and everyone who works with church choirs and is interested in the Orthodox tradition of church singing. Over the course of two days, participants studied, worked with liturgical chants, exchanged experiences, and discussed the development of church choral singing.
The gathering was opened by Maryna Burdeina, Chair of the Board of the NGO “Sofiiske Bratstvo,” Protodeacon Oleksandr Tarasenko, Chair of the Board of the Association “Mykola Leontovych All-Ukrainian Choral Society,” and Denys Savchenko, Project Officer at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. The gathering began with introductions, shared stories, and a search for what unites the participants and helps create an atmosphere of trust, mutual support, and openness.
The first day continued with a practical session led by Nazarii Tarasenko, choir director of the Kyiv Church of Saints Cyril and Athanasius, Bishops of Alexandria, of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, choral and opera-symphony conductor, and Doctor of Philosophy in Arts. Participants worked on elements of choral sound using common harmonizations of the traditional liturgical chants of the Divine Liturgy as examples.
A separate extended session was led by Archimandrite Polikarp Lynenko, choir director and typikon specialist of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He introduced participants to the Alleluia verses and Communion hymns of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra chant, their performance characteristics, and tradition.
On the second day, Archpriest Ivan Hychun, senior priest of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Kyiv of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and choir director of the cathedral’s amateur choir, shared his practical experience of creating a parish amateur choir from scratch. The discussion focused on the church choir as the living singing voice of the parish community.
The concluding part of the programme was led by Protodeacon Oleksandr Tarasenko – choir director of the Metropolitan Choir of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Kyiv, choirmaster of the National Opera of Ukraine, and professor at the Department of Choral Conducting of the Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music. He presented the new publications – “Chants of the All-Night Vigil” and “Chants of the Divine Liturgy in Traditional Liturgical Melodies.”
The All-Ukrainian Orthodox Singing Gathering became not only a platform for improving professional and practical skills. It also became a space where people for whom church singing is prayer, ministry, and a living tradition could meet – a tradition that is important to preserve, develop, and pass on to future generations.
The two days of music and prayer concluded with a review of the gathering’s outcomes, but the communication, new connections, and shared experience born during the Singing Gathering will continue.
