The Veryovka Ukrainian People's Choir. Liturgy for Choir and Folk Singing

The Veryovka Choir will perform Kyrylo Stetsenko's Third Liturgy for Choir and Folk Singing.

The composer wrote the Liturgy in 1921, amid the movement for the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church. Following long-standing bans, the Ukrainian language finally resonated within churches, while the traditions of Ukrainian spiritual chants and psalms were revived in liturgical music. Stetsenko consciously combined the singing of the choir and the congregation in the Liturgy: within their own church, Ukrainian parishioners were granted the right to their own voice.

For the Veryovka Choir—whose signature style is the blending of academic and folk vocal traditions—returning to this piece is an opportunity to re-examine and reaffirm their identity.

Symbolically, the Liturgy will be performed within the walls of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a national shrine that has returned to its spiritual roots amidst the modern struggle for independence.