When in Toronto, I sing in a church choir. Sunday, Jan 10th, St. Demetrius Ukrainian Catholic Church Choir and Musicus Bortnianskii had a Christmas Concert of the most beautiful, rarely heard carols in N.A. Our conductor, Myron Maksymiw, manages to find rare gems and works hard to get us to tell the stories with our voices, intonations. We were joined by the "Zoloti Struny" (Golden Strings) bandurist ensemble. Special guests from Ukraine played ancient carols on the "tsymbaly", a dulcimer-like instrument, and the "sopilka", a wooden wind instrument. They too were wonderful!! Each group had a little girl, who like an angel, rang a little bell perfectly! Every one was in awe. The evening was an absolute success!
Our modern church was beautifully decked out for Christmas. The choir ladies wore embroidered blouses, each one a work of art. I'm second from the right and here is my "sorochka" up close.
"Sorochka", late XIX-early XX century, Ukraine
Wool thread embroidery and seed beads on homespun even-count fabric.
The blouse has an added plain underskirt meant to be worn with an overwrap and finished with a wide "krajka" sash.
Close-up of sleeve head. "Kucheryavyj" (curly stitch) embroidery with seed bead embellishment
A magical evening, indeed!
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