The Ukrainian Church Music Archive

The Ukrainian Church Music Archive A systematic effort to find and catalogue Ukrainian church music before it is lost forever. We are looking specifically for choral sheet music.

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?Here are a few pages taken from a soprano part book for the Memorial Service [Панахида] made b...
08/31/2026

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?

Here are a few pages taken from a soprano part book for the Memorial Service [Панахида] made by Fr. Ihor ZBOTANIW [o. Ігор Зботанів]. He wrote it sometime in the 1950s, just prior to his becoming a Ukrainian Orthodox priest. The rest of the notes for all four voices can be found on my website “UKRAINIAN CHURCH MUSIC ARCHIVE” (https://ukrainianchurchmusicarchive.com/).

Fr. Ihor Zbotaniw was born in Volyn in 1932 in the city of Lutsk [Луцьк на Волині]. He came to America in June of 1950, settled in Chicago, got married, and joined the parish of St. Volodymyr Cathedral on West Cortez Street. Later, he became a priest and was assigned to the parish at Holy Trinity in Goshen, Indiana. He passed away on Sept. 24, 1988, in nearby Elkhart.

I am grateful to the pastor of St. Volodymyr Father Ivan Lymar and his son Volodymyr for sharing this document with me.

I collect and digitize vintage musical materials like this. If anyone knows where I can find more items from the past, please message me, or send an email to [email protected].

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?This transcription of Bortniansky’s “Paschal Verses” [Стихири Пасхи] was made sometime around ...
08/24/2026

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?

This transcription of Bortniansky’s “Paschal Verses” [Стихири Пасхи] was made sometime around the 1960s by Ivan TRUCHLY [Іван Трухлий], conductor, lecturer, and former choirmaster at St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Chicago. This, as well as another piece by him, is posted on my website “UKRAINIAN CHURCH MUSIC ARCHIVE” (https://ukrainianchurchmusicarchive.com/).

Ivan Truchly was born in 1884 in the village of Zhyrivka [Жирівка на Полтавщині]. He received his musical training at the Kyiv Conservatory. In the 1920s, he toured Europe as a singer with the famous Ukrainian Republican Capella directed by Alexander Koshetz. He went on to gain prominence as a conductor of choirs in Ukraine, Slovakia, and Germany.

In 1950, Professor Truchly immigrated to America and settled in the Bronx, where he directed the choir at Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral. He relocated to Chicago in 1962 to lead the “BOYAN” Choir of St. Volodymyr Cathedral. He also became the principle director of Chicago’s “SURMA” Choir.

Professor Truchly passed away in 1975 at the age of 91 and is buried at St. Andrew’s Cemetery in South Bound Brook, NJ.

I collect and digitize vintage musical materials like this. If anyone knows where I can find more items from the past, please message me, or send an email to [email protected].

8/24/2026

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?I recently came across this very rare item published in Lviv probably around 1900. It is a col...
08/17/2026

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?

I recently came across this very rare item published in Lviv probably around 1900. It is a collection of carols arranged for male chorus by Ostap NYZHANKIVSKY [Остап Нижанківський], composer, conductor, and Greek Catholic priest from Western Ukraine. The complete book is posted on my website “UKRAINIAN CHURCH MUSIC ARCHIVE” (https://ukrainianchurchmusicarchive.com/).

Ostap Nyzhankivsky was born in 1862 in a village near Lviv called Mali Didushychi [Малі Дідушичі, Львівська область]. After his graduation from the Prague Conservatory of Music, he set out to elevate the musical life of Halychyna by organizing choral concert tours throughout the region and establishing Boyan singing societies in a number of cities: Berezhany (1892), Lviv (1895-96), and Stryi (1900–14). Around the same time, he entered the priesthood (1892) and served at first in Berezhany.

In May of 1919, Polish troops invaded Stryi. The first victim of the occupation was Father Nyzhankivsky, who was arrested by the authorities and shot without a trial. He is buried alongside his wife in the family tomb in the cemetery in Stryi.

I am grateful to archivist Tamara Skrypka of the New York branch of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S.A. [УВАН] for her invaluable assistance.

I collect and digitize vintage musical materials like this. If anyone knows where I can find more items from the past, please message me, or send an email to [email protected].

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?These pages of Ukrainian church music were made in 1962 by Yaroslav KOKORUDZ [Ярослав Кокорудз...
08/10/2026

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?

These pages of Ukrainian church music were made in 1962 by Yaroslav KOKORUDZ [Ярослав Кокорудз], former choir director of Chicago's "SLAVUTA" Choir. More of his scores are posted on my website “UKRAINIAN CHURCH MUSIC ARCHIVE” (https://ukrainianchurchmusicarchive.com/).

Yaroslav Kokorudz was born in 1919 in the village of Paportno [с. Папортно], Peremyshl Voivodeship, Poland. He studied music and medicine in Krakow and in Berlin. In his early days as a choir director, he led a student choir in Berlin as assistant conductor to Andrij Hnatyshyn. After World War II, he served as a medical doctor in the camps for displaced persons in Karlsfeld and Ellwangen in Germany. There he also organized and conducted church and camp choirs (1945-49). In 1949, he immigrated to the United States--first to Binghamton, New York, and later to Chicago (1960–74), where he became the choirmaster of the “SLAVUTA” choir of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral. He also directed the choir “SURMA” at SS. Volodymyr and Olha. He passed away on Мay 26, 1974, at the age of 55, and is buried at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Cemetery in Chicago.

Many thanks to Halyna Parasiuk, PhD, of the Ukrainian National Museum in Chicago for helping me with this research.

I collect and digitize vintage musical materials like this. If anyone knows where I can find more items from the past, please message me, or send an email to [email protected].

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?These pages of Ukrainian church music were made by Roman ANDRUSHKO [Роман Андрушко], Chicago c...
08/03/2026

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?

These pages of Ukrainian church music were made by Roman ANDRUSHKO [Роман Андрушко], Chicago choir director, musician, and pedagogue. Several more of his scores are posted on my website “UKRAINIAN CHURCH MUSIC ARCHIVE” (https://ukrainianchurchmusicarchive.com/).

Roman Andrushko was born on June 28, 1928, in Lviv. Following World War II, he went to Munich, Germany, to study at the Ukrainian Free University. Then, he immigrated to America in 1949 and served in the U. S. army (1951-53). In 1957, he earned a bachelor's degree in music from Chicago's Roosevelt University, and moved to Texas to join the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as a bass player. He returned to Chicago and worked as a high school music teacher (1963-93). During that time period, he also directed a number of local choirs, including the PROMETHEUS Choir of St. Volodymyr and Olha UCC and the SURMA Male Chorus. He passed away in Chicago in 2018.

I collect and digitize vintage musical materials like this. If anyone knows where I can find more items from the past, please message me, or send an email to [email protected].

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?Mother Andrea (Spikula), MSMG, prepared the music for this little prayer book issued in 1954 b...
07/27/2026

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?

Mother Andrea (Spikula), MSMG, prepared the music for this little prayer book issued in 1954 by Bishop Ambrose Senyshyn at St. Basil’s Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut. For four decades, she played a central role in the music program at St. Basil’s. The complete Divine Liturgy section from the book is posted on my website “UKRAINIAN CHURCH MUSIC ARCHIVE.” https://ukrainianchurchmusicarchive.com/choir-directors/s/spikula-mother-andrea/

Mother Andrea (née Ellen Nadia Spikula) was born on May 19, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up singing in the choir at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral. In college, she majored in education and went on to earn her Master’s degree in music from the Chicago Conservatory. Her thesis explored Byzantine Slavic liturgical music. In the late 1940s, she entered the convent of the Missionary Sisters of the Mother of God, in Stamford, where she taught music, religion, Ukrainian, English, Latin, mathematics, history, typewriting, piano, organ, a ca****la singing, and theater. It was a great loss to the community in Stamford when Mother Andrea passed away in 1988.

I collect and digitize vintage musical materials like this. If anyone knows where I can find more items from the past, please message me, or send an email to [email protected].

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?Father Eugene KOROLYSHYN [o. Євген Королишин] compiled this book of music for Vespers in 1943 ...
07/20/2026

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?

Father Eugene KOROLYSHYN [o. Євген Королишин] compiled this book of music for Vespers in 1943 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In it he records the Western Ukrainian chant melodies which he learned from his grandfather and his uncle. The complete book is posted on my website “UKRAINIAN CHURCH MUSIC ARCHIVE” (https://ukrainianchurchmusicarchive.com/).

Rev. Eugene Korolyshyn was born into a musical family in 1892 in Hrabovets, Ternopil, Ukraine. He was one of seven children, all of whom became fine musicians. His father Wasyl and his uncle Hryhory were the first choir directors at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Detroit. Eugene succeeded them in 1910 at the tender age of 18.

Later in 1929, he was ordained an Orthodox priest in Chicago. One of his first parishes was in Scranton, Pennsylvania (St. Michael's). Later assignments included Ambridge, PA (St. Vladimir, 1938-40), Pittsburgh, PA (St. Vladimir, 1941-49 ), and Boston, MA (Holy Trinity, 1949-52). He spent the remainder of his years in Johnstown, PA, at the church of SS. Peter and Paul. He passed away on March 18, 1970, and is buried at St. Andrew’s Cemetery in So. Bound Brook, New Jersey.

I collect and digitize vintage musical materials like this. If anyone knows where I can find more items from the past, please message me, or send an email to [email protected].

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?Here are a few pages of a basic Divine Liturgy for congregational singing made in 1971 by Oksa...
07/13/2026

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?

Here are a few pages of a basic Divine Liturgy for congregational singing made in 1971 by Oksana TARNAWSKA [Оксана Тарнавська], who founded and directed for fifty years the Ukrainian Cathedral Youth Choir in Melbourne, Australia. The rest of her book is posted on my website “UKRAINIAN CHURCH MUSIC ARCHIVE” (https://ukrainianchurchmusicarchive.com/).

Oksana Tarnawska was born in 1926 in Lviv, Ukraine. In the early 1930s her family was deported to Wąbrzeźno, Poland, a small town near Torun. By 1939, they were allowed to return to Ukraine and settle in Sambir. Following WWII, they immigrated to Australia, where Oksana became very active in PLAST, the scouting organization. Having earning her music degree from the Melbourne University Conservatorium of Music, she organized the Ukrainian Cathedral Youth Choir in 1959. She passed away in 2020 and is buried in Fawkner Memorial Park in the City of Merri-bek.

Many thanks to Paul Galadza of Miami, Florida, for sending me this book.

If anyone knows where I can find more material like this, please send me an email at [email protected].

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?Many have been asking me about this book on Western Ukrainian Chant written by Myron FEDORIV [...
07/06/2026

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?

Many have been asking me about this book on Western Ukrainian Chant written by Myron FEDORIV [Мирон Федорів] in 1961 and reprinted in 1983. The book contains three sections: 1.) Introductory remarks in Ukrainian; 2.) Music Section; 3.) English translation. I posted each section on my website “UKRAINIAN CHURCH MUSIC ARCHIVE” (https://ukrainianchurchmusicarchive.com/).

Fedoriv was born in 1907 in the town of Kryve, which is located southwest of Lviv. In the 1930s and ‘40s, he studied music at conservatories in Poland and Austria. He came to America after WWII, and settled in Connecticut, where he taught music at St. Basil College (Stamford). After that, he lived and worked in Chicago. He retired from teaching in 1979 and moved to Philadelphia, where he died on Dec. 23, 1996, at age 89.

If anyone knows where I can find more material like this, please send me an email at [email protected].

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?Here are some excerpts from a Divine Liturgy published in Chicago in 1967 by Myron FEDORIV [Ми...
06/29/2026

WHAT’S IN YOUR CHOIR LOFT?

Here are some excerpts from a Divine Liturgy published in Chicago in 1967 by Myron FEDORIV [Мирон Федорів], Ukrainian composer, choir director, and musicologist. The complete score is posted on my website “UKRAINIAN CHURCH MUSIC ARCHIVE” (https://ukrainianchurchmusicarchive.com/).

Fedoriv was born in 1907 in the town of Kryve, which is located southwest of Lviv. In the 1930s and ‘40s, he studied music at conservatories in Poland and Austria. He came to America after WWII, and settled in Connecticut, where he taught music at St. Basil College (Stamford). After that, he lived and worked in Chicago. He retired from teaching in 1979 and moved to Philadelphia, where he died on Dec. 23, 1996, at age 89.

If anyone knows where I can find more material like this, please send me an email at [email protected].

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