“There is nothing to compare to the pure joy of singing – of using that fabulous instrument within us to express our passion for life and our love of our Ukrainian culture. This gift is a treasure that gains greater value when shared with others.”

—Halyna Kvitka Kondracki

Windows to Yesterday

For sixty remarkable years, Vesnivka has inspired audiences with the beauty and spirit of choral music. Founded in 1965 by Halyna Kvitka Kondracki, the choir has toured more than a dozen countries across three continents, sharing the richness of Ukrainian musical traditions and the joy of singing with the world.

Vesnivka has long championed new music, commissioning original works and arrangements by Canadian and Ukrainian composers. Its collaborations with renowned ensembles — including the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Orpheus Choir, the Amadeus Choir, the Victoria Scholars, the Toronto Children’s Choir, and the Gryphon Trio — reflect a legacy of artistic excellence and innovation. The choir also proudly supports emerging soloists and musicians, nurturing the next generation of talent.

Together with the Toronto Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir (TUMCC), Vesnivka presents an annual three-concert season exploring sacred, classical, contemporary, and folk themes. The choir also performs the Christmas (Rizdvo) and Easter (Velykden’) liturgies at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Toronto — continuing its tradition of musical excellence and cultural connection.

Vesnivka has always used its music to make a difference. Over the decades, the choir has supported numerous charitable causes, including the Dzherelo Children’s Rehabilitation Centre in Lviv, the Ukrainian Canadian Care Centre in Toronto, and Help Us Help the Children.

Successes

2000 1st World Choral Olympics, Linz, Austria
Silver Medal, Folk Group Category
1998 CBC Choral Competition: 1st place, Cultural category
1993 Llangollen International Eisteddfodd, North Wales
1st Place, Folk Song group category, W.S. Gwynn Williams International Trophy
1992 CBC Choral Competition: 1st place, Ethnic category
1990 CBC Choral Competition: 1st place, Ethnic category
1984 CBC Choral Competition: 1st place, Ethnic category
1982 CBC Choral Competition: 1st place, Ethnic category

Commissioned works

DIVINE LITURGY OF
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
composer: Anrij Hnatyshyn

KOZA DEREZA
Orchestration for Mykola Lysenko’s
children’s opera
composer:

KOZA DEREZA
Orchestration for Mykola Lysenko’s
children’s opera
Composer: Glenn Morley

A MAIDEN’S SONG
composer: Mychailo
Dliaboha

PRAYER
composer: Larysa Kuzmenko

FAREWELL
composer: Larysa Kuzmenko
lyrics, Vasyl Holoborodko

HOPE
composer: Larysa Kuzmenko
lyrics, Lesia Ukrainka

REQUIEM
composer: Evhen Stankovych

THE ARRANGED MARRIAGE
composer: Evhen Stankovych

TRYPTYCH: IN MEMORIAM TO THE VICTIMS OF THE FAMINE-GENOCIDE - HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE
1932-1933
composer: Zenoby
Lawryshyn

FEAST OF THE WATER NYMPHS
Orchestration for Mykola
Leotovych’s unfinished
opera composer: Myroslav
Skoryk

CIRCLE DANCE
composer: Hanna Havrylets

LITURGY NO. 4
composer: Roman Hurko

THE CHORNOBYL MADONNA
Joint Commission with
Canadian Bandurist Capella
composer: Maksym Kuchmet

ЛІТУРГІЯ св.
ІВАНА ЗОЛОТОУСТОГО
композитор: Андрій Гнатишин

КОЗА ДЕРЕЗА
Оркестровка дитячої опери
Миколи
Лисенка композитор:

КОЗА ДЕРЕЗА
Оркестровка дитячої опери
Миколи
Лисенка композитор: Ґлен Морлій

ДІВОЧА ПІСНЯ
композитор: Михайло Длябога

МОЛИТВА
композитор: Лариса Кузьменко

ЛЕТЮЧЕ ВІКОНЦЕ
композитор: Лариса Кузьменко
слова: Василь Голобородько

НАДІЯ
композитор: Лариса Кузьменко
слова: Леся Українка

РЕКВІЄМ
композитор: Євген Станкович

КОЛО МОЇ ХАТИ
композитор: Євген Станкович

ТРИПТИХ: ПАМЯ’ТІ ЖЕРТВ ҐЕНОЦИДУ ГОЛОДОМОР В УКРАЇНІ: 1932-1933
композитор: Зеновій Лавришин

НА РУСАЛЧИН ВЕЛИКДЕНЬ
Оркестровка незавершеної опери
Миколи
Леонтовича композитор:
Мирослав Скорик

КРОКОВЕЄ КОЛЕСО
композитор: Ганна Гарилець

ЛІТУРГІЯ ч. 4 (ВЕСНІВКА)
композитор: Роман Гурко

ЧОРНОБИЛЬСЬКА МАДОННА
Спільне музичне замовлення хору
Веснівка та Капели Бандуристів
Канади
композитор: Максим Кучмет

In addition to original works, Vesnivka Choir has commissioned many choral arrangements of Ukrainian folk, sacred, secular and popular songs.

Окрім оригінальних творів, хор «Веснівка» замовив численні хорові обробки українських народних, духовних, світських і естрадних пісень.

Toronto Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir

In 2001, our Artistic Director Halyna Kvitka Kondracki founded a new addition to the Vesnivka family: the Toronto Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir (TUMCC). The group was formed to create opportunities for Vesnivka to expand its repertoire to include compositions for mixed choirs.

Artistic Direction

Halyna Kvitka Kondracki

Halyna Kvitka Kondracki is the artistic director and conductor of Vesnivka Choir and Toronto Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir, having founded the former in 1965 and the latter in 2001. A graduate of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music (B.Mus.), Kondracki actively supports Ukrainian Canadian composers and musicians by commissioning new works and promoting their music through performance.

Learn more

Nazar Lozynskyy

Nazar Lozynskyy has been the Assistant Conductor for both Vesnivka and TUMCC since arriving from Lviv, Ukraine in August 2022. Having completed his training at the Dudaryk Choir School in Lviv, Ukraine, in 2003, he graduated with a B.Mus.(Hon) from the Lviv State Music University in the name of S. Lyudkevych in choral conducting and continued his studies at the Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Music Academy in opera-symphonic conducting. Lozynskyy served as the Choir Master and performed as a soloist with the Lviv State Academic male choir “Dudaryk” from 2003 to 2022.

Since becoming the Assistant Conductor, Vesnivka and TUMCC members have benefited from his work as a vocal clinician. We have been fortunate to feature him as soloist in our concerts.

Lozynskyy currently sings with the Canadian Opera Company Chorus. He has performed in the autumn 2023 production of Beethoven’s Fidelio, in the 2024-25 productions of Faust, Nabucco, Madama Butterfly and La Reine-garçon and in the 2025-26 season. He also conducts the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church Choir (UCC) intermittently and serves as Cantor at Holy Protection of the Mother of God UCC in Toronto.

Olha Bileychuk

Olha Bileychuk holds Diplomas with Honours from the Sichynsky Music College in Ivano-Frankivsk and the Lysenko Conservatory in Lviv. For more than fifteen years, she taught piano at the Ivano-Frankivsk Music School and served as accompanist for the Ivano-Frankivsk Municipal Chamber Choir, “Halytski Peredzvony.”

She has performed in Germany, Poland, Wales, and Ukraine prior to immigrating to Canada in 1998. Since becoming Vesnivka Choir’s accompanist, she has toured with the choir in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and her native Ukraine.

In addition to her work with Vesnivka, Bileychuk continues to teach piano and collaborates as an accompanist with a range of soloists and ensembles.