International Vocal and choral contest-festival (2007-2014)
Was Held Under the Patronage of the Ukrainian MP Vitaliy Kurylo

2007

The Open Voice and Choral Contest-Festival “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv” was held in Luhansk, aimed at popularizing vocal choral singing; revealing the talented performers and their creative potential; providing conditions for establishing contacts and strengthening ties with the vocal choral groups, soloists-vocalists and their leaders.

The Competition-Festival warmly greeted participants in the premises of Taras Shevchenko National University of Luhansk. Thirty two choir collectives from Luhansk and Donetsk regions took part in a new youth forum.

According to the results of competition, the main prize of the Contest-Festival – Grand Prix was given to the Senior Children’s Choir «Scerzo», School of Art Aesthetic Education №2 (Luhansk). The team leader is Olha Churikova-Kushnir, assistant professor of Taras Shevchenko National University.

2008

The II Open Voice and Choral Contest-Festival “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv” was held at Luhansk National University.

This year 23 children’s choir collectives from Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk regions and also from our region performed in Luhansk. In total, about 800 participants came to the Festival. The repertoire of the collectives included both classical pieces and Ukrainian folklore. The Grand Prix of the Festival was awarded to the pupils of the Molodohvardiysk Music School, a choir of high school under the direction of Victoria Yunda for performing the Ukrainian folk song “Oi, Chyi to kin’ stoit” and the work of Modest Mussorgsky and Viktor Sokolov “Izbushka na kurʹikh nozhkakh”. Children received the prize from the president of LNU Vitaliy Kurylo.

Severodonetsk senior high school choir “Nadiya” and the chorus of senior classes “Serebryannyye golosa” shared the first place and received awards from the Department of Culture of Luhansk Regional State Administration represented by Anna Hovcharenko. The winners received a home theater system. The teams which took the second place (namely, Lutuhyne senior high school choir “Rapsodiya”, senior high school choir “Prolisok” (Yuvileyne) and Krasnodonsk senior children’s art school choir) received musical centers.

Luhansk junior choir “Romashka”, a senior classes choir “Edelveis” of Antracyt shared the third place. Each team received a tape recorder.

The vice-rector for scientific and pedagogical work Alexander Babichev handed the letters of gratitude to the deputy director of Luhansk comprehensive school №21 Svitlana Pleshchenko, and to Tetyana Samorokova, the deputy director of the secondary school №2 in Luhansk for their artistic and aesthetic education of children and for their active participation in the concert programs of the children’s choir philharmonic society “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv”.

Volodymyr Moroz on behalf of the LNU students’ trade union gave diplomas and sweet prizes to the junior school choir “Dzvinochok”, junior school choir “Romashka”, junior school choir “Sverchok” and high school choir “Prolisok” for their bright performance of choral works.

The Center of Folk Art presented the high school choir “Edelweiss” (Antratsyt) and the high school choir “Zacharovana pisnya” (Lutuhyne) with certificates for their significant contribution to the development of the choral activity.

The head teachers and staff trade union Serhiy Sevryuk gave TARAS SHEVCHENKO LNU CHILDREN’S CHORAL PHILHARMONIC CHOIR (conductor – LNU associate professor Olha Churikova-Kushnir, concertmasters – Lyudmila Skrypnikova and Larisa Labintseva) a diploma for their outstanding performing activities and propagation of choral art in Ukraine. The team got a tape recorder.

In addition, the president of Taras Shevchenko National University of Luhansk Vitaliy Kurylo, Head of Culture and Tourism Department Anna Ovcharenko and acting rector of LTSNU Serhiy Savchenko handed the letters of gratitude to the director of children’s musical school №6 (Luhansk) Y.Demyanyuk, the director of children’s musical school №17 (Dnipropetrovsk) L.Dobrovolska and the director of secondary school (Lutuhyne) N.Ivashchenko for their eagerness to develop the choral art in Ukraine and support children’s choral activity.

The guest of the festival Alexander Shadurskiy, the professor of Serhiy Prokofiev Donetsk State Music Academy expressed his sincere admiration with the idea of his colleagues from Luhansk and wished the Festival to grow and develop.

“The song has a great power, it can unite many people, and the choral children’s singing can really make a miracle!” – as the assistant professor at Chair of singing and conducting , the LNU Institute of Culture and Arts and the organizer of the Festival Olha Churikova-Kushnir commented on.

A year ago, the organizers could not imagine how quickly their Festival will gain popularity and recognition in Ukraine. The idea of creating a choral festival of such level was presented and put into practice by Olha Churikova-Kushnir during several years. Eventually, the Open Voice and Choral Contest-Festival “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv” was held in April 2007. It was a brilliant event. The festival immediately echoed in the hearts of both children and music teachers. It was the first step towards the cherished dream – the opening of the Children’s Choir Philharmonic Society. Thus, on the 1st of October, 2007, on the International Day of Music in Luhansk, appeared the Children’s Choir Philharmonic Society, which does not have any analogues either in Ukraine or elsewhere.  The Philharmonic Society is functioning at Taras Shevchenko National University of Luhansk, and has become a creative laboratory for students of LNU.

In the framework of the Festival the scientific and practical conference “The Formula of Creativity: Theory and Methodology of Art Education” was held in LNU.

Today, the Philharmonic Society involves more than 30 creative groups. Due to this project, the children‘s  talents of Luhansk became known in Ukraine and in the world. The collectives take part at various cultural projects of the region. They perform before the regional and international audience, sharing their creativity in orphanages.

2009

Recently, the III Open Voice and Choral Contest-Festival “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv” has been held, and 15 children’s choir collectives competed for the grand prix of the contest.

For the third year of its activity in Luhansk under the patronage of Taras Shevchenko National University the Choir Festival gathers wonderful children’s and youth choir collectives from Ukraine and from abroad. This children’s holiday gives spectators an opportunity to witness the choral art, it helps performers to better know each other and share their creative achievements and ideas.

The performance of children’s collectives at a high level always has the warmest response from the audience.

The president of LNU Vitaliy Kurylo shares his thoughts: “The Festival is very important nowadays and, I am convinced, it will be popular in the future”.

This year 15 choir teams have competed for the Grand Prix of the Festival. Each team deserved this award, and it was hard for the jury headed by the Austrian composer, conductor, professor at Vienna Academy of Music Kurt Schmid to judge.

“I hope – says the jury chairman – that this holiday will help us feel the spiritual unity in the world of music between the professional musicians, novice artists and choral singers”.

An outstanding performance at a very high level of choral singing was demonstrated by 10 collectives from Rovenky, Severodonetsk, Khartsyzsk, Tahanroh (Russian Federation), Donetsk, Kryvyi Rih and Artemivsk on the second day of competition.

The Grand Prix of the Festival according the unanimous decision of the competent jury was given to the Young Choir of Kryvyi Rih Regional Music School “Oriana” headed by Kateryna Fokina with the accompaniment of Tetyana Kaduk. The group performed 4 works: “Bozhestvenna liturhiya # 1” of St. John Chrysostom, L.Dichko; “Oi, na hori snih bilenʹkyi” V.Stetsenko; “Stabat Mater” (part VIII) J.Pergolese and “Sontse zakhodytʹ” of V.Ikonnik.

8 collectives became laureates and 2 became the winners of the Festival in the categories of the senior children’s choir, youth choir and junior choir. In the nomination “Choirs of creativity centers of children and youth, palaces of culture, etc.” the laureates of first degree were senior and youth choirs: the choir “Raduha” (Tahanroh) and the choir “Kantylena” (Mariupol).

The laureates in the nomination “Choirs of schools of aesthetic education” among the junior and senior choirs are: I degree – choir “Sonyachnyi strumok” (Khartsyzsk), II degree – choir “Romashka” (Luhansk) and choir “Scerzo” (Luhansk), III – choir of children’s musical school of arts №1 (Rovenʹky) and choir “Rhapsodiya” (Lutuhyne). The diploma of the IV degree was given to the senior children’s choir “Harmoniya” (Luhansk), and the diploma of the V degree to the youngest children’s choir of children’s music school №2 (Severodonetsk). In the nomination “Choirs of higher educational institutions of the I-II accreditation levels”, the Choir of the Ivan Karabits Artemivsk Music College was the second degree winner.

Thanks to the sponsors of the Festival (Brokbiznesbank, “Zlahoda”), the participants were presente with valuable gifts. Thus, laureates of the І and ІІ degrees received tape recorders and music centers, the laureates of the III degree – DVD. Other participants received clocks with the logo of the Festival from the LNU Design Department. The main prize – a TV set – was given to the owners of the Grand Prix. The boys’ choir “Liha” (Donetsk) was awarded with another DVD gift.

The deputy head of the Bank “Brokbiznesbank” Olexandr Trofimov, the acting Rector of LNU Serhiy Savchenko as well as Vice-rector of LNU Oleksandr Babichev and Head of LNU Design Department Olena Ponomar’ova congratulated the winners and presented the gifts.

“Choral art in Ukraine is an integral part of national culture,” as Serhiy Savchenko said. “It involves all the aspects of life and it is important”.

Apart from groups the best accompanists – Olena Andreeva (Artemivsk), Anatoliy Voskresensʹkyy (Khartsyzsk) and Larysa Labintseva (Luhansk) – were also awarded.

For the emotional performance of works, the best performance of spiritual music and the best performance of works ‘a capella’ the teams were awarded with diplomas from the chairman of the jury.

Presents from Luhansk National University’s administration were special – the collectives received booksetting kits. The leaders of the collectives received a set of book products, which included such books as: “Dialectics of “missing” and “redundant” in the educational space” by the author’s collective of B. Korotyayev, V. Kuril, V. Tretyachenko and V. Demydenko manual “Art in ideological education”. In addition to all the gifts, each participant of the Festival received two books: “The History of Luhansk Region” by V. Kuril, I. Brovchenko, O. Klimov and collection of works by Vasylʹ Holoborodko “Posivalnyk”.

The festival “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv” has become a real hotspot of choral art, where everyone who has his heart open, loves choral singing and music can be happy for children’s voices.

“The organizers of the festival gave all of us a wonderful choral holiday” – as the Festival coordinator Olexandr Babichev suggested.

The festival was born and is now thriving due to a wonderful person, the master of her business, the head of Children’s Choir Philharmonic Society, the associate professor at Chair of singing and conducting Olha Churikova-Kushnir.

It was her idea which was transformed into creative laboratory of the Philharmonic – Vocal and Choir Contest-Festivals.

2010

The umpteenth time, Luhansk gave a present to the true fans of the high genre of vocal-choral art meeting with music – IV International vocal and choral competition-festival “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv”. Today there was a bright gala concert, which was attended by winners of grades 1-3, diplomants and Grand Prix holders. The overcrowded auditorium with a large concert hall with every single exit to the scene simply was applause and cheering.

Despite the fact that the participants of the Festival represented different cultures, most of these talented contestants were representatives of our country. Such appreciation of music is not an accident. According to the legend, when the God distributed the benefits to the peoples of the world, Ukraine was the last in a queue. When it finally came to her, the Lord God had nothing to give, except for the song, that was delivered to Ukrainian people. That is why the melodic Ukrainian language and great percentage of gifted Ukrainians form the notion of “singing nation”, namely, Luhansk with the benefit of  the Festival which has become a capital of vocal and choral art.

At the gala concert there were solemn rewards for each of the nominations. So, the awarding was followed by the performances of the participants. Denis Zhdanov, a student of Kherson Music College (IV age category) and the representative of China Lin Ye, a student of Kiev Music Academy named after P. Tchaikovsky (age category V), became the winners of the I degree in the nomination of “Academic Solo Singing”.  In the nomination of “Vocal Ensembles” the laureates of the I degree were: The Quay ” Syayvo”: Kameneva Irina, Chistyakova Karina, Aksayskaya Lyudmila, Khomutova Diana (III age category).

In the V age group there was a Duo:  Xian Wei and Lin Ye, students from P. Chaikovsky Kyiv Music Academy and the Institute of Culture and Arts of Taras Shevchenko Luhansk National University. Duet “Barbie”: Samarsʹka Kateryna, Babyenko Oleksandra, the students of Institute of Culture and Arts of Taras Shevchenko Luhansk National University and Luhansk East-Ukrainian National University of V. Dahl; Vocal Ensemble of Students (China) at Institute of Culture and Arts of Taras Shevchenko Luhansk National University.

The first places holders in the nomination of «Variety solo singing» were the representatives of Ukraine: Serhiy Cherepakhin (1st age category), Polina Fuyor ( 2nd age category) and 4th age category –  Oleksandra Babenko. The choir groups distributed the laurels of victory as follows: in the 2nd age category choir “Scherzo” of School of Aesthetic Education № 2; Student choir “Svitanok” of Melitopol High School of Culture and the Choir of Children’s School of Art № 9 in the third age category.

By the way, the owners of the unique Grand Prix of the Festival were the participants of this nomination – the Chamber Choir of students of Taganrog State Pedagogical Institute.

Winners and participants were greeted by the acting Rector of Taras Shevchenko Luhansk National University Serhiy Savchenko, Vice-rector Oleksandr Babichev, Director of «Institute of Confucius» Serhiy Kharchenko and others. All of them pointed out that each year the vocal and choral festival grows according to the level of conducting, and to the variety of the participants. Thanks to this festival, Luhansk became one of the true luminaries of musical culture. Like any holiday doesn’t work without gifts, so the festival is not without surprises. In addition to the main awards, individual contestants were awarded by jury members. From the chairman of the jury, some participants received diplomas, and Denis Zhdanov (the winner in nomination “Academic solo singing”) received an invitation to a two-week master class in Vienna (Austria), which he received from Kurt Schmitt with financial support from Raiffeisen Bank Aval.

The Partners of the Festival – International Festival Committee “Life of the Cities” (Moscow) – gave the Vocal Ensemble (China) to students of the Institute of Culture and Arts of Taras Shevchenko National University a trip to Beijing; Choir “Romashka” of the School of Arts of Aesthetic Education № 2 (Ukraine) – a trip to Italy, and the Choir of students of the Luhansk National Agrarian University was invited to the International Festival in Spain. For the dissemination of national culture in the world and a significant contribution to the development of song art “Life of the cities” awarded with the diplomas Duet: Oleksandr Kozulov i Valeriya Proskurnya (Ukraine), the Vocal ensemble “Serebryanye zvonochky” (Russia), the Theater of the song “Neposedy” (Ukraine), the Choir «Clarino» (Ukraine). The festival committee did not forget about the leaders of the festival participants, who were thanked too. From the first day the vocal and choral festival “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv” became a unique phenomenon around which stories and traditions have been formed. One of such traditions is the performance of the festival to sing song “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv”, which unites hundreds of participants. Every year, this song ends the festival.

2011

A 5th International Vocal and Choral Contest-Festival “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv” took place in Luhansk. The forum was held at the Taras Shevchenko Luhansk National University under the patronage of the MP of Ukraine Vitaliy Kurylo. At the gala concert the results were summed up and identified the best of the best. Participants in the gala concert were Grand Prix winners and winners of the competition. The huge cultural endowment of the Festival, a significant contribution to the development of youth vocal creativity were noted by all who went out on stage to greet participants and winners. Among them: the Rector of Taras Shevchenko LNU Sergey Savchenko; Director of the Confucius Institute under the Chinese National University, Doctor of Philology, professor Gao Yuhai; Vice-rector on scientific and pedagogical work of LNU Oleksandr Babichev and members of the jury. The words of gratitude for the special role in the organization and support of the contest were expressed to the ideological inspirator – Director of the Festival, candidate of pedagogical sciences Olʹha Churikova-Kushnir. «Despite the fact that the preparation of the Festival and its holding is not an easy measure, I and all the organizers are very pleased,” said Olga Churikova-Kushnir. – Our team is well-composed and presented exclusively by creative people who “support” for their favorite employment. The main reward for our sleepless nights and busy days is the reaction of the hall – happy children’s voices».

 Recall that this year the music forum was held in Luhansk from March 9 to March 12. Its members included more than 20 choir groups, more than 20 vocal ensembles, 70 pop artists, 50 soloists of academic singing and a number of folk performers. The geography of participants grows year by year, gathering friends from different cities of Ukraine, Russia, China and Austria. The age of participants – from 6 to 25 years. The four days of the competition, the tireless jury, led by Austrian composer, conductor, professor at the Vienna University of Music and Fine Arts, artistic director of the Vienna seminar, Kurt Schmid, evaluated the various talents of boys and girls-contestants. The participants competed in five nominations, the most popular of which were “pop singing”, “academic solo singing”, “vocal ensembles” and “choral singing”. “Folk solo singing” nomination was insignificant for the number of participants, but it was presented by some of the strongest vocal voices. The laureate of the I degree in the nomination “Folk solo singing” (II age category) became Anastasia Sheloyevsʹkykh (Kupriyantseva) – Slavgorod, Belarus. In the nomination “Pop singing” the winners of the I degree were the representative of the I age category – Serhiy Cherepakhin (Luhansk); Second age category – Daryna Usachova (Zhovti Vody) and Hanna Syryk (Starobelsk); ІІІ – Yana Amelʹchenko( Luhansk). Laureates of the I degree in the nomination “Akademichnyy solʹnyy spiv” – representatives of the III age category – Vitaliy Lashko (Kharkiv) and IV age category – Kateryna Burik (Donetsk). The winners in the nomination “Vocal ensembles” were the representatives of the 2nd age category: the Vocal Ensemble «Allegro» (Luhansk), the «Kolibri Trio» (Sverdlovsk), the Folk Ensemble “Kupalachka” (Klychev, Belarus), the Vocal Ensemble  «Yunior Bomond» (Novopskov). Also, the Vocal Ensemble of Chinese Students (China) of the Institute of Culture and Arts of LNU became the IV degree winner. The nomination «Choral singing» is the most traditional and most difficult nomination of the song contest for the past 5 years. From this nomination the vocal and choral festival started in Luhansk. In the 1st age category the winner of the 1st degree was the choir «Radistʹ» (Donetsʹk). The second age category was the choir «Radistʹ» (Stakhanov) of the third age category – chor «Kantylena» (Mariupolʹ), IV age category – national choir of H. Skovoroda Pedagogical University  (Kharkiv). The owner of the Grand Prix became the choir of the musical college of E. Glinka (Minsk, Belarus). A number of collectives were awarded with special prizes of the Festival. Among them: the vocal ensemble “Azarnye notki” (Alchevsk), the leader – Olena Yakubenko; Trio “Kolibri” (Sverdlovsʹk), leader – Iryna Bobrovska; vocal ensemble “Assorti” (Taganrog), the leader – Olha Medik; the folk ensemble of school of arts (Shakhtersʹk), the leader – Tetyana Lozovska, the choir of school of art № 5 (Stakhaniv), the leader – Olena Rumyantseva. The winners are awarded! V International Voice and Choral Festival have passed, but next year Luhansk will again meet gifted and talented young musicians at the next VI Festival. See you!

2012

On March 9-12, 2010, Luhansk had met participants of the VI International Choir Contest-Festival «Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv», which took place at the LNU under the patronage of the president of LNU, Vitaly Kurylo. VI Festival gathered more than 300 participants from 6 countries. This year, to compete for Gran Prix teams from Russia (Tahanroh, Azov, Rostov-na-Donu), Belarus (Klychev, Minsʹk, Rohachov), Serbia, China, Austria and, of course, Ukraine (Luhansk, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Odessa , Donetsk, Chernihiv, Mariupol) have arrived. For 6 years the idea of development vocal-choral art has united more than 5 thousand participants of the Festival. This year’s competition took place in 4 nominations: “Pop singing”, “Academic solo singing”, “Vocal ensembles” and “Choral singing”. « More and more children and young people are revealing their performances on the stage of the Festival, – said Olha Churikova-Kushnir, director of the festival, candidate of pedagogical sciences, associate professor of the Department of Singing and Conducting in the Institute of Culture and Arts of the LNU. – The best for performers is that the Festival makes professional gifts. The owners of the Grand Prix of this year – vocal ensemble «Allegro» (Luhansk) – received a music center as a gift. And at the 2010 Denis Zhdanov (Kherson), after a brilliant performance, received a scholarship for a two-week master class in Vienna from an Austrian composer Kurt Schmid.

Every season opens new talents. Representatives of Belarus won the Grand Prix: soloists and chorus of the M. Glinka Minsk Music School last year. Also, members of the jury and listeners were impressed by originality of the chorus of Chinese students of the LNU. “

“Today it’s hard to believe that only six years ago this project took the first steps,” said President of LNU Vitaliy Kurylo. – Today the Festival is successful and prospective. It attracts people of Luhansk with creative thinking, bright, true personalities. This Festival has become an international business card of Luhansk region. We concluded that Luhansk should be known in the world as a city of youth festivals. Participants of the student dance festival will come to our region in the summer. This idea connected all the universities of the region. These projects will help create a modern cultural beau monde in our city, and the Luhansk scene will become a landmark and a starting point for future world-class stars. “

In April, the organizers of the Festival and students of LNU promise to make “Venetian Carnival”. All guests will be in a special atmosphere of the medieval feast: old contests, cartoons, photo workshops, etc. In the concert-competition program, there are 4 nominations: “serenades”, “masks”, “sonnets” (medieval poetry) and “dances”. Culmination will be a fiery peculiarity. This will be a street procession led by the King and the Queen of the Carnival.

2013

VІI International Voice and Choral Competition-Festival “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv” for seven years is held in Luhansk under the patronage of Vitaliy Kurylo, Rector of LNU.

Each year, this musical forum expands the geography of its members – young talented people, striving for the highest successes in vocal and choral arts. This time around 200 participants came to the Festival, including representatives from China, Moldova, Romania, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. These are the last year’s contestants and new entrants.

The competition usually lasted several days, from 9^th to 12^th of March. All this time there were competitions for nominations. These are choral singing, vocal ensembles, academic solo singing, pop solo singing, and folk solo singing. This year there was a new nomination – vocal debut, for participants from the age of 6 years.

“The scale and status that our forum now has is the main thing – music was and it is needed at any age and in any genre (we remind that the competition program includes both academic and popular, and folk songs)”, – says its organizer, the executive director of the Festival Olga Churikova-Kushnir.

“It is extremely interesting to organize a youth festival, – recognizes Olha Dmytrivna, – because the emotions of young talented performers and groups are sincere and extremely touching. A grateful childish look and smile worth a lot”.

A highly regarded mastiff jury, traditionally headed by Austrian composer, conductor, professor at the Vienna University of Music and Fine Arts, art director of the Vienna Music Seminar Kurt Schmid, evaluated all competitions. To the jury members of this year have joined the Honored Artist of Ukraine, associate professor of the chair of vocal and choral conducting of the Luhansk State Academy of Culture and Arts Lyudmila Manasyan, as well as Director of the Independent TV and Radio Company IRTA Karolina Poltavska.

The final day of the Festival ended with a grand gala concert, where the laureates of the 1st degree were awarded, and the Grand Prix holder was announced. The best participants of the competition took part in the gala concert.

So, the laureates of the first prize were: in the nomination “Academic solo singing” Azariil Ilnitskyi (Luhansk), Denys Hlushchenko (Kostyantynivka ), Vladyslav Nelin (Chernihiv), Lolita Burlachenko (Chernihiv), Denys Zhdanov (Kyiv), “Solo singing” – Milena Kurazyan (Stakhanov), Alina Tretyak (Zhovti Vody), Maria Kodryanu (Moldova), Olga Kudanova (Kyiv), “Folk solo singing” – Vladyslava Budchana ( Zhovti Vody), Diana Kachura (city of Sverdlovsk), Alina Cherkun (Kyiv) and Krystyna Kuvaitseva (Luhansk). Among the ensembles, the first places were taken: in the nomination “Vocal Ensembles” Duet Doshyna Daria, Kolyada Tetyana (Horlivka), Children’s Show Clip Theater “Let’s Be Together” (Dnipropetrovsk), Vocal Ensemble “Melodika” (Sukhodilsk ), The Vocal Ensemble “Premiera” (Alchevsk), Trio  “Kolibri”  (Sverdlovsk), the Vocal Ensemble “Allegro” (Luhansk), the Children’s Show Clip Theater “Budmo Razom” (Dnipropetrovsk) in the second age category, Duet Musvik Irina, Savina Lyudmyla (Luhansk).

In the nomination “Choral singing” the winners of the First Prize were: Choir “Veselka” (Donetsk), Choir “Romashka” (Luhansk), Chorus “Sonechko” (Novopskov), Choir “Scherzo” (Luhansk) , Choir of the senior classes “Edelveis” (Antratsit ), Student Choir of  S. Prokofiev Severodonetsk Regional Music College, Student Choir “Svitanok” (Kharkiv).

The Chamber Choir “Lelechenki” of the Oles Honchar School of Ukrainian Culture and Arts (Dnipropetrovsk) became the Grand Prix winner.

All winners received diplomas, cups and special prizes and gifts.

One of the surprises for the participants was certificates from the partners of the vocal and choral competition. Holders of such certificates have possibility to get  free informational support during the current year in a particular media.

Representatives of “IRTA TV” channel, “XXI century” newspaper, and glossy magazine “Boulevard” during all competitive days watched the contestants and chose the best ones. So, certificates from “IRTA” received choirs “Scherzo”, “Dzherelo”, “Sonechko”, vocal ensemble “Premiera”, trio “Kolibri”; from “Nedelya” – choirs “Scherzo”, “Dzherelo”; from “Boulevard” – trio “Kolibri”; from “XXI Vek” – vocal ensemble “Allegro”.

2014

Moldovans, Romanians, Chinese and Ukrainians sang at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Luhansk. Boys and girls from different countries of the world gathered at the VIII International Choir Contest-Festival “Khay pisnya sklykaye druziv” in the city of Luhansk.

Traditionally, the festival is held in the first days of spring at the LNU. The contest lasted from 9 to 12 of March. Participants from Moldova, Romania, China and Ukraine, which is more than 130 soloists and 40 vocal and choir groups, have fought for several days in various nominations for victory. Among them are solo vocals in three genres: pop, folk and academic, as well as choral singing and vocal ensembles. The absolute winner of the Festival and the winner of the Grand Prix became the Folk vocal and choral group “Kantylena” (Mariupol). They sang without words. In the academic genre, the vocalists performed the world musical compositions with voices and sounds.

Annually, the music forum collects contestants of different ages – from the youngest – 6 years old (they perform in a separate nomination “Vocal debut”) to 25 years. Organizers note that among the participants there are more children. They caused a storm of positive emotions in the audience. “Children’s smiles, laughter, joy and tears – it’s the happiness for which you want to attend such events. All participants wanted to show and reveal their talent, someone got more, someone was less, but the children tried hard. They are all already winners, because contrary to all they gave joy to others. This is a good example for us adults, “- shared the impressions from the concert spectator Kateryna Shataylo.

Despite the young age, the participants performed serious musical compositions. This year in the repertoire of foreign guests there were not only world hits, they also sang about Ukraine. For example, under the supervision of a master student from China, a group of Chinese students performed the song of Sofia Rotaru “Odna Kalyna” . The audience listened excitedly to their unusual vocals and applauded standing.

The organizers believe that the participants come to the competition not only to show their talent. “I want to say that the Festival today is an international cultural forum, where they come not only to perform, but also to learn skills, exchange experience of teams and performers from several states”, – noted the Executive Director of the Festival Olga Churikova-Kushnir.

For the first time this year, the jury included the general secretary of the Federation of the Association of Centers and Clubs of Moldova UNESCO, producer Eugenia Ursu. An Austrian composer, conductor, professor at the Vienna University of Music and Fine Arts headed the jury, artistic director of the Vienna Music Seminar Kurt Schmid.

The founders and organizers of the festival are Taras Shevchenko National University of Luhansk, the Confucius Institute Educational and Cultural Center, and the NGO “Pisnya sklykaye druziv “. The LNU admitted that they seek how to influence and develop the vocal-choral art, find young talents, and believe that the Festival helps to develop creative contacts and cooperation of Luhansk region in the field of culture with other regions.