KYIV – One hundred years ago, the Ukrainian Republican Capella, under the direction of the talented conductor Oleksander (Alexander) Koshetz, set out on a world tour to promote Ukraine as a newly independent state, to show the world who the Ukrainians were, and how they longed for a free and independent state.
Commissioned by Symon Petliura, the head of the Ukrainian National Republic, and funded by his government’s Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs, the 100-member choir had a mission: to conquer the West through soft power, to tell the story of its emergence on the world stage through the melodies of such great composers as Mykola Leontovych, Kyrylo Stetsenko and Mykola Lysenko, through songs of the glorious Kozak past and hymns of Ukraine’s rich choral tradition.