"Since their inception, Ukrainian Village Voices has staked a claim as one of the premier performance ensembles of Ukrainian vocal traditions in the West."

- Dr. Adriana Helbig, Ethnomusicology (scholarly journal, Winter 2020)

About UVV Performances:

• “When singing songs from rural Ukraine, they said they see those living through these tragic times in their homeland.“ - PIX 11

• “The opening act [of Brooklyn Folk Festival] for the performances on the main stage in St.Ann’s sanctuary was Ukrainian Village Voices, a choral group based in New York’s East Village, home to a large Ukrainian American community. They opened with several traditional wedding songs, all of which ended with a loud “Ooooh!” A timely inclusion, although from years ago, was a song by a son about to join the Army, whose mother assures him, “You’ll be back in three years.” They finished with a rollicking song about drinking together. I knew someone whose ancestry was half Irish and half Ukrainian, and he said the two sides got together nicely.” - Brooklyn Heights Blog

• Voice of America joined us for our outdoor East Village koliada and also covered our virtual koliada in 2021. They hung out with us again in 2022.

• Voice of America covered our show, “Koliadky Reimagined: Ukrainian Carols in the 21st Century.”

• "A panoply of performances added to the joyous beauty of the show. The celebration after the Vertep included Zhanna Marchinska on the cello, the Koliadnyky, the Ukrainian Village Voices and Nova Opera singing the finale, which was the song “Shchedryk” composed by Mykola Leontovych in 1914." - The Ukrainian Weekly

• Dressed in beautifully embroidered traditional folk costumes, Iryna Voloshyna, Laryssa Czebiniak, Ezra Halleck and Asia Mieleszko of the Ukrainian Village Voices entered, their four voices brilliantly blended on “Shcho Na Richtsi, Shcho Na Yordani.” In response, Mr. Kostyuk and Mykola Zelenchuk greeted them with a lively “Plies z Dzvinkamy” stepping dance. The response to the Koliadnyky was the shchedrivka “Shcho v Pana Khazayina,” sung as a round, with the foursome now in two duos creating an intricate and lyrical weaving. Ms. Czebiniak concluded the quartet’s visit with a vinshuvannia for the koliadnyky.” - The Ukrainian Weekly

• An article about our Koliada in Manhattan (with photos and video): ​У суботу на Мангеттені лунали рідкісні українські колядки та щедрівки. - Ukrinform / Укрінформ

• The unaccompanied song resonated in the heart of the church. Voices belted out minor melodies with a guttural bottom, the dark tones matching the barely lit sanctuary of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, already starting to fill with an audience for the ninth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival. - The Old-Time Herald

• Here, the 13 voices explored a range of vocalizations, changing tempos and dynamics, at times a celestial choir and then raw power, their fluid harmonies reaching a pinnacle of vocal performance. - The Ukrainian Weekly

• Святкову частину продовжив гурт Ukrainian Village Voices - один з найколоритніших виконавців етнічної української музики. Й знову ж таки, що особливо щемно, більшість з них - це не українці, а люди, які не володіють українською мовою, але зачаровані мелодійністою нашого народного співу. Translation: Continuing the festivities was Ukrainian Village Voices, one of the most colorful performers of ethnic Ukrainian music. And what is especially moving is that most of them are not Ukrainian, but people who do not speak Ukrainian yet are enchanted by the melodicity of our folk singing. - Nova Gazeta

• The Brooklyn Folk Festival feels like an unexpected haven for folk’s weirder, wilder, more diverse, and more provocative strains. It offers its own definition of the form. … The weekend will also feature … Ukrainian Village Voices. - The New Yorker

• Ukrainian Village Voices sang folk songs of that land in spine-tingling harmony. - Brooklyn Heights Blog

• Standing in the wings are the Ukrainian Village Voices, who sing the old songs in the traditional village style. They are absofreakintively fantastic! - EV Grieve commentary

• The group announced they’d be caroling door-to-door to celebrate Koliada, an ancient pagan tradition in Ukraine, so I invited them over. - Public Radio International

• З фольклорними піснями автентичними здебільшого для центральної та східної України виступили ,,Українські Сільські Голоси” (Ukrainian Village Voices). До слова, цей унікальний ансамбль, більшість учасників котрого не є україномовними, збирається цьогоріч вперше особисто відвідати старожилів із віддалених українських сіл, котрі знають і співають маловідомі народні пісні, щоб традиція українського фольклорного співу залишалася живою. - Cвобода

About the UVV Album:

• "Ukrainian Village Voices releases debut album with concert (The Ukrainian Weekly)

• Фолкльорний ансамбль випустив свій перший альбом (Cвобода)

About UVV’s Trip to Ukraine

• Article from the Yavorivshchyna Newspaper in Ukraine, January 23, 2020. В ансамблі «Українські Сільські Голоси» лише половина має етнічний зв’язок з Україною (Яворівщина)

About UVV Workshops:

• Crimean Tatar media covered our virtual workshop with Uriye Kermenchikli and Dinara Faizova [in Russian].

• A Ukrainian-language article about our vocal workshop at Sheepshead Bay Library

• "Singing together is something we used to do all the time, and at some point we stopped doing it," says Nadia Tarnawsky, who flew from Seattle to New York to lead a folk music workshop. "I think people miss it." - Voices of NY

• The event had the two musicians drawing on their repertoire of Ukrainian folk and liturgical music, Yiddish folk music and Hassidic music. - The Ukrainian Weekly

• Ukrainian singing instruction and vocal workshops were also offered by Laryssa Czebiniak of the New York-based vocal group Ukrainian Village Voices. - The Ukrainian Weekly