Verovka National Chorus

Verovka National Chorus (Національний заслужений академічний український народний хор ім. Григорія Верьовки; Natsionalnyi zasluzhenyi akademichnyi ukrainskyi narodnyi khor im. Hryhoriia Verovky). A professional performing collective founded as the Ukrainian State Choir in Kharkiv in 1943 and based in Kyiv since 1944. The ensemble consists of a mixed chorus, dance troupe, and folk musical instruments orchestra. Its repertoire includes traditional and recent Ukrainian folk songs, works of contemporary Ukrainian composers, and classical music, and its style is based on a refined form of traditional Ukrainian folk harmonizations. The ensemble is the largest collective of its kind in Ukraine and the most influential in artistic terms. Notwithstanding a routine amount of propaganda in its performances, during the Soviet period the ensemble fostered traditional forms of music-making and supported Ukrainian folk artists, such as Nina Matviienko, V. Martynenko, I. Melnychenko, P. Pavliuchenko, N. Tsiupa, and V. Boiko. The chorus has made numerous recordings and has concertized throughout the former USSR and abroad. Its artistic directors have been Hryhorii Verovka (1943–64), Eleonora Skrypchynska (1964–6), Anatolii Avdiievsky (1966–2016), and Zenovii Korinets (conductor) and Ihor Kuryliv (director) since 2016. The group was named after Verovka in 1965 and it was granted a national status in 1997.

[This article was updated in 2020.]