Choir member JoAnn Lucs has been singing at St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral, 1701 5th St. NE, since she was seven years old.
“I started in the junior choir,” she said. “Many parish families, like mine, have a long history with the St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral Choir.” Some singers are descendants of the parish’s founding families. Others are second, third and even fourth generation choir members. “My uncle sang in the choir,” she added. “My husband, son, and cousins are also members.”
St. Mary’s has no organ; the choir performs a cappella. “I was always taught that the best instrument created by God is the human voice,” Lucs said.
St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral Choir is one of the oldest and largest Orthodox choirs in North America. Led by director Deacon Gregory Ealy, the group rehearses weekly and maintains a regular singing schedule at church services, weddings, funerals, memorial services, and on holy days.
This year, the choir is celebrating its 125th anniversary in a flurry of nearly non-stop activities. They released a CD in February, hosted an international music symposium in June, enjoyed a banquet in October, and will perform two concerts—including one at the Museum of Russian Art—in December.
The history
The church was founded in 1891. Four years later, Professor Paul Zaichenko became the church’s first choir director. Zaichenko belonged to the Conservatory of Music in Chicago. An accomplished pianist and musician, he helped develop Russian Orthodox Church a cappella singing in the United States. At St. Mary’s, he enlisted a group of men—who had no previous musical training—to sing at divine services.
According to church history, “their desire to sing and the dedication of the Professor to teach them served as the foundation for well over a century of beautiful church singing, glorifying God through hymns and songs of praise in the church.”
The choir’s repertoire “reflects the Russian polyphonic heritage embraced by the Carpatho-Rusyn founders of the parish.” Over the last 30 years, choir directors have introduced various Orthodox chant traditions and new arrangements and compositions by American Orthodox musicians.
Choir activities
Every year in the summer, St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral Choir has a picnic. It also takes a break from rehearsals, but still sings at services.
“All the people who have grown up in the church have been singing for so many years, we know the music,” Lucs said. “We have two huge song notebooks that we sing from.”
At Christmastime, they visit shut-ins and elderly parish members’ homes and sing carols. Ealy said that they used to sing in the Holidazzle Parade in downtown Minneapolis. Last year, they appeared at the Holidazzle marketplace. They have performed concerts at the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis. In past years, they traveled to New York and Pennsylvania to sing at seminaries, and to Las Vegas to sing at a church consecration.
Easter, or Pascha, is always their biggest event of the year. “It is the most joyous event,” Lucs said. “At Vespers at 3:30 there is no room in the church. It is packed to the hilt. It is bright outside and the church is so beautiful.”
Ealy said that Easter is the central part of the liturgical year. “The hymnography, the music, everything points toward Easter in our liturgical experience. If you want a good Easter service and you live in Northeast, you should come here.”
(The church also has a well-known balalaika orchestra, which is not affiliated with the choir. The choir sings liturgical music. The orchestra plays traditional ethnic music.)
2016 anniversary events
The St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral Choir recorded its new CD, “Make Ready O Bethlehem,” inside the church, which Ealy said has excellent acoustics. They recorded 25 songs in two and a half days. Half the songs are liturgical church music and the other half includes secular carols from the eastern Slavic regions. The CD is available for sale at the parish center across the street from the church.
From June 22 to 26, the church was the site of the Pan-Orthodox Liturgical Music Symposium, an event hosted by the International Society for Orthodox Church Music. Open to all choir directors, singers, chanters, musicologists, researchers and composers, it drew 130 people from all over the world, including guest conductors from Finland, Portugal and Canada and speakers from the east and west coasts. The professional ensemble Cappella Romana performed; its guest conductor was Fr. Ivan Moody, an orthodox priest and composer from Portugal.
The anniversary celebration banquet at Jax Café attracted 154 attendees on Oct. 2. The banquet’s program listed all 25 St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral Choir directors who had served since 1891. John P. Dzubay had the longest tenure at 45 years, from 1918 to 1963.
The choir will perform a free concert at the church on December 10 at 7:30 p.m. Also, the group will perform at the Museum of Russian Art on December 18 at 5:30. Tickets are available through the museum.
Lucs said that her many years of singing with the choir have been wonderful. “I love music and I love to sing. It’s been said that ‘when you sing, you pray twice.’ That is truly how I feel.”
Below: 1928 with director John Dzubay, it was the 37th Anniversary of the choir (submitted photo) and a current photo of the choir (Photo by Margo Ashmore).
