Orthodox choir to perform in Canonsburg
In the 43 years that Rebecca Danchenko has been a member of the Pittsburgh-based Cathedral Choir, she has performed for local diocesan services, as well as in venues as large as the Carnegie Music Hall and Heinz Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh.
This Sunday will be another milestone for the choir, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a concert at St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church in Canonsburg.
The Cathedral Choir of the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania is composed of about 40 men and women from various Orthodox churches in the region. The a capella group performs liturgical pieces by composers including Rachmaninov, Chesnokov and Kastalsky.
Danchenko, of West Mifflin, was following in the footsteps of her father, who also sang in a church choir, when she joined the Cathedral Choir as a teenager. She said it was “thrilling” to participate in a joint concert with the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, but her most memorable performance was singing for a packed audience at Heinz Chapel for the 1,000-year celebration of Orthodoxy.
“The selections we sang were very moving, and there were parts of the concert that I couldn’t sing because I got emotional,” Danchenko said.
Archpriest Igor Soroka, rector of St. Nicholas Church in Donora, also cited the Heinz Chapel performance as the choir’s most meaningful. Soroka, who graduated from the school of music at Duquesne University and directed choirs in Philadelphia and Detroit before becoming a priest, has been directing the Cathedral Choir since it started in 1963.
“At that time, there was, I recall, a festival of young people from all over the country … the youth leaders and what have you from all the different jurisdictions of the church, different ethnic backgrounds,” Soroka said of a choir performance he helped organize at the former Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
After the performance, Soroka was approached by several people who wanted to continue singing in the choir, and “that was the genesis of where it all began,” Soroka said.
The choir last performed at the Orthodox church in Canonsburg in 2000, and a recording of the performance was converted to CD. The choir has released five recordings in recent years. The concert begins Sunday at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a social hour in the church hall.
“We’d just like to have people come and sit and listen to what is possible,” Danchenko said.