Remember the remarks about «entire happiness», which, as a rule, lacks just the little things. Finding the little things that will make you a happy person is not easy. Many do not stress, and Ukraine ranks 133rd on the results of the World Happiness Report 2018. However, Zosia Zosym, our heroine, has found her happiness and knows how to share it. After the concert, a participant of the Inspiratum choir, who greeted the Zhytomyr people with their singing, told us about what can make a person happy
«Both parents had quite good hearing, my mother sang at school, but it was not professional – purely amateur art. I have not heard that we have singers in our family, but I cannot call myself a singer in particular. It’s just a love of music and hobbies»
«For eight years I studied at the Kyiv Children’s Art School N 6 named after G. Zhukovskiy in the piano class. We had a very strong choir and a very demanding and cool choirmaster Oksana Valeriivna. She paid much attention to detail, told how to properly tighten the diaphragm, open mouth and take a breath. She treated me very kindly and believed that I had every chance to become an opera singer»
«I will not be discouraged to say that now, with the advent of the Inspiratum choir in my life, singing by 30-35% has become a part of my life. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work anymore, because it takes almost all the time. It is my way to relieve stress and do what I love very much, great pleasure»
«I have a journalism education – graduated from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Journalism. And when I chose which university to prefer, the list included the Institute of Journalism, the Conservatory and the Faculty of Biology of the KNU. Named after T. Shevchenko. When I made the final decision, journalism won from a practical point of view. It seemed to me that a journalist’s profession is always an opportunity to make money, at any time. And singing … Well, my voice will not be taken away, in the end, as it seemed to me at the time, I will be able to get a second education at another university, which has an academic «singing bent». It happened, I don’t regret it»
«There are people who come out into the clear field screaming, but I have the ability to shout on notes and even get into them, so why not use this wonderful opportunity? Still others like it. (Laughs). I have been a journalist for three years, and now I am a creative director at Royenko Agency. And it is very important for my work to have many ways to inspire and keep myself in the resource. My colleagues are very supportive of me, they go to concerts and are always around»
«Usually, our ensemble has two tours a year: Christmas carols and spring, early May. In Roman Catholics, May is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and we give concerts with the Ave Maria program. We have many variants of this work, all of them are incredibly insightful and fragile. Singing this program is a great pleasure, but the Christmas program is incredible. Festive! A typical tour usually takes seven to nine days. We are trying to choose a festive time: January is New Year’s Eve, January 2-3, and May. It’s easier to take a day off from work because all the members of the ensemble work, and singing in the choir is not our main activity. But we almost do not interfere with work – we are all trying to adjust to the schedule these days»
«We often perform in Poland, the main concerts take place there, but on this Christmas trip we visited Germany – we had concerts in Wolfsburg. It is where the Volkswagen car factory is located. It was very interesting. Unfortunately, we had very little free time, so we didn’t even walk around the city in particular. The girls had previously visited Latvia and visited Riga»
«The city of Hetschwald was very remembered from that May trip, it is also called the Polish Lourdes place of the appearance of the Virgin Mary. There is also a source that they consider healing. This is a place of pilgrimage where there are always many people, and we are very fortunate to have a small concert there. The atmosphere and feelings that appeared during that concert – do not convey in words! We’ve all been discussing them for a very long time, because each of us has nearly no tears rolling. It is such a sacred and «molten» place that it is simply impossible not to plunge into a special atmosphere»
«For a long time now (since 2011) I have been singing in St. Alexander’s Cathedral in Kyiv. At first I sang in the Polish Choir. It was not an ensemble, just a choir that sang during worship. Sometimes during the holidays, we give concerts in other temples. Unfortunately, it was the Polish choir that temporarily stopped working and I was invited to try myself at the Inspiratum ensemble. It was quite extreme: they were urgently looking for the man with the first soprano. At the end of December there was a concert in Kyiv, and on January 2, Poland and Germany had to go on a trip. I joined the team in early November, so I had about a month and a half to study the whole program. And this is close to 16-18 works. Among them are ones you won’t find on You Tube. I had to learn everything very quickly, but I managed to do it»
«My first tour trip was very difficult: shortly before I became ill with the flu, and although I was slightly healed, I still had an incredible weakness. I slept on the bus almost all the time, but the girls were very supportive, guarding, making sure I was taking medication and eating on time. I was back home completely healthy»
«Our regent Svitlana Kaznodiy selects a repertoire, and it is quite diverse: from recognizable classical to unique authors. The author of arrangements for well-known compositions is Vitaliy Kaznodiy, a professional composer who, in addition to liturgical and academic music, writes music for films and commercials. Sister Lyudmula Saganivska writes words for copyrighted works»
«It all depends on the team. When there are male voices, it’s a different tune, a different depth of music. There are other features in the women’s team: very gentle and, to me, an unmistakable sound. Works written for «mixed choir» need to be reworked and arranged differently, because women’s choirs have a completely different range. Sometimes the sound of the same piece may change beyond recognition if made purely for female voices»
«In the team, we are all friends, we spend a lot of time together on trips, we live in the same rooms. We always support each other and there is always something to talk about – all in one wave»
«I have no favorite songs. There are those which I like it more because of certain harmonies, which are different for every person. But to single out one … It is impossible, because it all depends on the mood. It is also important to remember that we sing very special music – spiritual»
«In other countries, people react very warmly to the Ukrainian team, saying that our singing inspires them. It seems to me that Ukrainian women, have the opportunity to inspire, to invest a lot of soul in every note, so people feel not only music and well-composed notes, but also mood, feelings, faith and inspiration»
«Our women should not forget about themselves – to love and value themselves, to seek new faces and to develop them. If they don’t seem to understand, don’t be afraid to take a chance. Try to get a sense of happiness every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a second or a permanent state. Capture this feeling, say it to yourself «here it is, I’m happy right now.» Do your best to have that feeling, because when you are happy, everyone around you will be the same»
«All Ukrainian songs convey the essence of the Ukrainian soul, many authentic folk works, many stories. There is a whole story behind each song. Polish and Ukrainian songs differ slightly in harmony: Ukrainian has more Slavic color, and Polish ones are already Europeanized, with such Gregorian motives. But we have so many joint works. In our repertoire are traditional Polish carols that we translated into Ukrainian and updated arrangements: «In Bethlehem» («Dzisiaj w Betlejem») and «Sleep, My Jesus» («Lulajze, Jezuniu»)»
«If a person wants to sing, that cannot be banned. If there is no voice, then some work on yourself and training can improve both hearing and voice. It is very rare that a person has absolutely no hearing. This is usually just a rejection of certain harmonies, but you can learn it. I personally heard that people who seemed to sing badly over time and with constant training and rehearsals had significantly improved their skills. Patience and work create miracles»
«I came to Zhytomyr for the first time, and I saw the church for the first time. It can be seen that it has a long history but is well restored. New murals on the walls, bright and beautiful. Very good acoustics. And what impresses is the organ! It is a pity that I haven’t an opportunity to hear it, so there is a reason to return. I hope so!»
