Stepan Korin (July 30, 1914, Dunayiv village, now Peremyshlyany district, Lviv region - April 13, 2007, Melbourne, Australia) was a prominent Ukrainian choral conductor and teacher.
Stepan Korin was born on July 30, 1914, in the village of Dunayiv (now in the Peremyshlyany district, Lviv region), in the family of an employee, Mr. Ivan Korin. In 1915, together with his parents, he moved to Zalishchyky, where their family permanently settled. After graduating from the Zalishchyky seven-year folk school in 1928, Stepan Korin entered the state teacher's seminary in Zalishchyky and received his teaching diploma in 1931. However, even while studying at the seminary, music became his favorite subject; he sang and played the violin well, and helped his teachers learn the voice parts of the choir.
From 1935, Stepan Korin studied music at the State Conservatory of Music in Warsaw, graduating in 1938 with a degree in choral conducting, but despite this, he continued his studies at another faculty, orchestral (symphonic) conducting. During his studies, Stepan Ivanovych became a member of the Philharmonic Choir and a leading member of the choral chapel under the direction of the prominent Polish composer, choral conductor, teacher and activist of the local musical society, Professor Stanisław Kazuro.
During the Second World War, Stepan Korin worked as a commentator for a film studio and conductor of the Basilian Fathers' church choir, and after the war he directed the Sich student choir in Graz, Austria.
In May 1945, in the West German city of Kressbron, which was then in the French occupation zone, Stepan Korin organized the famous Chaika Choir together with his fellow Zalishchyky natives, Dr. Myroslav Volodymyr Hnatiuk, a prominent singer, OUN member, professional doctor, soloist of the Kobza Choir, and his older brother, engineer Bohdan Taras Hnatiuk, a well-known choir. Myroslav-Volodymyr Hnatiuk was the head of the Board during the entire period of the choir's existence in West Germany; the then mixed composition of the choir consisted of 26 people, and the accompanist was a native of the village of Kutkivtsi (now part of Ternopil), engineer Myroslav Boliukh. "The Chaykivchany constantly participated in all traditional Ukrainian performances and celebrations of Ukrainian diaspora centers, and also toured the larger cities and towns of the French occupation zone of Germany with independent concerts. By the way, this artistic group performed in West Germany until Stepan Korin's departure to Australia and the Hnatiuk brothers' departure to North America.
From 1951, Stepan Korin was the director and conductor of the mixed choir "Chaika", but in Melbourne, he was the artistic director of vocal quartets (part of the ensembles of the choir "Chaika"): Coralie, a women's group, and Accord, a men's group, as well as a mixed octet and a bass quartet; only in 1970 did the choir become exclusively male.
Conductor Stepan Korin included well-known Ukrainian folk songs, humorous and historical, everyday and lyrical, in the repertoire of the Chayka Choir. Later, he focused his attention on studying respectable repertoire, such as the chorus from Mykola Arkas's opera Catherine, "The Fog Lies in Waves..." from the opera Drowned, the cantata The Poet Lives in the Hearts of His People, and Freckles, all by Mykola Lysenko, the cantata The Thresholds Are Breaking... by Hryhoriy Davydovskyi and many others. The newest part of the repertoire includes songs by Ukrainian composers from mainland Ukraine, such as Platon Maiboroda, Anatoliy Kos-Anatolsky, Yevhen Kozak, Borys Liatoshynsky, Vitaliy Kyreiko, Hryhoriy Veryovka, Ihor Shamo, Stepan Sabodash, Avenir Kolomyets, Judith Rozhavska, and others, which were not well known in the emigration. In 1962, the Chaika Choir, under the direction of Stepan Koren, took part in the production of the opera Catherine in collaboration with the Mykola Lysenko Theater in Melbourne.
Under the direction of its artistic director, Stepan Koren, the Chaika Choir constantly improved its professional level and gained considerable popularity among Ukrainian and foreign audiences. In addition to independent concerts, numerous performances were organized at domestic national and religious performances, Australian state celebrations, and charity concerts. In 1965, the Chayka Choir celebrated the 20th anniversary of its founding and the 20th anniversary of the artistic work of its director, Stepan Koren, with a grand jubilee concert.
The Chayka Choir gave hundreds of performances in Melbourne and concerts in major and minor cities in Australia to Ukrainian and multinational audiences, making the choir under the direction of Stepan Koren a representative and popular carrier of Ukrainian culture in a foreign land. In 1953, the choir released its first recordings, followed by five more. With its performance in Sydney in 1962, the Chaika Choir launched the so-called interstate exchange of artistic forces. In 1963, the choir was filmed for the movie Ukrainians in Australia, directed by Petro Antonovych Kardash, a native of the village of Telyache, Pidhaitsi district, who once published the youth magazine Promin and was professionally engaged in film production, including the feature-length film Churches of the People, in addition to the aforementioned Ukrainians in Australia. In 1966, the Chayka Choir, together with the Coralie Quartet, performed on Australian television in a program called Ukrainian Suite.
On October 9, 1985, the Chaika Choir, under the direction of Stepan Koren, performed at the United Nations in New York on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of its founding, for the first time in Ukrainian, and was awarded the UN blue flag. In general, from September 20 to October 13, 1985, the Chayka Choir, led by conductor S. Koren, performed concerts in many cities in North America, including Edmonton, Winnipeg, Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, and others.
In December 1991, immediately after the all-Ukrainian referendum in support of Ukraine's independence, the Chaika choir led by Mr. Korin started raising funds to support the Embassy of Ukraine in Australia, and the following year, at the invitation of Ukrainian authorities from Zalishchyky, Stepan Korin took part in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Mykhailo Orest Haivoronsky, a prominent composer, musician, conductor, teacher, violinist, critic, and public figure, sub-commander, organizer of the Sich Riflemen brass band, inspector (visitor) of military bands of the Ukrainian Galician Army (UGA), and chief chaplain of the UPR Army. In 1992, S. Korin conducted the men's choir "Homin" in his hometown of Zalishchyky, which skillfully performed the famous works of Mykhailo Haivoronsky. Later, in 1994, the Chayka Choir under the direction of Stepan Koren took an active part in celebrating the 45th anniversary of the settlement of the Ukrainian community in Victoria, the 110th anniversary of the Ukrainian World Women's Movement, and the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Women.
On the eve of the choir's 50th anniversary in 1995, the men's choir was joined by a women's group, mostly made up of former members of the Chaika. Thus, the mixed and women's choirs were restored, with a total of 41 members. The final anniversary concert took place in Melbourne on December 10, 1995.
On the occasion of the Chayka Choir's anniversary, Stepan Koren's fellow countrymen from Zalishchyky celebrated this date with a special concert, and in October 1995, at the 9th Podil Historical and Local History Conference in Kamianets Podilskyi, scholars Vasyl and Hanna Oliinyk presented a detailed report "Conductor Stepan Koren," and the Zalishchyky Local History Museum organized an exhibition about the Chayka Choir. The choir and the conductor received congratulatory letters from the then Ministry of Culture, the Zalishchyky District State Administration, and colleagues from the Zalishchyky chapel "Homin".
Stepan Korin passed away on April 13, 2007. He was buried in the Ukrainian section of the Faulkner Cemetery in Melbourne. On March 1, 2014, his wife Halyna Korin, from the Hlukhover family, passed away.
Awards.
Between 1954 and 1995, the Chaika Choir and its permanent director, Stepan Korin, received 27 different certificates and awards, including 11 from the Ukrainian Community of Victoria and five from the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations.
