About
Myron Maksymiw
Myron Maksymiw grew up in England and Italy and trained as a pianist, composer and conductor. In 1981 Myron Maksymiw founded Musicus Bortnianskii to foster the works of Ukrainian baroque classical composers, a field very much neglected. A champion of the works of Dmytro Bortniansky (1751-1825), Maksymiw has premiered most of this composer’s music encompassing choral concerti for single and double choir, chamber music, overtures and many excerpts from various operas. Much effort is being made to research and perform the virtually unknown music of Western composers such as Galuppi and Sarti who worked in Eastern Europe. Myron Maksymiw is also an avid performer of Ukrainian contemporary choral music written both in Ukraine and in the West.
In 1988, he was invited to be the conductor of the Ukrainian Millennium Choir in Rome celebrating 1000 years of Christianity in Ukraine.
While living in Lviv, Ukraine for five years, Myron Maksymiw held the position of Choir Director of St. George’s Cathedral. As conductor of Trembita State Choir (Lviv), he promoted classical and contemporary Ukrainian music, introduced the choir to Western repertoire and toured in Ukraine, Poland, Belgium and Germany. He has also worked with different University and Academy of Arts and Sciences choirs in Kyiv and Lviv leading them in many concerts as well as conducting choral workshops.
Myron Maksymiw is also Music Director of St. Demetrius Choral Society at St. Demetrius Ukrainian Catholic Church. The a cappella choir which consists, predominantly, of amateur singers, performs liturgical music from all historical periods. The choir’s rich and constantly changing repertoire includes liturgical parts and responses by such greats as Bortniansky, Berezowsky and Vedel, and complete liturgies by Mykola Diletsky, Oleksandr Koshyts, Kyrylo Stetsenko, Mykola Leontovych, Iakiv Iatsynevych, Petro Honcharov, Myron Fedoriv, and Andrij Hnatyshyn. The choir sings the Holy Liturgy every Sunday morning, and Vespers and Matins for Christmas and Easter.
Mr. Maksymiw has compiled, edited, arranged, and published all the music the choir performs because publication of Ukrainian liturgical and sacred music is virtually non-existent, . Further to the Composer Series of publications, he has compiled, edited, arranged and published for choir an “Anthology of Church Hymns and Carols” (1st ed. 1997; 2nd ed. 2004), a book of changeable parts for Sunday services and Feast Days titled “Troparia and Kontakia” (1st ed. 1996; 2nd edition 2004), and the four-part Liturgy by Mykola Diletsky (1650-1723), (1st ed. 1987; 2nd ed. 2005).
Myron Maksymiw has served on juries for the Ontario Arts Council. His music activities include the CBC (radio/television) and most recently BBC Radio 3. He has 10 recordings to his credit. In 1988 Myron Maksymiw was awarded the Fellowship of Stong College (York University). He is mentioned together with Musicus Bortnianskii in Encyclopedia of Ukraine (University of Toronto Press) and is noted as an artist of Ukraine in the publication Artists of Ukraine, Kyiv, 1992.