George Holowko

George Holowko [Юрій Головко], (b. 1906 in Pysarivka, Odesa, Ukraine; d. March 1, 1980, in North Bay, Ontario, Canada). George Holowko was born in 1906 in the Ukrainian village of Pysarivka (Odesa oblast). He received his education at the Theological Seminary in Kamianets-Podilskyi. Afterwards, he went on to study choral conducting in Kyiv under Mykola Leontovych at the Lysenko Conservatory. From 1933 to 1941, he served as choirmaster for the Kyiv Opera House. He was conscripted by the Germans during the Second World War to work as a slave laborer. It was at that time that he managed to organize and direct the “Trembita” Male Chorus. Holowko was brought to Canada in 1948 at the behest of Archbishop Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) and was installed as choir director at St. John’s in Edmonton (1949–51). Later, he relocated to Toronto to lead the choir at St. Volodymyr Cathedral (1952-1969). He died on March 1, 1980, in North Bay, Ontario, and is buried at St. Andrew’s Cemetery, South Bound Brook, NJ.

1933-1941: Choirmaster at the Kyiv Opera House.

1948: Came to Canada.

1949–1951: Choir director at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (Edmonton, AB).

1952-1969: St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral (Toronto, ON).