Vasyl Zavitnevych

Vasyl Zavitnevych [Василь Завітневич], (b. April 24, 1899, in Zamistia, Ukraine; d. March 25, 1983 in New York, NY). Musicologist and choir director at St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral on W. 82nd Street. He came to the United States in 1948. Among his predecessors were Yurij Tatariv, Rev. Stephen Hallick, Joseph Marciniuk, and Rev. Gregory Pavlovsky. Under his leadership, the choir learned to sing a number of Bortniansky’s difficult concert pieces (Kontserty), as well as works by other major composers like Turchaninov, Leontovych, Koshetz, and Stetsenko. Also around that time, the choir was featured on a broadcast of the Voice of America. In the 1960s and ‘70s, Zavitnevych compiled nine volumes of church music for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA. He also served as the president of the Scientific and Theological Institute in New York for many years until his death in 1983.

1948: Arrived in New York City and became choir director at St. Volodymyr Cathedral (New York, NY)