HISTORICAL VOCAL REPERTOIRES IN UKRAINIAN ENSEMBLES OF THE LATE 20TH – EARLY 21ST CENTURY: A DISCOURSE OF HISTORICALLY INFORMED PERFORMANCE

Abstract

The article investigates the work of Ukrainian vocal ensembles and choirs active from the late twentieth to the early twenty-first century, with a focus on their interpretation of historical vocal repertoires within the paradigm of Historically Informed Performance (HIP). The discussion centers on groups that have shaped this field in Ukraine, among them Renaissance, Artes Liberales, Muzychni Asamblei (Musical Assemblies), A cappella Leopolis, Dominica, Vox animae, Partes, and Cantus Firmus, whose projects and concert activities illustrate different stages of the development of HIP practices in the country. The study employs a combination of historicalcultural and typological methods alongside interpretive analysis and historiography. These approaches, taken together, make it possible to view performance not only as an artistic act in its own right but also as a lens through which wider cultural processes and tendencies can be understood. Drawing on published research, archival materials, interviews with ensemble leaders, as well as concert programs, audio, and video recordings, it traces the formation of repertoires, the aesthetic choices of conductors, and the broader cultural implications of their activities for Ukrainian musical life. The growing presence of Ukrainian Baroque pieces in concert programs points to more than a change in repertoire: it reveals an effort to restore cultural memory, to place local practice within the European mainstream, and to frame performance as part of national self-definition. Special attention is given to interpretative positions of conductors such as R. Stelmaschuk, L. Kapustina, N. Khmilevska, О. Kholodova, D. Poddyachyi, and O. Zosim, particularly in relation to textology, ensemble size, tempo and meter, acoustics, and rhetorical figures of Baroque style. Ukrainian ensembles have continued to rehearse and perform even during martial law, demonstrating that their work is not suspended by political or military conditions and that performance remains an essential form of cultural resilience. This article brings together information about these groups and considers in detail how they interpret historical vocal repertoires within the HIP tradition.