Alan Davis 

Winnipeg-based Alexis Kochan is recognized internationally as a talented singer and arranger and for her remarkable knowledge of ancient Ukrainian music. Over the past decade, she has studied the oldest layers of Ukrainian folk music - songs connected to ancient seasonal rituals of agricultural life. Her explorations led to an interest in other forms of music and she began creating traditionally-based compositions integrating Ukrainian and other musical traditions. This richly atmospheric music has won fans over wherever it has been heard.

Paris to Kyiv has just returned from a sucessful tour of Poland, where the group performed a series of concerts as an acoustic trio in very old and intimate spaces. Concerts ranged from Gardzienice Theatre in the village of Gardzienice, to a wooden mountain church in Lublin, to a 200-year old stone chapel in the old centre of Warsaw. This tour comes home to Canada at Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto and St. Andrew’s Presbeterian Church in Stratford Ontario. The concerts takes place on the January 18-20 weekend, coinciding with the Orthodox feast of Jordan, part of the celebration of the winter cycle.

The sound of Paris to Kyiv features the talents of Julian Kytasty, a renowned American bandura player (the harp-like stringed instrument of Ukraine) and singer/songwriter Richard Moody, who contributes viola.

Alexis Kochan has taken the unique music of Paris to Kyiv to the National Ukraine Festival , the Canadian Museum of Civilization and has recently performed in Washington DC and for the World Music Institute in New York. The CDs released by Paris to Kyiv, including the most recent, Prairie Nights and Peacock Feathers, have garnered acclaim from audiences in Canada, the US and Europe for their finely crafted sound.

On Sunday January 20, 3 p.m., at the Church of the Holy Trinity (Trinity Square, behind Eaton Centre), Small World Music presents a soulful afternoon concert of traditional Ukrainian music. Tickets are $20/$15. Call 416 536-5439 for information.