Yosyp Hoshuliak, 85, is a well-educated opera singer with a beautiful, velvety bass-baritone. He has spent the greater part of his life on stage in the Canadian city of Toronto.
Hoshuliak was born on Oct. 7, 1922, into a family of peasants in the village of Palashivka in Ternopil region. Since his early childhood he was strongly attracted to music, a penchant that was fostered by his family’s singing tradition and his closest circle of friends and acquaintances.
Thus, the young man’s decision to become a singer came as no surprise to his family. He went through the typical stages in the difficult years of World War II: he sang in church and Prosvita choirs, studied at the Chortkiv Gymnasium and a theological college, and became a village teacher.
During the war he ended up in Germany and even under such unfavorable circumstances Hoshuliak took singing lessons from Dometii Yokha-Berezenets, a famous Ukrainian singer. In Holland he met the distinguished Ukrainian conductor and musicologist Myroslav Antonovych, with whom Hoshuliak kept in constant touch.
In Holland, Hoshuliak improved his vocal skills at the Royal Academy. In 1950 he and his family immigrated to Canada, where he continued his studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Music critics invariably praised his singing, and he was in demand at the conservatory. In 1954 Hoshuliak made his debut in Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello.
Curious and restless, Hoshuliak mastered another profession, that of a bibliographer, which came in handy later. Meanwhile, he learned a number of complex parts from operas by Gioachino Rossini, Peter Tchaikovsky, Giacomo Puccini, Mykola Arkas, Hryhorii Maiboroda, and other composers. He performed with many famous singers, such as Marilyn Horne, Jon Vickers, Louis Quilico, Teresa Stratas, Maria Kira, as well directors Lev Turkevych, Ernesto Barbini, pianist Leo Barkin, and others.
Hoshuliak eventually occupied a notable place among Toronto’s music elite. His performance with the famous Bandurist Cappella conducted by the legendary Hryhorii Kytasty left indelible memories in Canada and the US.
Hoshuliak’s most productive period was in the 1950s and 1960s. During those decades he expanded his opera repertoire (which included over 20 major opera parts of the world opera heritage in five languages) and actively participated in the Ukrainian community’s artistic and public life in North America. Apart from performing in Ukrainian operas on invitation by composer Zenovii Lavryshyn, he mastered a huge repertoire of Ukrainian music, which included the entire collection of songs whose lyrics were written by Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Franko.
He also performed works by Mykola Lysenko, Stanislav Liudkevych, Vasyl Barvinsky, Mykhailo Verykivsky, Mykola Fomenko, Ostap Bobykevych, Anatolii Kos-Anatolsky, and others. Masterful adaptations of Ukrainian folk songs, solo songs, and romances performed by Hoshuliak became the spiritual food that nourished our fellow countrymen in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Britain, and Germany.
Some of the singer’s admirers wonder whether he performed in these and other countries. According to Professor Bohdan Hnyd of Kyiv, “Hoshuliak did not have the circumstances for creative self-expression in foreign lands.” The singer used his modest earnings to make recordings on gramophone records, audio cassettes, and later, CDs. His records have reached every part of the world. In addition to operatic arias, they feature solo songs and romances with lyrics by Shevchenko, folk songs, and ballads.
Hoshuliak’s life was epic. As an artist, he tried to maintain contact with other prominent diaspora Ukrainians, many of whom were banned in the former USSR. Hoshuliak corresponded with Ulas Samchuk, Ihor Kachurovsky, Valerian Revutsky, Yurii Stefanyk, Yosyp Hirniak, Oleksandr Puliui, Hryhorii Kostiuk, Hryhorii Kytasty, Vasyl Vytvytsky, Teodor Teren-Yuskiv, Mykhailo Holynsky, Myroslav Skala-Starytsky, and others.
In 1995 the Lviv-based publishing house Kameniar published Hoshuliak’s book I svoho ne tsuraitesia (Do Not Shun Your Own). It includes his reminiscences, articles about his various experiences as a singer and creative individual, and his correspondence with writers, composers, directors, people with a similar worldview, and acquaintances. The book is a kind of anthology of the artistic and humanitarian spirit, which throws light on how Ukrainians live in foreign lands.
For decades we had the stereotypical view of wealthy Ukrainians living abroad and leading carefree lives. What they had was freedom, a longing for their Motherland, hard work, and a search for their place under the sun.
Hoshuliak never severed his ties with Ukraine to which he was bound through ballads and folk songs. He longed to make a trip to his homeland. His dream came true in 1980 when, after many decades, he visited the Ukrainian SSR. He gave concerts in Ternopil, Lviv, and Kyiv, performing with the noted singer Halyna Tuftina at the Kyiv Philharmonic Society.
The concerts got rave reviews. The Dnipropetrovsk-based musicologist Andrii Tuliantsev wrote with admiration: “The artistic prowess of the Canadian bass captured the audience with its perfection, originality, and boldness in his musical interpretations of chamber works, as well as the singer’s impeccable taste in his choice of repertoire and faultless intuition.” The singer enthralled the audience with works that were rarely performed at the time: Lysenko’s “Hetmany” (Hetmans) and “Molites, bratiia, molites” (Pray, Brothers, Pray) and Verykivsky’s “Chernets” (Monk).
New horizons were opening up for the Ukrainian Canadian singer, who had opportunities to perform chamber and opera works in his homeland. At one point he received a proposal: his next tour in Soviet Ukraine would be arranged in exchange for certain “non-artistic” services that he would carry out in Canada. Hoshuliak flatly rejected the offer, thus putting an end to his dreams. After his return to Canada some jingoists launched a smear campaign against him, rebuking him for singing “for the communists.”
After the Soviet empire broke up and a new era began, the Canadian singer began performing in Ukraine. Since the 1990s Hoshuliak has often given concerts and held artistic meetings in Chortkiv, Ternopil, Stryi, Drohobych, and Chernivtsi. He has published two collections — Pisni, dumy ta romansy z repertuaru Yosypa Hoshuliaka (Songs, Ballads, and Romances from Yosyp Hoshuliak’s Repertoire) and an artistic photo album entitled Yosyp Hoshuliak: Myti zhyttia (Yosyp Hoshuliak: Moments of Life).
On the occasion of Yosyp Hoshulak’s 85th birthday the Toronto branch of the Shevchenko Scientific Society awarded the singer the gold Shevchenko medal. In his advanced age he has not changed his life’s principles and his thinking.
