Spanish-Ukrainian tenor Wolodymyr Smishkewych is a native of New Jersey, USA. He has specialized in medieval song, chant, and new music since the 1990s. He received his training in voice performance from Rutgers University (BM ‘95, MM ‘98) and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music (DM ‘13), having studied with renowned tenors Frederick Urrey, Paul Elliott and Alan Bennett. A sought-after performer and vocal pedagogue in medieval, contemporary, and world music, he has lectured and taught masterclasses and performance programs at universities in the United States, South America, Canada, and Europe. In 2011 he joined the faculty of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, Ireland, where he was director of the MA in Ritual Song and Chant until 2014.

He is a member of Sequentia Ensemble for Medieval Music and of Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices, and has performed as a soloist with The Harp Consort and Ars Nova Copenhagen. In 2015 he joined RTÉ lyric fm as the host and writer of a new series, The Astrolabe, and was made producer and announcer of REMAradio.eu, the webradio of the European Early Music Network. His opera appearances in the USA and Europe have been under the baton of directors such as Peter Sellars, Gary Wedow, Benton Hess, and James Middleton. He has performed at major festivals through Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, and South America including BBC Proms, Tanglewood, Regensberg Tage Alter Musik, Festival Cervantino, Edinburgh Festival, and the early music festivals of Boston, Barcelona, Utrecht, and Berkeley. He has recorded for Sony/BMG, Harmonia Mundi USA, ExCathedra, and IU Music-Focus records, and written for publications by Cambridge University Press and Taunton Press. Active as a researcher as well as a performer, he writes, records, and creates video about singing, ethnomusicology, historical instruments, and music & nature. He lives in Ireland with his partner, historical keyboardist Yonit Kosovske, and their three children.

Performances in 2015 include Stockhausen’s Stimmung at Carnegie Hall and Princeton University, Festspillene in Bergen, Norway, and Struny Podzimu in Prague with Theatre of Voices; Frankish Phantoms with Sequentia ensemble for medieval music at the 2015 Boston Early Music Festival and Radovljica Festival (Slovenia); and Händel’s Messiah in Lausanne, Switzerland and throughout Ireland with Resurgam and the Irish Baroque Orchestra. In summer 2015 he returned to Canada to perform at the Vancouver Early Music Festival and teach with Sequentia at Vancouver’s Summer Medieval Music Course.

Wolodymyr Smishkewych gratefully acknowledges funding support from the Music Network Music Capital Scheme, funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (Arts Council Ireland).


Photo © 2011 Maurice Gunning


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