The Chorus in Ukraine and Europe

In early 1919, the head of the Ukrainian People's Republic Symon Petliura sponsored the formation of a choir whose role was to be the promotion of Ukrainian culture and nationhood abroad, to be lead by the conductor and composer Oleksandr Koshyts'. 

With the political situation in Ukraine extremely unstable and Kyiv under threat from the Bolsheviks, Koshyts' and his choir members fled west, eventually reuniting in western Ukraine before beginning their concert tour into western Europe.

The Chorus began its tour in Czechoslovakia in 1919, which is when this photograph may have been taken. From there, they continued on to all of the major cultural centers of western Europe, including Swizerland, France, Belgium, Holland, England, and Spain.

By 1920, however, the Chorus' patron Symon Petliura was in Poland pursuing an ultimately unsucessful last-ditch military operation against the Bolsheviks. The Chorus, therefore, was now in the peculiar position of being cultural ambassadors for a nation-state that no longer existed. They continued on, however, ultimately crossing the Atlantic to North America.