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Our Beginnings
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The Sisters Servants
of Mary Immaculate School of Music began with private lessons taught by
Sister Juvenalia Kaniuk, SSMI (1915-1997), in our first Toronto location on King Street, from 1944. When the
Sisters moved to our present location, 5 Austin
Terrace, in 1949, so did the School
of Music.
As the director and teacher at
the School of Music at the Sisters Servants’ Canadian
headquarters in Toronto for fifty years, Sr.
Juvenalia built a reputation of fine teaching, and instilled quality teaching
skills in her students, Mrs. Irene Boyko, and Sr. Christine Dudych, who
continue to teach at the School
of Music since her
passing.
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Our Founding Teacher – Sister Juvenalia Kaniuk, SSMI,
ARCT (1915-1997)
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Sr.
Juvenalia was born in Vilna, Alberta.
When her mother died, when she was five years old, her father placed her in
the care of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, who conducted a
children’s home in nearby Mundare. Here she received her education at
the school conducted by the Sisters, who soon discovered her musical and
dramatic talents.
She
entered the novitiate of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate in Mundare, Alberta,
on August 30, 1930, making first profession of vows on September 3, 1932,
and final profession, February 15, 1939.
Among
her earlier ministries, she conducted Ukrainian
School for the Ukrainian National
Federation in Saskatoon and in Toronto, missions she
especially treasured. She staged many concerts, arranged music and composed
original songs, which her students enjoyed performing and which captivated
the large audiences.
Sr.
Juvenalia studied music in Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. She attended the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, obtaining her
A.R.C.T. in 1947. She took post-graduate studies in Philadelphia,
Florence, Salzburg,
Vienna and Geneva.
Sr.
Juvenalia was best known as the
director and teacher at the School of Music at the Sisters Servants’
Canadian headquarters in Toronto for fifty years (Christ the King
convent). She gave instruction in
piano, music theory and voice and was a supervising teacher, readily
sharing her expertise and experience. In 1955 she was responsible for
opening a Royal Conservatory of Music examination centre at Christ the King
convent and was its director for over forty years. She also taught a summer
course for piano teachers at Miami University.
Sr.
Juvenalia did all in her power to help her students realize their potential
and continued to assist them in whatever way she was able long after they
had graduated from the School
of Music. She spared
no effort to assist the students who participated in the annual Kiwanis Music Festival. Her students
looked to her for guidance in their personal lives and valued her advice.
From
1959-1964 she was on the first administration of the Sisters Servants in the United States,
serving as secretary and councillor. During this time she taught music and
choir at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral School in Philadelphia.
She was
an active member of various organizations: Ukrainian Opera Company, the Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association,
Canadian Federation of Music Teachers'
Associations, Alumni of the Royal Conservatory.
Sr.
Juvenalia composed works for the Sister Servant Jubilee pageant staged in Toronto in 1967 in
commemoration of their founding. She composed church music, including new
arrangements for the Divine Liturgy and hymns celebrating the Millennium of
Christianity in Ukraine.
Sr.
Juvenalia prepared the musical arrangement for the Sisters’ community
hymn, composed a Jubilee Hymn on the occasion of the Sisters Servants
Centenary in 1992 and the antiphon to the Sisters’ co-foundress, Blessed Josaphata Hordashevska.
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Accomplishments:
- Music
studies, University
of Saskatoon
(1939-43)
- Choral
workshop, clinician: Prof. Oleksander Koshetz, Winnipeg, UNF sponsored (1943)
- ARCT
in piano (1947)
- Further
studies (RCM) in voice with Helen Simmie; theory with Dr. F. Horwood, C.
Ahrens, B. Berlin, E. Rollinson
- Taught
music and choir, Immaculate Conception Cathedral
School in Philadelphia, Pa
(1960-64)
- Continuing
studies, composition and voice, Musical Academy of Comb’s College,
Philadelphia,
with Dr. Romeo Cascarino
- Post-graduate
work, composition and piano, American School
of Fine Arts at Villa
Schifanoia, in Florence,
Italy,
on scholarship, with Roberto Lupi and Paolo Rio Nardi
- Studied
composition, Vienna, with Prof. A.
Hnatyshyn: somposed SSA Jubilee Mass; three-hour Jubilee Pageant, of
choral works, ballet and string orchestration, for the 75th
Anniversary of the founding of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate,
produced in Toronto
in May, 1967
- Studied
symphony and choral conducting, Mozarteum Conservatory, (International
Festival) in Salzburg,
(summer, 1965)
- Studies,
Geneva, composition with Prof. Pierre
Wissmer, piano with Prof. Getz: composed operetta, “Magic
Kerchief” (Natalia Bila, librettist); various workshops in
conducting in West Germany,
Vienna, Paris (1974-75)
- Directed
a two-week pedagogy course “Methods and Techniques of Piano
Performance,” Miami Univeristy (summer, 1981)
- Co-edited
“Song Book for Ukrainian
School,”
(1977-79)
- Compositions
for the Centennary of the founding of the Sisters Servants of Mary
Immaculate in 1992, and many other compositions for SSMI Community
celebrations
- Active
in the Ukrainian Opera Company of Toronto,
Ontario Registered Music
Teachers Association, Canadian Federation of Music Teachers, and RCM
Alumni.
- Special
recognition from the City of Toronto
for her years of contribution to the fine arts in the city during its
150th Anniversary in 1984.
- In
1997, she was to be honoured for 50 years of service in music education,
at a congress of Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Associations in Montreal, where she
suffered a stroke, and died soon after.
Some of her accomplished students:
- Stella
Luschak-Stevens, CBC’s Jackie Rae Show (1952-58)
- Marie
Steciw-Baron, Canadian Opera Company, Stratford Company
- Oksana
Bluy-Isoki, RCM gold medalist in voice, 1969; Canadian Opera Company
Click to hear some
of Sr. Juvenalia’s compositions:
Sonatina, 1st movement
Sonatina, 2nd movement
Sonatina, 3rd movement
By the Seashore
Little Blue Pigeon
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