Souvenir postcard, RMS Caronia.

On September 15th, 1922, the members of the Ukrainian National Chorus boarded the RMS Caronia of the Cunard Line in Hamburg to begin their Atlantic crossing.

This postcard from the archival collection of Fr. Nicholas Kostetsky is a souvenir of that voyage, and is inscribed on the reverse (in English and Ukrainian): "Hamburg - New York. 15-26 September, 1922. M. Kostets'kyi"

New York Tribune, September 27, 1922.

They arrived in New York on September 26, and immediately the Chorus' impressario Max Rabinoff began a publicity operation by getting the New York Tribune to cover their arrival.

New York Tribune, October 1, 1922.

The Tribune also noted their Carnegie Hall debut.

It was at this concert that the Chorus performed Mykola Leontovych's Shchedryk (the music that was to become The Carol of the Bells) for the first time in the US. The work had been comissioned by Koshyts' back in Ukraine, and had been a standard part of the Chorus' repertoire during their European tour.

After a second concert at the Hippodrome on October 15, the Chorus embarked on their United States tour.