Lira Ensemble

The Lira Ensemble

Performing Arts of Poland and America

FOUNDERS-CHOREOGRAPHERS-CONDUCTORS

The Lira Ensemble was founded as the Lira Singers, an amateur youth group, in 1965 by Alice Stephens and her student, Lucyna Migala. Alice Stephens, a well-known voice teacher and choral director, served as musical director and conductor of the Lira Singers until her retirement in 1980. A Lithuanian American, she worked to popularize Polish music until her death in 1984.

LUCYNA MIGALA is artistic director, general manager, and narrator of the Lira Ensemble. Born in Poland, Miss Migala immigrated to the United States with her family as a small child. Her parents, Joseph and Estelle Migala, became popular Polish language radio personalities in Chicago and prominent Polish-American community activists. Miss Migala is a radio and television journalist who was a producer and reporter for NBC News for 13 years before resigning to create an ethnic-concept radio station with members of her family. She is now vice president and program director of WCEV/1450am, one of Chicagoland's major multi-ethnic stations. Miss Migala has served as a national board member of the Polish Women's Alliance of America, as an officer of the Polish Arts Club of Chicago, and as vice president of the Chicago Chapter of the Kosciuszko Foundation. She is founder and past chairman of the chapter's Chicago Chopin Piano Competition. Miss Migala served as a member of the board of directors of the Illinois Arts Alliance; and the Illinois Humanities Council; was a founding member of the Ethnic and Folk Arts Panel of the Illinois Arts Council; and served as a member of the CityArts Panel of the Chicago Office of Fine Arts. She is co-chair of Chicago’s Polish-Jewish Dialogue and served as board member of the Illinois Ethnic Coalition. Miss Migala holds a journalism degree from Northwestern University. She studied voice at the Chicago Conservatory College with Alice Stephens and with Kathleen Kaun of the Northwestern University School of Music. She studied dance with Evelyn Zwiefka of Chicago, at Northwestern University, and at the Stone-Camryn School in Chicago. She has won many awards and distinctions, among them the Cavalier’s Cross of Merit from the president of Poland, for her work in popularizing Polish culture.

PAUL DIJKSTRA (Dykstra) is co-conductor of the Lira Ensemble and Music Director of the Lira Symphony. He was born in South Dakota and studied piano, accompanying, coaching and conducting at the University of South Dakota and at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. He served as repititor for the Bremerhaven Stadttheater in Bremerhaven, Germany, and as the music director/conductor/vocal coach of the South Dakota Opera Theater, South Dakota's Black Hills Playhouse, and the Fireside Playhouse in Wisconsin. He is also one of the founders and members of Chicago's Dakota Ensemble.

PHILIP SEWARD is co-conductor of the Lira Ensemble. He was raised in a musical family in central Indiana and began conducting as a teenager. He studied music and theater at the University of Vienna, in the New York Arts Program, at Wabash College (graduating with honors), and completed his graduate studies at Northwestern University. He is widely known as composer of the works Hans Brinker, Shades, and High Fidelity for the musical stage, eleven songs for the Sing Along With Me album recorded by the Lira Singers, and several settings of psalms and other liturgical texts. He also performs as a pianist, accompanist, and singer and has toured widely throughout the US and Europe. In addition to his duties with Lira, he is an instructor at Columbia College and conductor for St. James Presbyterian Church in Chicago. Mr. Seward has his own website at http://www.philipseward.com.

Iwona Puc is choreographer of the Lira Dancers. Born in Poland, Miss Puc received her certification as a Dance Instructor from the Provincial House of Culture, Rzeszow – School of Dance. She served as Choreographer and Dance Instructor at the Marie Curie-Sklodowska University in Rzeszow, Poland. Miss Puc is highly regarded as an instructor and as a choreographer for artistic ensembles in Chicago.