Before adopting its current name in 1967, the O. Koshetz choir was known as the Winnipeg UNYF Choir or, in its Ukrainian version, as the MYH Choir. Inspired by the participants of the summer courses and strongly encouraged by Dr. Macenko and Mrs. Koshetz, the mixed choir was organized by Halia Cham in October 1946. At that time Winnipeg had several good Ukrainian community choirs but no permanent youth choir. It is remarkable to note that of the twenty-five young men and women who attended the first rehearsal, several — Lesia (Stebnicky) Kapty, Ollie (Solomon) Babick and Ann (Mysyk) Wach — are still with the choir in 1996. The first public concert of the new choir was staged, with considerable artistic triumph, in the second largest Ukrainian hall in Winnipeg, the Institute Prosvita. From that point, despite its initial ups and downs, the UNYF/Koshetz Choir has become a popular musical fixture of Winnipeg and a centre-piece of every concert. Housed at the Winnipeg local chapter of the UNF, the choir became the favourite cause of the St. Boniface branch of the UNF. Under the leadership of John Kapty, the small but enterprising St. Boniface UNF assumed a major share of financial support for the choir.

Meanwhile, with the influx of the post-war Ukrainian immigration to Canada, the level of the Winnipeg choral community had increased appreciably despite occasional political tensions between the newcomers and their Ukrainian Canadian hosts. The UNYF Choir’s serious commitment to Ukrainian choral music turned the choir into a school of Ukrainian culture and in this way distinguished it from other choirs. Here again Dr. Macenko and Mrs. Koshetz, who continued to lecture at the annual summer courses, shared their Ukrainian expertise with the choir. At the same time, the choir also proved to be an attractive socializing agency which afforded young Ukrainians opportunities for fun, travel in the province of Manitoba and beyond, and, of course, romance. Marriages between the choristers have not been uncommon.

In the summer of 1947 the choir began the practice of visiting Ukrainian communities in Manitoba during their local festivals. Concerts were given in Beausejour, Komarno, Winnipeg Beach, Gimli and Teulon. Between 1948 and 1950 both Macenko and Mrs. Koshetz formally led the choir as Halia Cham had moved to Eastern Canada where she continued her choral work on behalf of the UNYF. In 1951 Walter Klymkiw, from the Winnipeg suburb of Brooklands and a graduate of the University of British Columbia, assumed the directorship of the choir and, as it turned out, has devoted the rest of his life to it. Indeed, Klymkiw has been the undisputed heart and soul of the choir. A teacher by profession, he developed into an imaginative and esteemed conductor under whose leadership the choir evolved into a magnificent and distinctive vocal instrument. On another level, the composition of the membership of the choir has turned it into a sociological microcosm of the Ukrainian community in Canada.

The UNYF, like other Ukrainian organizations, held regional and national annual conventions in different parts of Canada during which concert competitions represented the high point in the proceedings. In 1948 the Winnipeg UNYF choir participated in a gala convention held in Edmonton and tied with the local choir for first place. In addition to conventions, other socio-cultural affairs, known as cavalcades, were vehicles by which the UNYF brought song and dance into Ukrainian communities. The Winnipeg choir also regularly has partaken in the main ritualized community celebrations held to commemorate significant historical events and individuals like the poet, Taras Shevchenko. The male section of the choir has been much in demand to sing at weddings (conducted by William Solomon) and funerals (conducted by Russel Kapty). The reputation of the UNYF/Koshetz Choir, it should be noted, extends beyond the Winnipeg Ukrainian community. In Canada, the choir has been a frequent guest at various multicultural functions as well as on national radio and television. Its extensive tours of Ukraine, Europe and South America has given it favourable international exposure. Its production of records and tapes has enhanced further its stature and popularity.