 Hurko began composing music while still in high school.His first composition "Ave Maria" for SATB choir was premiered by the Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir, at the Guelph Spring Festival in 1983, with the composer conducting.In the summers of 1983 and 1985 he attended choral conducting seminars led by Wolodymyr Kolesnyk, former director of the National Opera of Ukraine.