The Royal Voice International Church Music Festival
will take place in St Elisabeth Convent on October 28 and 29 for the 16th
time. Choirs and singers from Minsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Donetsk, and Kyiv Oblast
will participate in the festival.
During this annual event, the audience at the Church
in honor of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God will hear not only church
chants but also spiritual songs authored by great composers and the people
alike. Aside from church and secular choirs, an Orthodox singer-songwriter will
also take part in the festival. This laudable tradition of the Royal Voice
Festival adds a special touch to the event.
The main concert of the Festival will begin at 11:30am
on October 28 with a performance of the Maidens’ Choir of St Elisabeth Convent.
If you listen to them, you will hardly believe that this choir is a new one.
The love and professionalism of Matushka Maria Bakhvalova has been able to
bring into the spotlight the talents of each girl. Singing of this choir is
characterised by exceptional spiritual purity.
Listening to a famous choir can be as simple as opening
your browser tab and searching for its records but listening to the singing of
small parish choirs demands more effort, possibly even coming to church during
worship. Few residents of Minsk know the choir of the Church in honour of
Pantanassa icon of the Mother of God, conducted by Olga Sholkova and Daria
Svetchenkova. We hope that some new listeners will enjoy their performance and
make friends with the Pantanassa parish.
Archpriest Sergius Kiselev, our guest from Kyiv
Oblast, will play the guitar and sing his own songs. His songs are called “a
combination of author music and a call to repentance”. Father Sergius has
already performed in our city at various venues, including the Boarding Home
and the Men’s Rehabilitation Centre. However, it will be his first concert in St
Elisabeth Convent.
We can enjoy the spiritual heritage of renowned
Russian composers thanks to the participation of Nizhny Novgorod Chamber Choir,
which is a professional choir, and an almost professional Chamber Choir of
Donetsk State Academy of Music n.a. Sergey Prokofiev. Both choirs preserve and
popularise the traditions of their schools. Thanks to the guests from Nizhny
Novgorod and Donetsk who will participate in our Festival for the first time,
we will be able to appreciate these traditions.
Alimeh Murzaeva, the choir director of the Chamber
Choir of Donetsk State Academy of Music emphasised in her application for the
Festival, “Although the choir works under the auspices of a secular educational
institution, performing church music has always been our priority. Almost all
choir members are singers or precentors in various churches of the Diocese of
Donetsk.”
Nun Juliania (Denisova), the chairperson of the Royal Voice
Festival, got the chance to hear Nizhny Novgorod Chamber Choir during a choir
contest in Penza. The crispness and prayerfulness of their singing made her so
excited that she could not help inviting the choir to Minsk.
The members of the choir and their director Ivan
Stolnikov put a lot of effort into preparing for the Royal Voice Festival. Not
only will they participate in the main concert of the festival in the Church in
honor of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God but they will also sing during
the Liturgy the following day together with the Festive Choir of St Elisabeth
Convent. They will also have a solo concert in the Verkhni Horad Concert Hall
on October 29 at 4pm.
October 4, 2017
St. Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION