Choir of the Valaam Monastery: we breathe the same air. Festive Choir of the Valaam Monastery What is your choir performing with now?

He experienced many spiritual and material ups and downs.
The most significant of them occurred in the 20-21st centuries. these are: the complete evacuation of the monastery from the Valaam archipelago into the interior of Finland during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40; the subsequent ruin and oblivion of the monastery for many decades; the return of the monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church and the beginning of its spiritual revival and restoration in December 1989, the final restoration and consecration of the main Valaam shrine by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II - Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in August 2005. In connection with this event, with the blessing of the abbot of the Valaam monastery, Bishop Pankratius of Trinity, the Festive male choir of the monastery was organized.

Compound
The choir included professional musicians from St. Petersburg, graduates of the Choir School at the State Academic Chapel named after. M.I. Glinka and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, certified conductors and vocalists, the best singers of vocal, choral groups and musical theaters of St. Petersburg. Among them are two unique bass profundo: Honored Artist of Russia Vladimir Miller (born 1964) and Honored Artist of the Republic of Karelia Mikhail Kruglov (born 1972).
Also in the choir: Honored Artists of the Republic of Karelia - Dmitry Popov, Oleg Palkin,
soloist of the State Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg Vladimir Tselebrovsky; soloist of the State Bolshoi Theater of Russia Stanislav Mostovoy, soloist of the State St. Petersburg Musical Theater "Through the Looking Glass" Anton Rositsky, laureates of international vocal competitions - Alexander Bordak, Gavriil Davydov, Boris Petrov.
Most of the choir members have been singing every summer for more than 15 years. Valaam for the numerous guests of the monastery, they participate in Liturgies every day, and help the fraternal monastery choir during festive services. The average age of the choir members is 35 years.

Artistic director
The artistic director (regent) of the choir is laureate of the international competition Alexey Zhukov (born 1969), a graduate of the St. Petersburg Choir School at the State Academic Chapel named after. M. I. Glinka and the Academy of Culture, who began his career as a church conductor in 1989; in August 2008, he was awarded a diploma from Metropolitan Vladimir of St. Petersburg and Ladoga “For diligent work for the glory of the Holy Church.”
Holiday Choir Valaam Monastery- a unique creative team, whose activities are connected with the direct blessings of the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankratius of Trinity.
The choir participates in all services performed on Valaam by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' - the holy abbot of the Valaam monastery, accompanies ceremonial receptions on the island of Russian President V.V. Putin and members of the Government of the Russian Federation, other high-ranking guests of the monastery, and participates in meetings of the Patriarchal Board of Trustees Valaam monastery in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
During the pilgrimage season on Valaam (from May to September), the choir singers help the fraternal monastic choir in singing Sunday and holiday services, give charity concerts, introducing the numerous guests of the monastery to the traditions of Valaam church singing.

Concert activities
In January 2007, the first public performance of the Festive Choir of the Valaam Monastery took place at the ceremonial meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, headed by E. M. Primakov. In May 2008, the choir gave a solo concert in the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari as part of the Festival of Russian Art in Italy, organized by personal initiative of V.V. Putin and S. Berlusconi. In 2009-2013 the choir performed solo concerts in Arkhangelsk, Krasnoyarsk, Saratov, Tambov, Veliky Novgorod, Petrozavodsk, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod; in 2012-2013 gave 4 concerts in the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic as part of the International Festival “Academy of Orthodox Music”, organized with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II.

With the support of the Timchenko Foundation
Since January 2013, the choir’s concert and liturgical activities have been supported by the Gennady and Elena Timchenko Charitable Foundation. The first public and charitable concert of the choir, organized under the Foundation’s program, held in St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg on January 10, 2013, attracted about 6,000 listeners. The choir presented the Christmas program “Christ is born, glorify” together with the professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev.

Repertoire
The choir's extremely wide repertoire is reflected in some of its concert programs.
“From Byzantium to Russia” - liturgical singing of Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Old Russian Spolpova and Early Partes chants.
“Majestic tones of Valaam” - original tunes Valaam Monastery and their polyphonic presentations.
“Russian Spiritual Concert” - spiritual works by Russian classics of large form (Bortnyansky, Degtyarev, Arkhangelsky).
“Melodies of the Russian Soul” - Russian folk songs and romances (Alyabyev, Bulakhov, Vertinsky), songs of the Russian army and Cossacks of the 19-20 centuries, lyrical and patriotic songs of the Soviet period (Soloviev-Sedoy, Ponomarenko, Afanasyev).
“Faith and Victory” - Easter chants of Russian classics and modern Russian composers (Rachmaninov, Chesnokov, Bordak), songs about the Great Patriotic War (Migulya, Tukhmanov, Molchanov).
"Hello, spring!" - chants and songs of spiritual content by composers of the Soviet period (Sviridov, Gavrilin, Krylatov).

The Valaam Monastery Choir is a unique creative group created on the occasion of the restoration and consecration of the Transfiguration Cathedral on the island in August 2005. Valaam by His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II.

The uniqueness of the activities of the Valaam Monastery Choir is due to the fact that it is simultaneously a liturgical singing and concert creative group.

The first performance of the Valaam Monastery Choir took place in 2007 in Moscow at a gala concert of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In May 2008, the choir gave a solo concert in the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari as part of the Russian Art Festival in Italy.

Since 2009, the Choir's solo concerts have been held in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Pskov, Krasnoyarsk, Saratov, Tambov and other cities of Russia. The choir's concerts were sold out to full houses in St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg (January 2013), the Concert Hall. P.I. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Philharmonic (June 2013), in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory (June 2014), in the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music (January 2015), in the Great Hall of the Philharmonic named after. Shostakovich in St. Petersburg (April 2015), State Kremlin Palace (May 2016).

The Valaam Monastery Choir includes professional musicians from St. Petersburg and other cities, graduates of the M. I. Glinka Choir School at the State Academic Chapel of St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, certified conductors and vocalists: Honored Artists of the Republic of Karelia Mikhail Kruglov (bass-profundo) and Dmitry Popov (counter-tenor), laureate of international vocal competitions Boris Petrov (baritone), etc.

The Choir's permanent creative partners are Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, soloist of the St. Petersburg Capella Vladimir Miller (bass profundo), soloist of the Bolshoi Theater of the Russian Federation Stanislav Mostovoy (tenor), soloist of the Mariinsky Theater Vladimir Tselebrovsky (baritone). At different times, the Choir's creative partners have been and remain many famous performers: People's Artists of the USSR Alibek Dnishev and Roza Rymbaeva, People's Artist of the RSFSR Lev Leshchenko, People's Artists of Russia Vasily Gerello, Dmitry Malikov, Elena Vaenga, Oleg Pogudin. People's Artists of Russia Alexey Petrenko and Valery Ivchenko and Honored Artist of Russia Maria Lavrova took part in the performance of the Choir's musical and literary programs.

The artistic director of the Valaam Monastery Choir is a laureate of the international competition Alexander Bordak (born 1973) - Russian conductor, vocalist, composer, graduate of the Leningrad Conservatory. Author and compiler of the programs “Faith and Victory” (2013), “The Forgotten War” (2014), “The Light of Christ Enlightens Everyone” (2015), “The Light of Balaam” (2016).

In Vitebsk, the choir will present a new program “Yesenin” of songs based on poems by the great poet, and will perform the best songs of different genres from its extremely wide repertoire, which includes 9 full-length concert programs.

Tickets at the city box office andwww. kvitki. by
Cash desk: 63 93 92. Infoline: 67 22 92

Olga MIKHAILOVA 2016-11-19
Exclusive interview with artistic director of the Valaam Monastery choir Alexander Bordak
In Cherkessk, the famous choir of the Valaam Monastery gave a sold-out performance.
By the beginning of the concert, there were no empty seats left in the hall, and the audience occupied the aisles, some even sat on the steps of the stairs.
Concerts of the choir of the Valaam Monastery began in the cities of the Crimean peninsula - Yalta, Simferopol, Yevpatoria, Sevastopol, Kerch. The tour continued with concerts at venues in the cities of the Black Sea coast of Novorossiysk and Sochi. Next are Krasnodar, Armavir and the Stavropol Territory: Nevinnomyssk, Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk, as well as North Ossetia and Ingushetia. In the coming days there will be concerts in Chechnya and Dagestan. The choir’s performance schedule can be so intense that concerts are held on the principle of “every subsequent concert in a new city.”
At each concert, a message from the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin is read out: “Traveling through the regions of Russia, the choir of the Valaam Monastery introduces the public to the rich cultural and historical heritage of our people, with magnificent examples of ancient Russian singing art, traditional and modern sacred music, military-patriotic works, original essays,” says the welcoming speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I am confident that the performances of this unique, original group will leave the kindest and brightest impressions in the memory of the audience. And of course, such socially significant events as concerts of the Valaam Monastery choir largely contribute to the consolidation of society around humanistic, spiritual and moral values, patriotism, citizenship, selfless service to the Fatherland,” Vladimir Putin also notes in his welcoming speech to the participants, organizers and guests of the concerts of the Valaam Monastery choir as part of the All-Russian tour with the “Light of Valaam” program.
Before the concert, we met with the artistic director of the choir, Alexander Bordak. For his beautiful children's voice, at the age of ten he was accepted into the third grade of the Choir School. M.I. Glinka at the State Academic Chapel of St. Petersburg, then graduated from the St. Petersburg State Conservatory with two specialties: choral conducting and academic vocals. His voice has always been capable of complex opera arias, Russian folk songs, ancient and modern romances, and works of Soviet song classics; in addition, Alexander himself composes beautiful melodies - and a year ago he led the choir of the Valaam Monastery
- Alexander, as I understand it, despite the fact that the choir is called Valaam, its soloists are not monks, are they?
- On Valaam, for more than 20 years, there has been a monastery brethren choir, very well-coordinated and friendly, but the singers of this choir do not leave the monastery walls and do not tour. Our team includes professional musicians from St. Petersburg, graduates of the Choir School at the State Academic Chapel named after. M.I. Glinka and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after. N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, certified conductors and vocalists, leading singers of vocal, choral groups and musical theaters of St. Petersburg, laureates of international vocal competitions.
- Whose singing is better – monastic or professional?
- We always tell the audience: “If you want to fully enjoy the beauty and soulfulness of ancient Valaam and church chants, come to the temple, come to the island of Valaam.” The singing of the brethren is unique. Unlike the singing of professionals, it reflects the meaning of liturgical chants and texts. We cannot think like people living a monastic life until we ourselves begin to take a living, constant participation in liturgical life. Even as a believer, a professional during worship pays more attention to breathing and correct performance than to his spiritual state. The community and parish should sing in church, and fraternal choirs in monasteries. Although, on the other hand, if secular people sing in churches, they are at least somehow in contact with the Church. But the concert performance of both liturgical repertoire and original sacred music carries, in my opinion, a special missionary meaning.
- How did the singing tradition of Valaam chant develop?
- Valaam chant is a local tradition of znamenny singing, the peculiarity of modern Valaam church singing is precisely that Russian chants are performed in the Greek manner, with sustained lower tones. A third of the “Light of Valaam” tour program consists of liturgical singing and sacred music.
- What is your repertoire? How often does the program change?
- I would call enlightenment the leading idea of ​​the concert work. Our concert “From Byzantium to Russia” includes liturgical singing from Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, and ancient Russian chants. “The majestic tones of Valaam” are
original melodies of the Valaam Monastery and their polyphonic presentations. “Russian Spiritual Concert” - spiritual works by Russian classics of large form, these are Bortnyansky, Degtyarev, Arkhangelsky. “Melodies of the Russian Soul” - Russian folk songs and romances by Alyabyev, Bulakhov, Vertinsky, songs of the Russian army and Cossacks of the 19th-20th centuries, lyrical and patriotic songs of the Soviet period. “The Forgotten War” - original hymns, songs and romances of the First World War, Russian classical and modern sacred music. “Faith and Victory” - Easter chants of Russian classics and modern Russian composers Rachmaninov, Chesnokov, Bordak, songs about the Great Patriotic War by Miguli, Tukhmanov, Molchanov. “The Light of Christ enlightens everyone!” - Old Russian and Valaam chants of the Nativity of Christ, Christmas songs from Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, England, France, Argentina.
- So, as I understand it, you sing in many languages?
- Yes, the choir soloists sing in Greek, Georgian, English, Serbian, French, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Spanish.
- Tell us more about the work of the choir.
- The choir of the Valaam Monastery, working with the blessing of the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankratius of Trinity, is at the same time a liturgical singing and concert creative group. He participates in festive services at the Valaam Metochion in St. Petersburg. The church of the courtyard is the only place in the city where authentic ancient Russian chants are performed according to the ancient custom “antiphonally”, that is, alternately by two “faces” and by one common choir together. The team accompanies Patriarchal services on Valaam, ceremonial receptions on the island of the President and members of the Government of the Russian Federation, and other high-ranking guests of the monastery. During the summer pilgrimage season, the choir singers help the choir of the brethren of the Valaam Monastery sing and give charity concerts, introducing the many guests of the monastery to the traditions of Valaam church singing. The choir's tour began in January with a performance for Russian troops at the Khmeimim airbase in the Syrian province of Latakia.
- Who is in the choir? Are its participants young?
- The average age of the participants in the choir of the Vaalam Monastery is 35 years. In total, 16 singers and accordion player Alexander Korbakov are participating in the tour. Many rare voices. Mikhail Kruglov's bass profundo is very rare. Such singers are called octavists: they sing “an octave below the bass,” more precisely, one octave below the lowest note of the chest register, to the E-Sol counteroctave. Dmitry Popov has the highest of male operatic voices - a countertenor. Its range is from “E” of the small octave to “E” of the second. Viewers love the ringingly clear voice of Artem Khamatnurov, the gentle tenor altino of Anton Nesterov, and the soft baritone of Boris Petrov.
- You are performing with the program “Light of Valaam”. What does it consist of?
- The current concert program of the choir consists of ancient church chants, lyrical and patriotic songs of the First World War and the Great Patriotic War, poems by poets of the “Silver Age” and modern authors.
...And here are the musicians on stage. Everything about them is beautiful: a modest, dignified manner of performance, restrained suits with gold-woven collars, and a sincere, sincere presentation of the material, and the power, strength and purity of male voices. Two people attracted special attention - Alexander Bordak himself, superbly leading the choir, and accordion player Alexander Korbakov, a virtuoso performer, winner of the title “Golden Ten Harmonists of Russia”, who simply won the hearts of all the women present, and not only with the brilliant chords of the talyanka, but also amazingly noble appearance.
From the first notes taken, from the first bars, the audience plunged into the deserted God-filled measured monastic chants, then - in the troubled years of the First World War, remembering the sisters of mercy, shed tears and the blood of Russian soldiers, above whom the images of Christ, the Mother of God and Holy Rus' invisibly rose. “The Light of Valaam” is not just a concert, it is an impulse of the soul, prayer, the power of sound, the power of spirit and the power of words. The audience greeted each performance of each soloist with applause, and the further the choir sang, the louder they became, turning into applause, and at the end the audience stood and chanted. Performed in one breath, the most complex program, without a single mistake or overlap, completely and irrevocably captivated the audience. At the finale, the entire audience gave a standing ovation, the musicians were not released, and shouts of “Bravo!” Another minute - and the singers would simply have been carried in their arms.
After the concert, Nadezhda Pivovarova, the first deputy head of the Administration of the Head and Government of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, came on stage and excitedly addressed the choir participants.
“On behalf of the Head of the Republic, allow me to welcome you to the hospitable land of Karachay-Cherkessia, to express gratitude for the unique opportunity to listen to such works performed by, one can safely say, a legendary choir. Your program “Light of Valaam” for Karachay-Cherkessia is not only a cultural event, but also a spiritual one. People of different nationalities and religions live on the territory of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. The oldest Christian churches are located here. And every resident of the republic respects the cultural values ​​of our traditional religions. Your words to the Almighty, words of love for each other are close to us. I would like to thank you for the fact that your activities are aimed at educating young people in the spirit of patriotism,” said Nadezhda Ivanova. As a farewell, each member of the choir was given books about Karachay-Cherkessia and paintings depicting the Face of Christ as a souvenir of their stay in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic.

Ulyanovsk and Dimitrovgrad residents were impressed by the performance of the Valaam Monastery choir. “The skill of the singers is so high that one gets the impression that the choir of Valaam is a single soul,” “It was a divine performance,” “It was wonderful, multifaceted - and mournful, and joyful, and pacifying: the whole gamut of human feelings at one concert!” , “I would like to hear Valaam’s choir more than once, to feel pride in the history of our Rus', to feel incredible joy and inspiration,” viewers write on social networks.

The concert of the Valaam Monastery team at the Lenin Memorial alone was attended by more than a thousand people. The audience heard the program “Light of Valaam”. Before the performance, artistic director of the Valaam Monastery choir Alexander Bordak answered several questions.

- Alexander Valerievich, how many years has the choir been in existence?

The choir that you will see today has existed for more than 20 years, and it consists of secular people. The fraternal Valaam choir is always on the island. According to the canons of the monastery, they do not leave it, so only the secular part of the choir can lead a touring concert life. On Valaam, of course, we also work: we help the brothers of the monastery at services, we sing small concerts for pilgrims who visit the island, we tell them about the ancient Valaam musical tradition. And our full composition sings at the main service in honor of the founder of the monastery of St. Sergius German on July 11, which is headed by His Holiness the Patriarch.

- How was your choir, which is on tour, formed?

Our choir began to emerge in the 90s, at the moment when the monastery began to be revived. And to this day we work together and praise the Lord. There was never any audition for the team. People really found themselves on Valaam by God's grace. For example, I myself came to Valaam in 1993. At that moment, I was invited precisely because they needed a good professional singer who could quickly sight-read any music. Then they knew my attitude towards the church. At that time, the choir director Mikhail Ruzanov was in charge of the choir. As soon as I arrived in Valaam, I was given notes, and literally within a few minutes I was already performing in front of a pilgrimage group. And from that moment I began to serve, work, and pray there. Then we learned that there was such a person with a rare singing voice - bass profundo Mikhail Kruglov. They also called him, Mikhail happily responded and came. Then singers began to come there every year, for whom this place became close. This is how an independent team was formed. In fact, there was no need to look for him. But these are not just familiar people. Everyone has a musical education, almost all graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, so our team combines both high professionalism and sincere faith. We are distinguished, in addition to what I said, by very good friendly relations within the team. This gives us the opportunity to sincerely devote ourselves to the work with which we delight people. The viewer feels this, so he always opens his heart very quickly and listens with all his soul.

- Do you tour a lot?

The geography of our tours is very extensive: from the Far East to Kaliningrad. Over the past few years, we have sung more than 330 concerts throughout the country. Our performances resonate in the hearts of our listeners, and this makes us happy.

- The main goal of your performances?

Our task is to bring people to church, to say that God is alive, that he is among us, and therefore we try to convey this in an accessible language. At some point we realized that the choir should have its own identity not only in its voices, but also in the recognition of its repertoire and works. Now there is not a single piece that has not been processed specifically for our team, given the wide range of voices: from countertenor to profundo bass. Spectators can hear the sounds of violins and wind instruments. And there is no falsehood, not only musical, because the main thing is born in the sounds - purification and faith.

- What is special about your chant?

On Valaam, like not many monasteries and even less so in ordinary parish churches, the tradition of singing in ancient chants is preserved: znamenny, pillar chants. The Valaam chant itself arose from them. It is mostly sung by one or two voices. Only on major holidays, such as the Day of Remembrance of Sergius Herman, the Wonderworker of Valaam, is it allowed to perform polyphonic harmonizations or original compositions in the church, which are based on the Valaam chant. And our main repertoire is Valaam chants. An entire program called “Majestic Tones of Valaam” is dedicated specifically to this unique ancient singing. It took us a long time to learn to sing the way the monks sang back in the early 20th century, when the choir in the monastery was large, more than 100 people sang in it. All this became possible thanks to the surviving audio recordings made by Swedish radio; they published a whole collection of Valaam chants exactly as they sounded at the beginning of the 20th century.

- What are your plans?

Of course, visit as many Russian cities as possible with concerts. In March we will begin preparing for a new program, which we will present on May 12 at the Kremlin Palace.

Irina Antonova

Photo provided by Lenin Memorial