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 both liturgical singing and concert creative team.

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 solo concert in the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari as part of the Festival of Russian Art 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 Great hall 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 Bolshoi Theater RF Stanislav Mostovoy (tenor), soloist Mariinsky Theater Vladimir Tselebrovsky (baritone). IN different time 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 best songs 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

He experienced many spiritual and material ups and downs.
The most significant of them, which occurred in the XX-XXI centuries, are:
— complete evacuation of the monastery from the Valaam archipelago to the interior of Finland during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940;
- the subsequent ruin and oblivion of the monastery for many decades;
- return of the Russian monastery Orthodox Church and the beginning of its spiritual revival and restoration in December 1989;
- the final restoration and consecration by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of the main Valaam shrine - the Transfiguration Cathedral in August 2005. In connection with this event, with the blessing of the abbot of the Valaam monastery, Bishop Pankratius of Trinity, a professional 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. M.I. Glinka and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after. N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, certified conductors and vocalists, leading vocal singers, choir groups and musical theaters of St. Petersburg. Among them are Honored Artists of the Republic of Karelia Mikhail Kruglov (born in 1972, bass profundo) and Dmitry Popov (born in 1967, counter-tenor), laureates international competitions Alexander Bordak (born in 1973, tenor) and Boris Petrov (born in 1984, baritone). The choir's permanent creative partners are Honored Artist of Russia Vladimir Miller (b. 1964), soloist of the State Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg Vladimir Tselebrovsky, soloist of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia Stanislav Mostovoy, soloist of the State St. Petersburg Musical Theater "Through the Looking Glass" Anton Rositsky. Average age choir members are 35 years old.

With the blessing of the abbot

The choir of the Valaam Monastery is a unique creative group, whose activities are connected with the direct blessings of the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankratius of Trinity. The choir is simultaneously a liturgical singing and concert creative group. He participates in festive services at the Valaam Metochion in St. Petersburg. Metochion Temple – the only place in the city, where authentic ancient Russian chants are performed according to old custom“antiphonally” (alternately) into two “faces” and one common choir together. The team accompanies the Patriarchal services on Valaam, receptions on the island of the President and members of the Government of the Russian Federation, 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 numerous guests of the monastery to the traditions of Valaam church singing.

Concert activities

The choir began in 2007 with a performance at a gala meeting of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 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 Russian art in Italy, organized on the personal initiative of V.V. Putin and S. Berlusconi. Solo performances choir took place at the most prestigious academic concert venues Russia - in the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, in Concert hall them. P.I. Tchaikovsky Philharmonic, in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, in the International House of Music of Moscow. The choir tours took place in Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk, Saratov, Tambov, Ryazan, in all major cities Northwestern Federal District (Arkhangelsk, Petrozavodsk, Murmansk, Vologda, Pskov, Vel. Novgorod, Syktyvkar), in Minsk, in Almaty. Since 2013, the choir annually organizes and performs a Christmas concert in St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg at the beginning of January, the first of which attracted about 6,000 listeners. Chorus first of Russian performers created a special program dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War - “THE FORGOTTEN WAR”, and presented it in January 2014 on the stage of the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg. In January 2015, by invitation people's artist USSR Vladimir Spivakov and Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) of Volokolamsk, the choir took part in the V Moscow Christmas Festival of Sacred Music on the stage of the Moscow Moscow Music Theater, presenting the program “The Light of Christ Enlightens Everyone!” At different times, many famous performers have been and remain creative partners of the choir: 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 and Dmitry Malikov, Elena Vaenga. At the end of January 2016, the concert tour of the Light of Valaam choir began, within the framework of which more than 80 concerts have already taken place in different cities of Russia. May 2, 2016 in Moscow on the stage of the State Kremlin Palace The choir presented the program “Faith and Victory” with the participation of Hieromonk Photius and People’s Artist of Russia Oleg Pogudin.

With the support of the Timchenko Foundation

Since December 2012, the concert and liturgical activities of the choir have been carried out with the support of Charitable Foundation of Gennady and Elena Timchenko . First public and a charity concert choir, organized under the Foundation’s program, took place in St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg on January 10, 2013 and 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 Andrey Kuraev .

Repertoire

The leading idea of ​​the choir's concert work is cultural and educational activities and spiritual and patriotic education through the creation, concert performances, recordings and publications of musical, historical, memorial and thematic programs. The extremely wide repertoire of the choir is reflected in them. “From Byzantium to Russia” - liturgical chant of Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Old Russian spolp and early partes chants. “Majestic Tones of Valaam” - original melodies of the Valaam Monastery and their polyphonic presentations. "Russian spiritual concert" - spiritual works of 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 19th-20th centuries, lyrical and patriotic songs Soviet period(Soloviev-Sedoy, Ponomarenko, Afanasyev). “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 ones Russian composers(Rachmaninov, Chesnokov, Bordak), songs about the Great Patriotic War (Migulya, Tukhmanov, Molchanov). “The Light of Christ enlightens everyone!” - Old Russian and Valaam chants of the Nativity of Christ, Christmas songs of Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, England, France, Argentina.

A sought-after concert group consisting of lay people, touring a variety of halls in Russia - no, this story is not about show business, but about serving God and people. The choir of the Valaam Monastery performs in front of people, many of whom have the most superficial understanding of Christianity and the Church. Original concert programs hora is not just an offer to touch ancient culture and enjoy works more familiar to her modern composers, but also evidence of the penetration of Orthodoxy into the consciousness of the inhabitants of Russia. The director of the choir, Alexander Bordak, talks about the history of the creation of the group and its everyday life.

– The monastery on the island of Valaam arose at the beginning of the last millennium. As soon as the flame of faith began to glimmer on the harsh northern land, hearts filled with love began to sing, giving praise to the Creator. Greek missionaries Sergius and Germanus came to the land of Valaam, and with the charter of the Greek service they introduced the singing of the Byzantine tradition. The peculiarity of singing in one voice was passed on from generation to generation. In the era of Peter I, polyphonic chants began to be sung in churches and monasteries of Rus', but the brethren of the Valaam Monastery remained faithful to the ancient Znamenny tradition. Many pilgrims traveled thousands of kilometers to find themselves on the island and immerse themselves in prayer, listening to a strict monophonic chant.

Gradually, the partes began to sound on Valaam. Arrangements of monophonic chants were sung more often, which is confirmed. There is an audio recording on Swedish radio - those who left due to historical difficult situation Valaam monks recorded fragments of divine services, and there we hear exactly the Valaam chant in a polyphonic presentation.

Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War on Valaam there is terrible desolation. Military operations, then boarding school. And only in the 90s, with the revival of the monastery, the ancient monophonic chant began to sound again. With the blessing of Bishop Pankratius of Trinity, professional musicians were invited to Valaam to help the fraternal choir. In addition to singing at services, the “secular” part of the choir daily participated in small concerts and lectures, during which they introduced pilgrims and tourists to the history of Valaam chants. The tradition of these performances has been preserved to this day.

Gradually, the Valaam Monastery acquires the status of the center of Orthodoxy in the North of Rus'. The Patriarch serves on the island annually. Many guests come, among them are members of the country's government. The choir increases in its numerical strength for more spacious and colorful sound, and this moment sixteen people in its composition praise the Lord at services and sing concerts.

How did you become the director of the Valaam Monastery choir?

– I graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in choral conducting and vocal class, long time engaged in solo practice. In 2013, he was invited by the leadership of the Valaam Monastery to create new music programs. In the fall of 2016, with the blessing of Bishop Pankratiya, he was appointed artistic director of the group.

During our cooperation, a number of spiritual and patriotic programs have been created. The first was the program “Faith and Victory,” which premiered on May 9, 2013 in the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Further, the programs “The Forgotten War” were prepared for the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, “The Light of Christ Enlightens Everyone”, dedicated to the Nativity of Christ. All works are created taking into account the specific voices of our singers. For example, the hymn to the Most Holy Theotokos “It is Worthy to Eat” was written especially for our bass Mikhail Kruglov, owner of a rare bass profundo voice. Such a voice is, of course, the adornment of our team. Like all voices, of course, which create the very recognizable color of our choir.

What is your choir performing with now?

- IN given time We perform in different cities of Russia with the program “Light of Valaam”. The concert features ancient Valaam chants, arrangements of ancient melodies, and original music by Russian composers. Then we sing works in which we talk about God's commandments, about mercy and sacrifice. And it is in the songs of the war years - known and unknown, loved and forgotten - that this topic is especially acute. Two thousand years ago, the Savior gave His life for the salvation of all mankind. And on the battlefields, thousands of heroes gave their lives in the name of peace and in the name of love, about which the Lord Himself said: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

How often should a choir rehearse to sound good?

“We try to record each concert, then we listen to it, analyze it, and make adjustments before the next concert at rehearsal. Thus, during the tour we have rehearsals every day. Before, when we didn't have a lot of gigs, we met two or three times a week. Now that we are in St. Petersburg much less often, our rehearsals only take place on tour.

What tunes and works of which composers do you personally like? And does your taste influence the choir’s repertoire?

– First of all, these are, of course, ancient monophonic chants, which are an integral part of the worship service on Valaam. We perform them at every concert. Works by Sergei Rachmaninov and Pavel Chesnokov are often played. For implementation creative tasks Sometimes we compose musical compositions ourselves.

Is anyone else involved in the preparation of programs besides you?

– Until today, we have coped with the tasks ourselves. But ahead is marked new job, the working title of which is “100 years of the country’s life: 1917-2017.” The premiere will take place on July 27 in Valaam as part of the Enlightener festival. In addition to the choir, the concert will be attended by singer-songwriter Elena Frolova, singer Oleg Pogudin, as well as a chamber Symphony Orchestra. Video support will be provided. Of course, we alone cannot cope with such a volume of work. Directors and video engineers will be invited, and with joint efforts, I am sure, it will be possible to create a new interesting program.

Where do new singers come to the choir from? Do they have to be churchgoers?

– The main composition of our choir has been preserved since the 90s. We have been working together for more than twenty years, and therefore we understand each other well from half a word, half a gesture.

Of course, new people come too. Faith is a very personal matter. When a person comes to an audition, no one asks him whether he believes in God or whether he is a church member. If a person decides to work in our choir, he understands that he is going not only to work, but, first of all, to serve God, since we are engaged in spiritual and educational activities. God brings us the people we need. As a choir director, I do not look into the personal space of the singers. But the attitude of the guys, of course, shows.

For example, we were in Kerch. The concert “on the mainland” was in jeopardy because the ferry crossing was closed. Suddenly a priest unknown to us appeared and began to serve a prayer service. We didn’t even notice it all right away, because we were in a different place. I began to participate in prayer. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that several more of our guys had joined. Then I heard the bass singing. After a while the whole choir was singing. Therefore, it seems to me that we breathe the same air, look in the same direction and do one common thing.

Are you often invited to participate in worship services?

– Not often at the moment. And this is justified, because we have concerts every day, travel every day. There are purely physical limitations. The guys need to get enough sleep to work fully. We sing services on Valaam. Our ministry now is at concert venues. And this is very important.

At concerts you use audio. Are there any nuances to this part of your work?

– The halls have very different acoustic parameters, so we use microphones. We try to “sound up” each singer so that sound losses are minimal. We appealed to Bishop Pankratiy with a petition that the benefactors of the monastery help in purchasing headsets for each member of the choir. I am sure that such a moment will come, and this will give us the opportunity to get a full range of sound colors.

Very important point: our sound engineer is in the hall, but in the choir one of the singers is also a sound engineer, he has a tablet in his folder with notes, with which he controls the sound directly from the stage. This is our little feature.

Interviewed by Igor LUNEV

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, feel pride in the history of our Rus', feel incredible joy and inspiration,” viewers write on social networks.

More than a thousand people attended the concert of the Valaam Monastery team at the Lenin Memorial alone. The audience heard the program “Light of Valaam”. Before the performance artistic director Choir of the Valaam Monastery 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 the tour concert life Only the secular part of the choir can lead. 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 Valaam ancient 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 musical education, almost everyone 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 Far East to Kaliningrad. In a few recent years we sang more than 330 concerts throughout the country. Our performances resonate in the hearts of our listeners, and this makes us happy.

- the main objective 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. Viewers can hear both the sounds of a violin and wind instruments. And there is no falsehood, not only musical, because the main thing is born in 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. 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, attend as many concerts as possible Russian cities. In March we will begin to prepare for new program, which we will present on May 12 at the Kremlin Palace.

Irina Antonova

Photo provided by Lenin Memorial