A popular concert group, consisting of laity, touring in various 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. The choir's original concert programs are not only an offer to touch the ancient culture and enjoy the works of modern composers more familiar to it, but also evidence of the penetration of Orthodoxy into the consciousness of the inhabitants of Russia. The choir leader Alexander Bordak tells about the history of the creation of the collective and its everyday life.

- The monastery on the island of Valaam emerged at the beginning of the last millennium. As soon as a light of faith began to glow on the harsh northern land, hearts filled with love sang, praising the Creator. The Greek missionaries Sergius and Herman came to Valaam land, with the charter of the Greek service, they introduced the singing of the Byzantine tradition. Singing with one voice has been passed down from generation to generation. In the era of Peter I, polyphonic chants began to be sung in the churches and monasteries of Russia, 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 the strict monophonic chant.

Gradually, the partes sounded on Valaam. Most often, the processing of monophonic chants was sung, which is confirmed. There is an audio recording on the Swedish radio - the monks who left Valaam due to the historically difficult situation recorded fragments of services, and there we hear just the Valaam chant in a polyphonic presentation.

Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there has been terrible desolation on Valaam. Military action, 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 Pankraty 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 took part in small lecture concerts every day, 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 Valaam Monastery acquires the status of the center of Orthodoxy in the North of Russia. The patriarch serves on the island annually. Many guests come, including members of the country's government. The choir is increasing in size for a more voluminous and colorful sound, and at the moment sixteen people in its composition praise the Lord at services and sing concerts.

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

- I graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the class of choral conducting and vocal, for a long time I was engaged in solo practice. In 2013, he was invited by the leadership of the Valaam Monastery to create new musical programs. In the fall of 2016, with the blessing of Vladyka Pankraty, he was appointed artistic director of the collective.

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 "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 specifics of the voices of our singers. For example, especially for our bass Mikhail Kruglov, the owner of a rare bass-profundo voice, a hymn to the Most Holy Theotokos "It is worthy to eat" was written. Such a voice is, of course, the adornment of our team. Like all voices, of course, which create that very recognizable color of our choir.

What is your choir performing with now?

- At this time we are performing in different cities of Russia with the program "Light of Valaam". The concert features ancient Valaam chants, arrangements of old melodies, author's music of Russian composers. Then we sing songs in which we speak in a simple song form about God's commandments, about mercy and sacrifice. And it is in the songs of the war years - famous and unknown, loved and forgotten - that this theme 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: “There is no more love than if someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15.13).

How often does a choir have to rehearse to sound decent?

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

What tunes, 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 worship on Valaam. We perform them at every concert. Works by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Pavel Chesnokov are often performed. To realize creative tasks, we sometimes compose musical compositions ourselves.

Does anyone other than you participate in the programming?

- Until today, we ourselves have coped with the tasks. But ahead is a new work, 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, singer-songwriter Elena Frolova, singer Oleg Pogudin, as well as a chamber symphony orchestra will take part in the concert. Video support will be provided. Of course, we cannot cope with such a volume of work alone. Directors and video engineers will be invited, and by joint efforts, I am sure, it will be possible to create a new interesting program.

Where do new singers come from? Do they have to be church people?

- The main composition of our choir has been preserved since the 90s. We have been working together for over 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 audition, no one asks him if he believes in God, if 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 singers. But the attitude of the guys, of course, is manifested.

For example, we were in Kerch. The concert "on the mainland" was in jeopardy, as the ferry crossing was closed. Suddenly a father unknown to us appeared and began to serve a prayer service. We didn’t even notice it all at once, 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 sang. 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 attend services?

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

At concerts, you use a backing sound. Are there any nuances in this part of your work?

“The halls are very different in terms of acoustic parameters, so we use microphones. We try to "sound" each singer so that the sound loss is minimal. We turned to Vladyka Pankraty with a petition for the monastery's benefactors to help in purchasing headsets for each choir member. I am sure that such a moment will come, and this will give us the opportunity to obtain a full range of sonic colors.

A 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

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

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

The first performance of the Choir of the Valaam Monastery took place in 2007 in Moscow at a gala concert of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In May 2008 the choir gave a recital 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. With full houses, the choir's concerts took place 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), the State Kremlin Palace (May 2016).

The Choir of the Valaam Monastery includes professional musicians from St. Petersburg and other cities, graduates of the Glinka Choir School at the State Academic Capella 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 Chorus'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 various times, the Choir's creative partners were 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, 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 the 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), "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 to the poems of the great poet, and will perform the best songs of different genres from its extremely wide repertoire, in which there are 9 full-length concert programs.

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

He has experienced many, both spiritual and material ups and downs.
The most significant of them that occurred in the XX-XXI centuries are:
- complete evacuation of the monastery from the Valaam archipelago into the interior of Finland during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940;
- the ruin and oblivion of the monastery that followed 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 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 hegumen of the Valaam monastery, Bishop of Trinity Pankraty, a professional male choir of the monastery was organized.

Composition

The choir consisted of professional musicians from St. Petersburg, graduates of the Choir School at the State Academic Capella. MI Glinka and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, certified conductors and vocalists, leading singers of vocal, choral 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 of international competitions Alexander Bordak (born in 1973, tenor) and Boris Petrov (born in . in 1984, baritone). The choir's permanent creative partners are Honored Artist of Russia Vladimir Miller (born 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. The average age of the choir members is 35 years.

With the blessing of the abbot

The choir of the Valaam Monastery is a unique creative team whose activities are associated with the direct blessings of the Abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop of Trinity Pankraty. The choir is at the same time a liturgical-singing and concert creative collective. He participates in festive services at the Valaam courtyard in St. Petersburg. The temple of the courtyard is the only place in the city where authentic Old Russian chants are performed according to the old custom "antiphonically" (alternately) in two "faces" and in one common choir together. The team accompanies Patriarchal divine services on Valaam, 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 brothers of the Valaam Monastery in singing to the choir and give charitable 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 solemn meeting of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, headed by E.M. Primakov. In May 2008, the choir gave a recital in the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari as part of the Festival of Russian Art in Italy, organized on the personal initiative of V.V. Putin and S. Berlusconi. The choir's solo performances took place at the most prestigious academic concert venues in Russia - in the Great Hall of the Philharmonic Society of St. Petersburg, in the Concert Hall. PI Tchaikovsky Philharmonic, in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, in the International House of Music in Moscow. The choir toured in Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk, Saratov, Tambov, Ryazan, in all major cities of the North-West 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 gathered about 6,000 listeners. The choir was the first Russian performer to create a special program dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War - THE FORGOTTEN WAR, and presented it in January 2014 at the Oktyabrsky Big Concert Hall in St. Petersburg. In January 2015, at the invitation of People's Artist of the USSR Vladimir Spivakov and Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) of Volokolamsk, the choir took part in the 5th Moscow Christmas Festival of Sacred Music on the stage of the Moscow International House of Music, presenting the program "The Light of Christ Enlightens Everyone!" At various times, the choir's creative partners were 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 and Dmitry Malikov, Elena Vaenga. Since the end of January 2016, the concert tour of the "Light of Valaam" choir has begun, within the framework of which more than 80 concerts have already taken place in different cities of Russia. On 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.

Supported by the Timchenko Foundation

Since December 2012, the concert and liturgical activities of the choir were carried out with the support of Gennady and Elena Timchenko Charitable Foundation . The first public and charitable concert of the choir, organized under the Fund'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, praise" 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 chants of Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, old Russian spolp and early partes chants. "The majestic tones of Valaam" are the original tunes of the Valaam monastery and their polyphonic expositions. "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 the Cossacks of the 19th-20th centuries, lyric and patriotic songs of the 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 contemporary Russian composers (Rachmaninov, Chesnokov, Bordak), songs about the Great Patriotic War (Migulya, Tukhmanov, Molchanov). "The Light of Christ enlightens everyone!" - Old Russian and Valaam hymns of the Nativity of Christ, Christmas songs of Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, England, France, Argentina.

Residents of Ulyanovsk and Dimitrovgrad were impressed by the performance of the choir of the Valaam Monastery. "The skill of the singers is so high that it seems that the choir of Balaam is a single soul", "It was a divine performance", "It was wonderful, multifaceted - and deplorable, and joyful, and pacifying: the whole gamut of human feelings at one concert!" “I would like to repeatedly hear the choir of Valaam, feel pride in the history of our Rus, feel incredible joy and inspiration,” the viewers write on social networks.

The concert of the Valaam Monastery collective in the Lenin Memorial alone was attended by over a thousand people. The audience heard the "Light of Balaam" program. Before the performance, the artistic director of the choir of the Valaam Monastery, Alexander Bordak, answered several questions.

- Alexander Valerievich, how many years has the choir existed?

The choir that you will see today has existed for over 20 years, and it consists of secular people. The Bratsk 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. Of course, we also work on Valaam: we help the brothers of the monastery at services, sing small concerts for pilgrims who visit the island, tell them about the ancient Valaam musical tradition. And already our full composition sings in 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 revive. And so we work together to this day and praise the Lord. There was never any audition for the team. People were really on Balaam by God's grace. For example, I myself came to Valaam in 1993. At that moment I was invited precisely because I needed a good professional singer who can quickly read any music from a sight. Then they knew my attitude towards the church. At that time the choir director was Mikhail Ruzanov. As soon as I arrived at Valaam, they gave me music notes, and literally in a few minutes I was already speaking in front of the pilgrim group. And from that moment I began to serve there, work, pray. Then they found out that there is such an owner of a rare singing voice - the bass-profundo Mikhail Kruglov. They also called him, Mikhail gladly responded, came. Then every year singers began to come there, for whom this place became close. This is how an independent team was formed. As a matter of 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 united both high professionalism and sincere faith. Apart from what I said, we are distinguished by very good friendly relations within the team. This gives us the opportunity to sincerely devote ourselves to the work that we make people happy. The viewer feels this, so he always very quickly opens his heart and already listens with all his heart.

- 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 over 330 concerts throughout the country. Our performances resonate in the hearts of the audience, 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 face not only in voices, but also in the recognition of the repertoire and works. Now there is not a single piece that has not been processed specially for our collective, given the vast range of voices: from countertenor to bass-profundo. The audience can hear both the sounds of the violin and wind instruments. And there is no falseness, not only musical, because the main thing is born in the sounds - purification and faith.

- What is the peculiarity of your chant?

On Valaam until now, if not in many monasteries, and even more so in ordinary parish churches, the tradition of singing in ancient chants is preserved: znamenny, pillar. The Valaam chant itself just arose from them. Mostly it is sung in one or two voices. Only on major holidays, such as the Day of Remembrance of Sergius Herman, the Wonderworker of Valaam, is it allowed in the church to perform polyphonic harmonizations or author's compositions, which are based on the Valaam chant. And our main repertoire is Valaam chants. An entire program called "The Majestic Tones of Balaam" is dedicated to this unique ancient singing. We learned to sing for a long time the way monks sang at the beginning of the 20th century, when the choir in the monastery was large, more than 100 people sang in it. All this became possible thanks to the preserved audio recordings made by the 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 to prepare for a new program, which we will present on May 12 at the Kremlin Palace.

Irina Antonova

Photo courtesy of the Lenin Memorial

Olga MIKHAILOVA 2016-11-19
Exclusive interview with the artistic director of the Valaam monastery choir Alexander Bordak
In Cherkessk, the performance of the famous choir of the Valaam Monastery was sold out.
By the beginning of the concert, there were no empty seats in the hall, and the audience occupied the aisles, some even sat down on the steps of the stairs.
The concerts of the choir of the Valaam Monastery began from the cities of the Crimean Peninsula - Yalta, Simferopol, Evpatoria, Sevastopol, Kerch. The tour continued with concerts at the venues of the cities of the Black Sea coast of Novorossiysk and Sochi. Further - Krasnodar, Armavir and Stavropol Territory: Nevinnomyssk, Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk, as well as North Ossetia and Ingushetia. In the coming days, concerts will take place in Chechnya and Dagestan. The choir's performance schedule can be so tense that concerts are held on the principle “every next concert in a new city”.
At each concert, a message from the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin is read: “Traveling through the regions of Russia, the choir of the Valaam Monastery acquaints the audience with the richest cultural and historical heritage of our people, with magnificent examples of ancient Russian singing art, traditional and modern sacred music, military-patriotic works, essays ”, - said in the welcoming speech of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. “I am sure 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 choir of the Valaam Monastery, in many ways 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 choir of the Valaam Monastery within the framework of the All-Russian tour with the program "The Light of Valaam".
Before the start of the concert, we met with the artistic director of the choir, Alexander Bordak. For a beautiful child's voice, he was admitted to the third grade of the Choral School named after V.I. M.I. Glinka at the State Academic Capella of St. Petersburg, then graduated from the St. Petersburg State Conservatory in two specialties: choral conducting and academic vocal. His voice has always been subject to complex opera arias, and Russian folk songs, and old 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?
- For more than 20 years there has been a choir of the monastery brethren on Valaam, very harmonious and friendly, but the singers of this choir do not leave the monastery walls and do not go on tour. As part of our team - professional musicians from St. Petersburg, graduates of the Choir School at the State Academic Capella. MI Glinka and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. 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 the ancient Valaam and church chants, come to the temple, come to the island of Valaam." The singing of the brethren is unique. In contrast to the singing of professionals, it reflects the meaning of liturgical chants and texts. We cannot think like people who live a monastic life until we ourselves begin to take a living, constant participation in liturgical life. Even as a believer, a professional during the divine service more closely monitors the breathing, the correctness of performance, rather than his spiritual state. The community, the parish should sing in the church, and the brotherly choirs in monasteries. Although, on the other hand, if secular people sing in churches, they somehow come into contact with the Church. But the concert performance of both the liturgical repertoire and the author's sacred music carries, in my opinion, a special missionary meaning.
- How did the singing tradition of the Valaam chant develop?
- The Valaam chant is a local tradition of znamenny chant, the peculiarity of modern Valaam church chant is precisely that Russian chants are performed in the Greek manner, with sustained lower tones. A third of the tour program "Light of Valaam" is precisely 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 chants from Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Old Russian chants. "The majestic tones of Balaam" are
original tunes of the Valaam monastery and their polyphonic presentation. "Russian Spiritual Concert" - spiritual works of large-scale Russian classics, these are Bortnyansky, Degtyarev, Arkhangelsky. "Melodies of the Russian soul" - Russian folk songs and romances of Alyabyev, Bulakhov, Vertinsky, songs of the Russian army and the Cossacks of the XIX-XX centuries, lyric 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 contemporary 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 hymns of the Nativity of Christ, Christmas songs of Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, England, France, Argentina.
- That is, 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 choir's work.
- The choir of the Valaam Monastery, working with the blessing of the Abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop of Trinity Pankraty, is at the same time a liturgical, singing and concert creative group. He participates in festive services at the Valaam courtyard in St. Petersburg. The temple of the courtyard is the only place in the city where authentic Old Russian chants are performed according to the old custom “antiphonic”, that is, alternately in two “faces” and one common choir together. The team accompanies Patriarchal divine services on Valaam, 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 brothers of the Valaam Monastery in singing to the choir and give charitable concerts, introducing the numerous guests of the monastery to the traditions of Valaam church singing. The choir's tour began in January with a performance to the Russian military at the Khmeimim airbase in the Syrian province of Latakia.
- Who is in the choir? Are the participants young?
- The average age of the choir members of the Baalam Monastery is 35 years. A total of 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 in the chest register, to the E-sol of the controctave. Dmitry Popov has the highest male operatic voice - a countertenor. Its range is from "mi" of a small octave to "mi" of the second. Viewers like the ringing-clear voice of Artyom Khamatnurov, and the gentle tenor altino of Anton Nesterov, and the soft baritone of Boris Petrov.
- You are performing the Light of Balaam program. What does it consist of?
- The current concert program of the choir is old church chants, lyrical and patriotic songs of the First World War and the Great Patriotic War, poems of the "Silver Age" poets and contemporary authors.
... And here are the musicians on the stage. Everything is beautiful in them: a modest, dignified manner of performance, restrained suits with golden-woven collars, and a sincere, sincere presentation of the material, and the power, strength and purity of male voices. Particular attention was attracted by two - Alexander Bordak himself, superbly leading the choir, and the accordionist Alexander Korbakov, a virtuoso performer, holder of the title of "The Golden Ten of Russian Accordionists", who simply won the hearts of all the women present, and not only with the brilliant chords of the talyanka, but also amazing noble appearance.
From the first notes played, from the first bars, the audience plunged into the desolate God-filling of measured monastic chants, then - in the troubled years of the First World War, remembering the sisters of mercy, the shed tears and blood of Russian soldiers, over which the images of Christ, Our Lady and Holy Russia rose invisibly. The Light of Balaam is not just a concert, it is an impulse of the soul, prayer, the power of sound, the power of the spirit and the power of the word. Each performance of each soloist was greeted by the audience with applause, and the further the choir sang, the louder they became, turned into ovations, and at the end the audience stood and chanted. The most complex program performed in one breath, without a single mistake or overlap, finally and irrevocably conquered the audience. In the final, the whole audience stood up and applauded, the musicians were not released, shouts of "Bravo!" Another minute - and the singers would simply be carried in their arms.
After the concert, the first deputy head of the Administration of the Head and Government of the KChR Nadezhda Pivovarova took the stage and addressed the choir members with excitement.
“On behalf of the Head of the Republic, allow me to welcome you to the hospitable land of Karachay-Cherkessia, to express my gratitude for the unique opportunity to listen to such works performed by, we can safely say, the 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 KChR. The oldest Christian churches are located here. And every inhabitant of the republic respects the cultural values ​​of our traditional religions. We are close to your words to the Almighty, words of love to each other. I would like to thank you for the fact that your activity is aimed at educating young people in the spirit of patriotism, ”said Nadezhda Ivanova. At parting, each member of the choir was presented with books about Karachay-Cherkessia and paintings with the image of the Face of Christ as a keepsake of their stay in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic.