Optina Pustyn Male Choir

The OPTINA PUSTYN MALE CHOIR, ST.PETERSBURG (The Male Choir of the Priory of the Optina Pustyn Monastery in Saint-Petersburg) was founded in 1996 by Alexander Semjonov blessed by the Prior Rostislav. The Choir is an ensemble of professional singers (ranging between 6 and 9 performers), all of them graduates of the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire. This God-serving Choir has been called to revive the lost traditions of ancient monastic singing. Due to the close cooperation between the Choir and a group of scholars (mediaevalists), many vocal music manuscripts, consigned to oblivion and kept in book depositories of monasteries and academic libraries, have found a new life during services in the Priory church and subsequently became part of the Optina Pustyn Choir repertoire.

The Choir performed in a number of sacred places and distinguished concert halls, such as the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin, the Hall of Church Assemblies in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Vrubel Hall of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Uppsala Cathedral, the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Stockholm and the Stockholm Musical Academy Hall at the invitation of the Rikskonzert (State Concert Department) of Sweden. The Choir also took part in such widely known festivals as the Moscow Easter Festival (the Art Director of the Festival is Maestro Valerie Gergiev), the Transfiguration Festival in Yaroslavl, «Musica sacra» and «Millennium sacrum» in Spain, and «Credo» in Estonia.

click here to see the full sized picture The Choir gave concerts in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Ryazan, Kaluga, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novgorod the Great, Vyborg, and Staraya Ladoga. It has also toured Germany and the Netherlands.

Together with the Saint-Petersburg Chamber Choir, the Optina Pustyn Choir participated in concerts by the Chamber Orchestra «I Solisti Veneti» with Maestro Claudio Scimone as the conductor. It also took part in the recording of the Mass «Di Gloria» by Pietro Maskagni in Padua and Verona (Italy).

At the beginning of 2006 the Choir is planning to issue its ninth CD - «The soul is bound to miss the heaven», which will include vocal works by Russian composers, as well as new arrangements of several Russian folk songs. At the same time the Choir is working on a new program featuring the singing of ancient church, which will be presented to the public for the first time during the Choirs eighth tour of Scandinavia

Russia's Most Beautiful Songs

On Flute I Play my Sad Verses
Vivat Suite
Saintly Love (G. Sviridov, arr. A. Semyonov)
This is not a White Birch (trad., arr. A. Sveshnikov)
Hey, You, Wide Steppe (trad., arr. A. Semyonov)
The Little Cuckoo (trad., arr. S. Zharov)
A Winter Road (V. Shebalin, arr. A. Chmyryov)
The Waves Are Sleepy
My Lovely Rowan Tree (trad., arr. A. Semyonov)
The Volga Boat Men (trad., arr. A. Sveshnikov)
The Legend of the Twelve Robbers
Steppe, Endless Steppe (S. Sadovsky, arr. A. Semyonov)
The Lovely Night
In a Dark Wood (trad., arr. A. Sveshnikov)
The Little Bell (trad., arr. A. Semyonov)
Dignity
Song of Cherubs (D. S. Bortnjansky)

The Optina Pustyn Male Choir consists of six to nine professional musicians trained at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. The choir tours and has produced five CDs to date, but they are also part of the regular monastic choir at the Optina Pustyn Monastery in St. Petersburg. Singing in the tradition of the world famous Don Cossack Chorus directed by Sergei Jaroff the choir sings Russian traditional songs including favourites such as the ‘Volga Boat Men’ and the ‘Legend of the Twelve Robbers’ and others. Information in English, German, French and Spanish, plus complete lyrics in Russian with English translations.

Listen to "The Little Cuckoo" in Real Audio.

8328 CD $14.98

Orthodox Chants

The male choir of the Optina Pustyn Monastery in St. Petersburg was established in 1996 and consists of 6–9 professional singers with impressive voices. Their main goal is the cultivation of the heritage of the old Russian Church polyphony in its different styles, such as: Znamenny, Bulgarian, Greek, Byzantine chants, etc. This recording is an impressive example of orthodox chants and shows the beauty of Russia’s religious songs. Information in 4 languages.

8329 CD $14.98

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