The concert of Russkaya Cappella dedicated to Romanov Dynasty. 10th March 2013, Stirling

James VI was crowned King of Scotland in the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling in 1567.  Some fifty years later the first Romanov was crowned in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin; Tsar Mikhail’s descendants were to rule Russia for the next three centuries.  Both events took place at times of political turmoil.

The historic church in Stirling resounded lately with choral music marking the 400^th anniversary of the inception of the Russian royal family in 1613.  Entitled “The Romanov Dynasty – from Triumph to Tragedy”, the concert showed how music was entwined with the history and personalities of the ruling house and the fate of the nation.  The programme included national anthems, patriotic choruses, and sacred music associated with the court.  Two directors of the Imperial Court Choir – Bortnyansky and Lvov – were represented, and Kastalsky’s Cantata Three Hundred Years, especially composed for the previous centenary, was performed.

The first opera by the ‘father of Russian music’, Mikhail Glinka, tells the story of Ivan Susanin, a patriot who laid down his life for his country and its future tsar, thus preparing the way for Mikhail Romanov’s coronation in 1613 and Russia’s future successes.  The concluding chorus from this opera A Life for the Tsar, the foundation stone of Russian opera laid in 1836 and embodying a key part of the national story, was sung.  Music by Gretchaninoff and Rachmaninoff completed the programme.  The singers were Russkaya Cappella, directed by Svetlana Zvereva and Stuart Campbell, with soloists Ksenia Karelina and Richard Roberts and Ian Boulter, organ.

The programme was received enthusiastically and will be repeated in Edinburgh on Sunday 9 June in the series ‘St Giles at Six’ and in Hyndland Parish Church in Glasgow West End Festival on Sunday 16 June at 7.30pm

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The Children’s Singing Studio of the Russian School takes part in their first public concert

On March 18, 2012 the latest concert by Russkaya Cappella took place in Kelvingrove Art Gallery.  They were joined on this occasion by the Children’s Singing Studio from the Glasgow Russian School, who were performing in public for the first time. The Singing Studio, consisting of pupils from the Glasgow Russian School, was created in January of this year, as a joint pilot project of Russkaya Cappella and School.

Singing along with the adults, and without the accompaniment of musical instruments, the children performed: “Come you, the Nightingale” by Glinka, and the Russian folk songs “Dryoma” (arranged by Lyadov) and “The fly by our gates”. These songs, “Come you, the Nightingale” in particular, are far from being easy.

There were many words of praise for the children after the concert, the listeners mainly complimenting the children on the cohesion of their singing, their dedication and sincerity. The children looked like real artistes, and their singing was flawless, focused and expressive, despite the hundreds of eyes watching them.

A proper respect should be given to Glasgow Russian School, where lots of attention is paid to the organization of holidays and staging various performances; the children got used to being on the stage and they like the attention of an audience. But there is a huge difference between performing for Mums and Dads and singing in a serious adult public concert, to demonstrate their own art to unknown listeners.

Another innovation of this Russkaya Cappella concert was the performance of Russian music accompanied on the organ by Malcolm Sim. This item was included in the concert programme first and foremost because one of the best Glasgow organs is located in Kelvingrove Art Gallery. This miraculous instrument, capable of replacing a large orchestra, accompanied “Kol slaven” by Dmitry Bortnyansky and the chorus from the incidental music to the play “The Snowmaiden” by Alexander Gretchaninoff. But most heartfelt and captivating was the performance with organ accompaniment of the famous “Vocalise” by Rachmaninoff. It was sung by Susan Sheldon, a soloist from the choir, in her fabulous versatile warm-toned soprano. In this performance, and in the spacious acoustic of this venue, the piece took on a new, prayerful character.  The spectators gave a huge round of applause after the concert.

An invitation to Russkaya Cappella to give a concert during the exhibition dedicated to the Russian Empress Catherine the Great in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, with exhibits from the Hermitage on display, was yet another confirmation of the success of this performance.

Translated by Eugenia Toft

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A Nightingale flies from the Ukraine to Glasgow

Something out of the ordinary will take place in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum on Sunday 18 March at 3pm.  During the concert on that day a song composed by the father of Russian classical music, Mikhail Glinka, will be sung by pupils from Glasgow Russian School who are members of the new Singing Studio there.  Glinka wrote the song using a poem entitled ‘The Nightingale’ by a local poet when he was a guest on the estate of his friends the Tarnovskys.  Their estate was Kachanovka, in the Ukraine.  The current representative of the Tarnovsky family, and former owner of the estate, Mrs Tanya Hine, OBE, lives in Bearsden, and will be at the concert with members of her family.  Mrs Hine will hear the song written on her family’s estate performed in Russian by schoolchildren of Russian heritage along with Russkaya Cappella, the adult Scottish choir that sings Russian music. 

Said Svetlana Zvereva, co – director of Russkaya Cappella: ‘It’s remarkable that Scotland now has enough children to form a children’s choir singing in Russian. Sometimes the children are of purely Russian parentage or have one parent from one of the republics of the former Soviet Union. Whatever their background, these children now have the chance, through the Glasgow Russian School, of preserving their Russian cultural heritage, including its musical component.This is also enriching Scotland’s artistic traditions.’

From website: http://www.localnewsglasgow.co.uk/tag/singing-studio/

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In Memory of those lost on the Arctic Convoys

St Andrew is honoured by all the Christian churches; moreover he is both the patron saint of Scotland and one of Russia’s patron saints – the protector in particular of the Russian navy.  The first half of Russkaya Cappella’s St Aloysius concert on 30 November 2011 started with compositions in honour of St Andrew and concluded with music in memory of some 3,000 merchant marine and allied naval personnel of several nationalities who were lost from the Arctic Convoys during the Second World War (to Russians, the Great Patriotic War, Великая Отечественная Война), as they sought to deliver material support to the Soviet arm of the Allied war effort.

The Convoys have been extensively commemorated in Russia during 2011, the seventieth year since they began.  With Soviet armed forces also providing defensive cover for part of the route, the Convoys were the closest to actual military collaboration between the USSR and the western allies during that war.

These naval-escorted convoys (a defensive strategy in response to enemy blockades, developed by Britain in the First World War to minimise shipping losses) commenced in August 1941, two months after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.  Their primary function was to convey military equipment and munitions provided under the American Lend-Lease programme to the Eastern Front, some of it destined, via the ‘Road of Life’, for the siege of Leningrad, in which ultimately 1.5m Russians perished.  The ships returned carrying Russian strategic raw materials, including gold and platinum.  This continued until May 1945, by which time there had been 42 eastbound convoys, delivering 4m tons of war supplies, including 5,000 tanks and 7,000 aircraft, with 36 convoys sailing westwards.  In all 581 merchant ships (including 292 American, 184 British and 56 Russian) steamed from assembly points in Iceland and Britain (including the Clyde and particularly Loch Ewe in north-west Scotland) along routes skirting the Arctic pack ice, rounding the northern tip of Nazi-occupied Norway – its fjords a haven for U-boats and heavy naval surface vessels – to the Kola Inlet and heavily bombed Murmansk (eight days’ sail by the winter route) or to the White Sea and Arkhangelsk (fifteen days by the summer route round the west of Iceland) and then back again.  The weather – at times bringing a temperature of -50 degrees – and the enemy action from above, on and below the surface, made this ‘the worst journey in the world’, according to Winston Churchill.  Losses amounted to 85 merchant ships and 16 Royal Naval vessels.

  

Icy conditions on naval escort vessels

More than a quarter of the merchant losses were from a single convoy, code-name PQ17, which was ordered to scatter without its naval protection, redeployed in response to the belief that the Nazi battleship Tirpitz and other naval vessels had left Norway – a belief found subsequently to have been false.  153 merchant seamen died as unprotected ships were picked off by bombers and U-boats.

The choir and audience were therefore greatly privileged to have among them two veteran survivors of the Arctic Convoys, Jim Osler and Bill Bannerman, resplendent in the medals awarded by the Russian state and wearing their Arctic Stars, accompanied by Christine Milliken of the Russian Arctic Convoy Club in Scotland.  Jim had been a radio operator on board the Royal Naval tanker Aldersdale, part of the ill-fated PQ17 convoy, when, in July 1942, it was first bombed and then torpedoed and sunk in the Barents Sea north of Norway.  The crew were rescued by the minesweeper Salamander and taken to Arkhangelsk.  Jim’s radio skills led to a posting to what became GCHQ at Bletchley Park, where Alan Turing was playing a key part in the breaking of the Enigma codes, thereby helping protect shipping movements.  Thereafter Jim’s recruitment by MI6 led to subsequent action with the Norwegian resistance.  Bill had been recruited to the Royal Navy at the outbreak of war and because of his engineering skills became a submariner, which he remained throughout, engaged in helping protect the Arctic Convoys. 

All present welcomed the opportunity to express deep appreciation of their bravery and fortitude.  The choir, directed by Svetlana Zvereva, sang ‘Eternal Memory’ and other prayers.  Natalia McVitie offered greetings on behalf of the Glasgow Russian School as the children presented flowers to the veterans. 

Fred Hay

Eucharist celebrated by Fr Georgy Zavershinsky in the Parish of St Kentigern, 7 November 2010

Sunday 7 November was the first day of Father Georgy Zavershinsky’s service as rector of the Parish of St. Kentigern in Glasgow. 

Fr Georgу is head of the Russian Orthodox parishes in Scotland and Northern Ireland. By decree of Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh, Fr Georgy has been appointed rector of the following parishes:  

1. St. Kentigern in Glasgow

2. Annunciation of the Mother of God in Dundee

3. St. Machar of Aberdeen, Aberdeen

4. St Teneu in Edinburgh 

Fr Georgy Zavershinsky is a renowned theological scholar, author of scientific works, vice head and a member of the Scientific Council of the Church-wide centre for postgraduate and doctoral training named after Saints Cyril and Methodius in  Moscow. He also lectures at universities in Ireland. Conversations with Fr Georgy and his articles can be found on many websites.  

Fr Georgy’s sermon touched the hearts of parishioners of the Russian Church in Glasgow. It is now planned for services to be held regularly on Sundays and sometimes on weekdays on feast-days. It is proposed to hold vesper services starting in December. 

Father George said he hoped that the number of parishioners will grow. He also feels that  missionary activity is hugely important and strive to make the Scriptures understandable  for modern people.  

Certainly, Fr Georgy’s knowledge and unique experience will serve the cause of spreading Orthodoxy in Scotland well.