Living organ. The choir of the Sretensky Monastery is often compared in sound to this majestic instrument. Whatever the group performs: church chants, Russian folk songs or the Russian anthem.

One of the oldest monasteries in the capital. Built on the site of the meeting (meeting) of the miraculous Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. This image, according to legend, saved Moscow from Tamerlane. Since then, chants began to sound in the monastery - day and night the monks prayed for peace in Rus'.

The same age as the monastery is the monastic choir. The oldest singing group in Russia - with a six-hundred-year history. Sretensky singers accompanied the solemn city religious processions. In 1925 the monastery was closed and the choir was gone. Only 70 years later were the traditions of spiritual singing revived.

"God is with us". Music by Pavel Chesnokov. Arranged by Andrey Poltorukhin. Soloist Alexey Tatarintsev.

A monastery choir does not mean a choir of monks. There are five groups in the monastery: seminarians, a choir of brethren, parishioners, a women's choir and a concert choir. Everyone sings at services, and “representative” performances are the lot of thirty choristers - professional musicians with theological education.

"I believe." Music by Alexander Grechaninov. Arranged by Alexander Amerkhanov. Soloist Dmitry Beloselsky.

Amazing a cappella.“30 people with a voice palette that replaces an entire symphony orchestra. Two bass octavists, a luxury for which only Russian choirs are famous. And each singer is a real find,” says regent Nikon Zhila.

"I go out alone on the road". Music by Elizaveta Shashina. Poems by Mikhail Lermontov.

"Special clamps." Attention to the spiritual component of the works adds harmony to the sound. And here the status of the monastery choir and the fact that its participants are churchgoers help. The musicians make friends with families, baptize children and celebrate holidays.

"Ah, it is not yet evening". Cossack folk song.

Secular premiere. The Sretensky Choir performed outside the church for the first time in Kuzbass 10 years ago. Since then, the best concert venues have been developed: the Kremlin Palace and Conservatory, Christmas and Easter festivals. This does not cancel the mandatory participation in religious services.

Missionary tours. New York, Washington, London, Toronto, Sydney, Berlin. A prayer service under the arches of Notre Dame Cathedral and a concert at UNESCO. The Sretensky Choir made a world tour in honor of the unification of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“The Sretensky Choir is a phenomenon of performing art. The unique voices of its soloists make this choir one of the world's best ensembles. Their extraordinarily creative and original interpretations of church hymns and folk songs allow their listeners to take a fascinating journey to the very origins of Russian culture."

Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky

Olympic achievements and... new sports traditions. The performance of the Russian anthem in the “Sochi version” created a real sensation. And it gained followers. The Moscow region hockey club “Vityaz” decided to open each home match with the anthem performed by the Sretensky choir.

"Heaven and Earth". The name of the choir program and a brief excursion into the repertoire. The musical group has eight albums to its credit. Spiritual chants, folk songs, romances. The works are famous and unique. Like a Greek chant based on the ancient Byzantine mode system.

"Polyushko-Pole". Music by Lev Knipper, lyrics by Viktor Gusev. Arranged by Dmitry Lazarev.

New page. In 2017, the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia on Blood will be built in the monastery. The temple is large - for two thousand parishioners... and choir listeners. The unique sound of the group in its native monastery will be complemented by cathedral acoustics.

A sketch of the design of the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia on Blood is planned to be erected in the Sretensky Monastery and consecrated in February 2017 © Photo: Pravoslavie.ru

Documentary film by Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov “Russians”

Sretensky Choir is an amazing bridge where the past meets the future,
where the connection of times is clearly felt.

Sergey Chesnokov

HISTORY OF THE CHOIR OF SRETENSKY MONASTERY

For as many centuries as the Sretensky Monastery has stood, there have been choirs attached to it, which first became widely known in the 17th century, when the monastery’s singers accompanied solemn citywide religious processions. And at the end of 1925, the Sretensky Monastery was closed - along with it the choir disappeared.

The choir of the monastery, which was revived in 1994, began to acquire its current features about 10 years ago. In 2005, with the blessing of Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), the choir was headed by its current regent, Nikon Stepanovich Zhila, a graduate of the Russian Academy of Music. Gnesinykh, the son of a priest, who sang in the choirs of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra from childhood. Soon, simultaneously with the services, the Sretensky Choir began recording albums and active concert activities.

The core of the choir is students of Sretensky Seminary, as well as graduates of the Moscow Theological Seminary and Academy. An equally important part of the team are vocalists from the Moscow Academy of Choral Art, the Moscow Conservatory and the Academy of Music. Gnesins.

Each of the 30 choir members is a real find for the creative team. The choir includes its own talented composers and arrangers: Fyodor Stepanov, Alexander Amerkhanov, Andrey Poltorukhin, Roman Maslennikov. First-class soloists: Dmitry Beloselsky, Mikhail Miller, Mikhail Turkin, Ivan Skrylnikov, Pyotr Gudkov, Alexey Tatarintsev. Critics often rank Dmitry Beloselsky higher than some other world-famous Russian performers, but despite all their merits, the choir members are an obedient instrument in the hands of regent Nikon Stepanovich Zhila, who turns the harmony of voices into a living organ.

In addition to regular services at the Sretensky Monastery, the Sretensky Choir sings at especially solemn patriarchal services in the Moscow Kremlin, participates in international music competitions and missionary trips of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“The first task of the choir is to participate in worship services. Twice a week the entire group sings in the church, N. Zhila said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta. - But there is another direction that is close to us. This is a Russian song of the twentieth century. During this period, when the Orthodox faith was persecuted and forcibly expelled from the memory of the people, amazing songs were created that somehow, albeit very remotely, replaced unknown prayer states in the souls of people.”

In addition to sacred music, the choir’s repertoire contains the best works of the Russian song tradition - Russian, Ukrainian and Cossack songs (“On the hill, on the mountain”, “Oh, you wide steppe”, “Spring will not come for me”, “Love, brothers , love”, “Nothing like a month...”, “Oh, on the mountain”). Songs of the war years, such as “The Enemies Burned Their Home”, “Oh, Roads” or the early twentieth century waltz “On the Hills of Manchuria” sound unique - the Sretensky Choir performs them acapella. The popular and beloved romances “White Acacia Fragrant Clusters” and “Foggy Morning” in a choral arrangement do not leave indifferent either specialists or music lovers both in Russia and abroad. According to the conductor of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, professional singer Thomas Busse, F. Stepanov’s choral arrangement of F. Abt’s famous romance to the poems of Ivan Turgenev “Foggy Morning” allows the choir “to show what tenors are capable of with the lightest pianissimo on high notes. Even professional American choirs have to resort to falsetto on such high notes, but the Russians have enough technique to pull them out.”

For as many centuries as the Sretensky Monastery has stood, there have been choirs attached to it, which first became widely known in the 17th century, when the monastery’s singers accompanied solemn citywide religious processions. And at the end of 1925, the Sretensky Monastery was closed - along with it, the choir disappeared. The choir of the monastery, which was revived in 1994, began to acquire its current features about 10 years ago.

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In 2005, with the blessing of Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov), the choir was headed by its current regent, Nikon Stepanovich Zhila. Soon, simultaneously with the services, the Sretensky Choir began recording albums and active concert activities. The core of the choir is students of Sretensky Seminary, as well as graduates of the Moscow Theological Seminary and Academy. An equally important part of the team are vocalists from the Moscow Academy of Choral Art, the Moscow Conservatory and the Academy of Music. Gnesins.
In addition to regular services at the Sretensky Monastery, the Sretensky Choir sings at especially solemn patriarchal services in the Moscow Kremlin, participates in international music competitions and missionary trips of the Russian Orthodox Church. In addition to sacred music, the choir’s repertoire contains the best works of the Russian song tradition - Russian, Ukrainian and Cossack songs (“On the hill, on the mountain”, “Oh, you are a wide steppe”, “Spring will not come for me”, “Love, brothers, love”, “Nothing like a month...”, “Oh, on the mountain”). Songs from the war years, such as “The Enemies Burned Their Home,” “Oh, the Roads,” or the early 20th-century waltz “On the Hills of Manchuria,” sound unique—the Sretensky Choir performs them acapella. The popular and beloved romances “White Acacia Fragrant Clusters” and “Foggy Morning” in a choral arrangement do not leave indifferent either specialists or music lovers both in Russia and abroad.
In recent years, the choir of the Sretensky Monastery has recorded several music albums with spiritual chants and the best songs of the classical and folk repertoire.

There has been a choir in the Sretensky Monastery since its foundation in 1397. Having already completed its seventh hundred years, the choir remained silent for exactly 70 years under Soviet rule. With the revival of monastic life in the ancient monastery, under the arches of its only surviving temple - in honor of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God - choral singing began again in 1993.

Archimandrite Matthew (Mormyl)
(1938-2009)

“If not the founding father, then the forefather-grandfather of the modern, world-famous choir of the Sretensky Monastery, one can consider Archimandrite Matthew (Mormyl), the chief regent of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. He also studied with the one who, on behalf of the viceroy’s father, assembled the first choir of the revived monastery - now Archbishop of Vereisky, and then Abbot Ambrose (Ermakov).

Archbishop Ambrose (Ermakov) grew up in the choir of Father Matthew in the Lavra choir from childhood and became the permanent artistic director and regent of the choir in 2005, Nikon Stepanovich Zhila, a graduate of the Russian Academy of Music. Gnesins, Honored Artist of Russia.

“The worst thing,” choir director Nikon Stepanovich is convinced, “is singing without a soul.”

Initially, the choir was formed from the brethren of the monastery and parishioners more or less capable of singing, students of the Sretensky Theological Seminary and Moscow theological schools - that is, from those who were primarily rooted in the liturgical life of the Church. This principle is still important today. “To create beauty, you yourself must be pure in soul,” the words of the classical composer M.I. are quoted on the choir’s official page on social networks. Glinka. “The worst thing,” the choir director Nikon Stepanovich is convinced, “is singing without a soul.”

Praising the Lord

The choir invariably sings at all festive services of the Sretensky monastery, be it patronal, twelfth or any other church celebrations. At least twice a week, choristers sing in the choir: at the all-night vigil on Saturday evening and at the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning. “Divine services are the only thing that can truly save a person from the everyday life that weighs on us,” says Nikon Stepanovich, who grew up in the family of a priest and a mother singer.

On other days, during services in the monastery, the seminary and folk choir sing; in some cases, the texts of the service are distributed to everyone in the church and general singing is blessed.

Since 2005, the choir under the direction of Nikon Zhila has taken part in the main patriarchal services in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and in the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin. Accompanies the primate on missionary trips, in particular foreign ones. He sings at important church events, including the consecration of new or restored churches.

Thus, the choir of the Sretensky Monastery sang at the joint consecration of the temple complex at the Butovo site by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II and the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Metropolitan Laurus, in 2007. In the same year he gave a concert in honor of the opening of the first Russian church - the Great Martyr Catherine - in Rome (Italy). In 2008, he accompanied with singing the consecration of the cathedral in the Iversky Monastery in Valdai. Next year, 2009, will be the consecration of the Church of Saints Constantine and Helena in Istanbul (Türkiye).

One of the most important moments in the creative biography of the team, as well as in the history of the Sretensky Monastery, was, of course, the consecration of the new monastery Church of the Resurrection of Christ and the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church on Lubyanka in the year of the 100th anniversary of the tragic events of the Russian Revolution.

Through a song to human souls

The renovated choir under the direction of Nikon Zhila, to which he invited many gifted soloists, composers, arrangers with higher musical education, was blessed by the father governor to turn to the song heritage of our people, including those created under Soviet rule.

So, in addition to sacred music, Russian, Ukrainian, and Cossack songs appeared in the repertoire of the monastery choir (“On the hill, on the mountain,” “Oh, you wide steppe,” “Spring will not come for me,” “Love, brothers, love,” “Nich Yaka Misyachna”, “Oh, on the Mountain”), wartime songs performed a cappella, everyone’s favorite pre-revolutionary and Soviet times romances and waltzes in unique choral arrangements.

Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) once wrote an article “Soviet song as a sublimation of prayer.” “During that period when the Orthodox faith was persecuted and forcibly eradicated from people’s memory, amazing songs were created that somehow, albeit very remotely, replaced unknown prayerful states in the souls of people,” Nikon Stepanovich agrees with him.

Both serious and not very serious

In individual choir programs, when announcing songs, the historical context of their creation is reconstructed.

“The feat of the musicians of the Moksha Infantry Regiment in the Russian-Japanese War remains unfading,” declared, for example, the waltz “Moksha Regiment on the Hills of Manchuria” by Nikon Zhila. - In February 1905, the Moksha infantry regiment was surrounded in difficult battles. And when the forces of the defenders were running out and ammunition was running out, the regimental orchestra began to play right under the bullets in the line of fire - performing military marches one after another, inspiring the soldiers.

Ilya Alekseevich Shatrov The orchestra was conducted by bandmaster Ilya Alekseevich Shatrov. The Japanese wavered. The regiment managed to break through the encirclement. But out of 60 orchestra members, only 7 came out alive [from the battle]. They were all awarded the Cross of St. George. In the summer of 1906, Ilya Shatrov, returning to the place where the regiment was stationed, created the first version of the waltz dedicated to his fallen comrades.”

Listeners can expect many discoveries at the concerts of the Sretensky Monastery Choir. What united the Russian people even during the years of the bloody civil war of the beginning of the 20th century?.. “Both reds and whites,” Nikon Stepanovich prefaces the performance of the next work, “loved the same songs.” Among them is the well-known romance “The fragrant clusters of white acacia...” - the choir of the Sretensky Monastery performs its original text. The choristers reconstructed the words of many other “hits” known from Soviet transcriptions, but in fact still pre-revolutionary.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The choir of the Sretensky Monastery also sings hits of our days, for example, “Horse” (“I will go out into the field with a horse at night...”) by Igor Matvienko - for the first time, by the way, performed on the Russian stage precisely in the year of the revival of the Sretensky Monastery. The choir under the direction of Nikon Zhily, as he himself notes, and in the good sense of hooligan songs - they are close in energy to youth. And the emotional contact achieved in this way will perhaps open to them masterpieces of the classics.

“Serious [serious] music, like Mozart, Beethoven and others, has an ennobling effect on the soul, often under its influence you want to cry and pray,” admitted Colonel Pavel Plikhankov himself, who once tuned his soul in the philharmonic halls - now already famous Venerable Optina Elder Barsanuphius. Speaking about the work of the Sretensky Monastery choir, listeners have repeatedly testified that their songs “contribute to spiritual cleansing.”

Everyone sings!

“Choral singing unites people, gives them spiritual uplift and a feeling of fraternal harmony,” noted composer and choirmaster Georgy Aleksandrovich Struve.

Choral singing unites people, gives them spiritual uplift and a sense of brotherly harmony

At concerts of the Sretensky Monastery choir, the entire audience begins to sing. Here one involuntarily recalls how Father Matthew (Mormyl) admired the extraordinary church chanting - when in the church, in a single impulse of community, everyone can sing during the service. At the climax of the choir’s performances, Nikon Stepanovich turns to the audience and conducts everyone (at the same time, the choir members may begin to leave the stage, as it were). For the singing public, who also cheerfully react to the behavior of the choristers, these are those states when those sitting in neighboring chairs can no longer have any claims, envy, hatred or resentment towards each other.

Preaching with music

Coming out of the walls of the monastery, the choir of the Sretensky Monastery brings to people what they themselves then come to the temple for.

Those who came to listen to the choir say: “After your concert, I wanted to go to worship.”

“After your concert, I wanted to go to a church service where you sing. After all, if here, in a secular hall, you experience such an upsurge of spirituality, what will it be like within the church walls!” - George Satten, a listener to one of the concerts in America, once admitted. “Yes, after the choir’s performances, many people - both Russians and Americans - come up completely amazed and ask: where is the Orthodox church, how can I find out something about this culture and the spirituality that these young people bring from the stage?” - Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) confirms, having observed such a reaction more than once both abroad and in Russia.

Barrymore Shearer, a critic of one of the largest American publications, The Wall Street Journal, noted a special effect at the concerts of the Sretensky Monastery choir - the effect of being present in the church. “It was easy to believe in Avery Fisher Hall, whose matte walls seemed to be illuminated by the faces of icons during the concert! - he wrote. “The associative power of the sounds produced by the choristers was so great.”

"Cultural special forces" of Russia

In 2007, the choir undertook a worldwide tour dedicated to the reunification of the ROCOR with the Russian Orthodox Church. The choir performed in New York, Washington, Boston, Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney, Berlin, London; in 2008, the choir participated in the “Russian Days in Latin America”: it performed in San Jose, Havana, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Asuncion. And once after the choir’s performance, feeling emotional from what they heard, one of the emigrants, already an elderly man, approached the choristers with the words: “Russia has come to us.”

The Western press called the Sretensky Monastery choir “elite artistic special forces.” (“Monastery Choir: A Special Force” was the headline of a long article in the Washington Post).

“Russian Artistic Special Forces” have already visited more than 45 countries on four continents. He has performed in most of the most famous halls on the planet: Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the US Library of Congress, Notre Dame Cathedral (Notre Dame de Paris), the Papal Residence in the Vatican, and the UNESCO Hall - where they were preceded all the most famous stars in the world. “We didn’t sing only in Africa and Antarctica,” Nikon Stepanovich laughs.

Sometimes the choir may perform something spontaneously. So, on the Great Wall of China, suddenly, to the amazement of those who also happened to be there, they sang “Amur Waves.” Or they can give the public a surprise by performing, for example, in the Library of Congress of the United States, the African-American spiritual “Go Down Moses” (“Let My People Go”), which is not listed in the concert program, the words of which are written on a biblical story.

Now the choir has its own talented composers and arrangers: Fyodor Stepanov (who also acts as the director of the group), Alexander Amerkhanov, Dmitry Lazarev. First-class soloists: Mikhail Miller, Mikhail Turkin, Ivan Leonov, Ivan Skrylnikov, Vladislav Chizhov, Nikita Volkov, Vadim Zaripov, Ilya Tatakov.

It was the choir of the Sretensky Monastery that was entrusted with singing the anthem of the Russian Federation at the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

The high mission of the Sretensky Monastery Choir has been repeatedly spoken about by numerous admirers of the group, including the most famous persons of modern religious, cultural and political life, including first hierarchs and heads of state.

Website of the Sretensky Monastery choir: http://bestchoir.ru.

The choir at the Moscow Sretensky Monastery arose simultaneously with the founding of the monastery in 1397 and has existed for more than 600 years. The break in the choir's activities came only during the years of persecution of the church during the period of Soviet power. In 2005, it was headed by Nikon Zhila, a graduate of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, the son of a priest, who sang in the church choir of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra since childhood. The current composition of the choir includes seminarians, students of the Sretensky Seminary, graduates of the Moscow Theological Seminary and Academy, as well as vocalists from the Academy of Choral Art, the Moscow Conservatory and the Gnessin Academy. In addition to regular services at the Sretensky Monastery, the choir sings at solemn patriarchal services in the Moscow Kremlin, participates in missionary trips and significant events in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church. A participant in international competitions and music festivals, the choir actively tours: with the program “Masterpieces of Russian Choral Singing” it toured the USA, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, England and France. The choir's discography includes albums of sacred music, recordings of Russian folk and Cossack songs, pre-revolutionary and Soviet urban romances.

The choir consists of students from Sretensky Seminary, graduates of the Moscow Theological Seminary and Academy, the Academy of Choral Art, the Moscow Conservatory and the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music.

In addition to regular services at the Sretensky Monastery, the choir participates in especially solemn patriarchal services in the Moscow Kremlin, missionary trips of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, conducts active concert and touring activities, and records on CDs. The team took part in a concert in honor of the opening of the first Orthodox church in Rome, the consecration of the cathedral in the Iversky Monastery in Valdai and the Church of Saints Constantine and Helena in Istanbul, performed in the Auditorium of the papal residence in the Vatican, the Parisian headquarters of UNESCO and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris . In 2007, the choir made a large-scale tour dedicated to the unification of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose concerts took place on the best stages of New York, Washington, Boston, Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney, Berlin and London. As part of the mission of the Russian Orthodox Church, he participated in the “Days of Russia in Latin America” (concerts in Costa Rica, Havana, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Asuncion).

In addition to sacred music, the group’s repertoire includes the best examples of the Russian song tradition - Russian, Ukrainian and Cossack songs, songs of the war years, famous romances, which the artists perform in unique choral arrangements, leaving neither specialists nor music lovers in Russia and abroad indifferent. .