On December 15, in the hall of the Sydney Conservatory, a concert of songs “Lyrical Memories” was successfully held, performed by the Russian Male Orthodox Choir under the direction of Nektary Kotlyarov.
This famous choir was founded in 2017 and has already won many victories in competitions, performed in the USA, and next year the choir is planning a trip to Serbia. The audience welcomed the young director and 20 choir performers, among them the soloists in the concert were baritone Lavrenty Boykov, profundo bass Alexander Dmitriev and tenors Grigory Malyshev and Alexey Zheludev. Russian, Serbian, Italian and English songs were performed. The host of the concert is Nikolai Maksymow.
The editor of “Unification” asked the choir director, Nektary Kotlyarov, to talk about what the past year was like for the choir members.
— What new has happened in your Male Orthodox choir over the past year?
— We have had a very busy 2023, full of rehearsals, recordings, concerts, and tours interstate. Some key highlights included recording our 2nd album the ‘All-Night Vigil’ which is now not only released on all streaming platforms such as iTunes and Spotify, but also available for purchase through physical CD’s, our Easter concert at the Sydney Town Hall which combined choirs from the Antiochian, Greek and Serbian Churches together with our choir, a concert in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney where the acoustics were one of the best that we have ever sung in, our trip to rural Tasmania, and our multiple trips to Brisbane where for one occasion we were the invited choir to sing services and perform at the 100 year celebration of the St. Nicholas Cathedral.
— Among the twenty members of the choir, I saw many familiar faces who have been performing with you for several years, but do you have any new members of the choir?
— This year we have been fortunate to gain another few talented young singers from the parishes within our Diocese. Both Aleksander Russ and Seraphim Ovchinnikov passed the audition to join the choir and we are very pleased to have them with us. Right now, approximately half of our choir is under 30 which is fantastic. I am fully supportive of training the younger choristers as they are our future.
— How do you choose new songs for the secular repertoire?
— I grew up in a family which not only holds a deep appreciation for Orthodox church music but also for cultural folk songs which have been passed down from generation to generation. The vast majority of the pieces we sing are either well-known pre-revolutionary folk songs or Russian classics that have emerged in the last 100 years. As members of our audience come from diverse backgrounds, I try to also accommodate to their cultures too as much as possible, hence a few pieces being in either English, Italian, Ukrainian or Serbian.
— I noticed that when you perform famous Russian songs, you perform them with your own variations.
— Yes, almost all the folk songs we sing are my own musical arrangements. This is another fascinating point for many musicians in Russia who follow our choirs social media pages. Not only are we Australians of Russian descent singing folk songs, but all the arrangements are unique to our choir too.
— I know that you have a big trip to Serbia. Who invited you and what are you planning to perform in Serbia?
— We were invited and blessed by His Holiness Porfirije, Patriarch of Serbia to travel to Serbia next year. During our trip we plan to sing in many churches, in particular the Cathedral of St. Sava in Belgrade which is the largest Orthodox church in the world - I believe Russian builders also took part in its construction along with the Serbs. We also plan on performing concerts of both spiritual and folk song repertoire and collaborating alongside the Serbian Patriarchal Choir of Belgrade.
— We saw how warmly your performance was received in the conservatory hall; the choir really won the love of the Russian community of Australia. I would also like to note the great activity of the choir, which takes part in all significant events in the Orthodox life of our diocese. We congratulate you and all choir members on the New Year and wish you good luck, success and health!
Interviewed by Vladimir KOUZMIN
Pictured is the Russian Orthodox Male Choir of Australia (ROMCA) at the concert at Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
