The Applause Was Long

Two concerts in Nizhny Novgorod took place with the participation of the Harvard University choir (USA).

This all-Black collective of 17 people (seven women and ten men) has existed at Harvard University since 1973; it is led by an excellent musician, James Waldon Norris.

The collective’s enormous repertoire includes both choral classics and, especially valuable, African American songs, spirituals and jazz compositions, which are an organic part of the musical character of these people and of their national distinctiveness. But the vocal culture of the collective and the artistic level of its choral performance are extremely high, and this national distinctiveness does not affect the performance of European music.

Thus in the second concert, held in the Conservatory hall, Schubert’s Mass in G major sounded superb; the voices of the guests and the “hosts” (the municipal choir “Nizhny Novgorod”, the choir of the choir school and the municipal chamber orchestra “Sofia”) merged in one sound. People’s Artist of Russia Lev Sivukhin conducted.

It was a true choral musical festival that brought enormous joy to everyone, both participants and listeners. It became possible thanks to the joint efforts of the Nizhny Novgorod administration, the US Embassy in Russia, the choral collectives led by L. K. Sivukhin, the Glinka Conservatory and the television and radio company “Nizhny Novgorod”. Sponsors: “Citron” and the newspaper “Iz Ruk v Ruki”.

At the end of the evening a long and deafening ovation testified to the general joy, as did the embraces of the two leaders.

Valentina Blinova Newspaper “Kurs” 21.06.1997