The Larks Have Come, the Songs Have Come

The artistic director of the choir school, People’s Artist of Russia, Professor Lev Sivukhin is receiving congratulations these days on the 50th anniversary of the Nizhny Novgorod Boys’ Choir Chapel. Friends, colleagues and graduates of the Chapel are generous with warm words and wishes. Two concerts dedicated to the golden jubilee took place in the hall of the choir school. Choral works by Russian, foreign and contemporary Nizhny Novgorod composers, as well as Russian folk songs, were performed by the boys’ choir (conductor Boris Mokeev), the youth choir (conductor Evgeny Makarov) and the chamber choir “Nizhny Novgorod” together with the choir school’s chapel (conductor People’s Artist of Russia, Professor Lev Sivukhin).

THE PUPILS of the choir school and the chamber choir paid tribute to the memory of the organiser and first director of the Chapel, V. P. Malyshev, dedicating to him Tchaikovsky’s song “The Little Nightingale”. And the song “Children of the War”, to words by V. Shamshurin and music by L. Sivukhin, was dedicated to the pupils of the Chapel’s first intakes of the 1940s, whose childhood was scorched by the fire of the Second World War. The veterans present in the hall were moved by “A Song About the Boys of the Chapel”, which more than one generation of singers has already sung (words by V. Polovinkin, music by Blagovidov). The anniversary concert of the boys’ chapel took place on 28 March in the Kremlin Concert Hall.

The traditional regional festival-competition “Star Chance”, the festival of children’s choral collectives “Nizhny Novgorod Nightingales” and the international festival of boys’ and youth choirs are dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Boys’ Choir Chapel and to the 775th anniversary of N. Novgorod. Collectives from Moscow, St Petersburg, N. Novgorod, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl and Narva (Estonia) took part in the concerts. The boys’ and youth choirs of the last three cities were conducted by graduates of the Nizhny Novgorod Chapel, now artistic directors, S. Shesterikov, A. Bezukhov and M. Goryushin. The people of Nizhny heard the guests’ performances on 29 March at the gala concert in the Kremlin Concert Hall.

The song festival “Nizhny Novgorod Nightingales” also ended on 29 March at the Sports Palace with a competitive performance by the combined choirs of all the districts of the city, the combined choir of children’s music schools and the choir of younger schoolchildren. The concert featured the Nizhny Novgorod Boys’ Choir Chapel, dance groups of the city and region, and a folk instruments orchestra under Honoured Art Worker of Russia Viktor Kuznetsov.

The artistic director of the song festival is Honoured Art Worker of Russia Anatoly Ezhov. The festivals were organised by the administrations of the region and of Nizhny Novgorod, the philharmonic, the choir school and the Music Society of Nizhny Novgorod. Sponsors: JSC “GAZ”, JSC “Mir”, LLP “Pomoshch” and the firm “Soraksan”.

“Nizhegorodskaya Pravda”, No. 36

Elena GOLOMA.