T.L. Ponick
Mostly in their 20s and 30s, the extraordinary young singers of the monastery’s new choir demonstrate a deep reverence for and mastery of ancient liturgical traditions that had been, at the very least, strongly discouraged when they were children.Their current three-continent tour is multifaceted. Bearing a revered, "miracle-working" icon of the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God — rediscovered in the late 1980s — they are singing for traditional liturgies at Russian churches (such as Washington’s Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on 17th Street Northwest) to celebrate the reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church, which formally occurred May 17. They also are presenting concerts like this one that include a broader repertoire.
Cecelia Porter
Rating: 2|Votes: 1
Working from both sacred and secular texts, Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir filled the Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium on Wednesday night with a vocal luster that extended as far as the expression of reverence and human passion can reach. And the auditorium was filled to the rafters with listeners, the audience including many religious dignitaries in colorful ritual dress.
Luke Harding
“There is a sacred aspect to Russian folk songs – they are often about death and suffering,” Father Tikhon explains, over a pot of tea in his comfortable residence. “One piece, The Black Raven, is a sort of dialogue with death. It’s about a Cossack soldier going off to battle knowing he is going to die. He speaks of how a bullet will pierce his chest, how his comrades will leave him, and how his wife will marry his best friend. His bones will be scattered across the steppe by wolves and ravens.”
Barrymore Laurence Scherer
The group’s youth and freshness belie the age of its home base. Founded in 1395, Sretensky is among the most ancient of Russian monasteries – the original wooden buildings were already nearly 300 years old when they were replaced by the present stone ones in the 17th century. During the Bolshevik era, Sretensky’s monastic community was arrested and either murdered or exiled to prison camps. At a time when many Russian churches were being used as skating rinks or swimming pools, Sretensky’s buildings – in the middle of downtown Moscow – were employed by the KGB as offices and torture chambers.
Fred Kirshnit
On the occasion of the reunification of the Orthodox Church within Russia to the greater Russian Orthodox Church, the 41-member choir is touring the world, singing primarily in sacred spaces but also taking some time out for public concerts. On Tuesday evening at Avery Fisher Hall, there was no room left for procrastinators, and the management had to provide seats on the stage to accommodate the overflow crowd.
