The choir of the Saint Echmiadzin Cathedral and the Serbian choir of
the Saint Stefan Dechansky (from Novi-Sad) will perform in Moscow at
the Old New Year on January 14, RIA Novosti cites the foreign church
links department of the Moscow patriarchy.
The first performances will be held within the first Christmas
festival of spiritual music at the Moscow International Music Center.
Russia and Serbia celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the
Julian Calendar. The New Year is celebrated on January 14, the same
day as the Circumcision of Christ. Armenia celebrates the holidays on
6 and 13 January relatively.
The Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia Kirill made a welcoming speech
for the guests. He compared them with the Three Wise Men from the
East.
The Echmiadzin choir was founded in 1946. Ruben Sharbatyan has been
supervising the group since 1995.
The choir of Saint Stefan Dechansky was founded in 1987. It performs
Serbian, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Georgian, Russian carols, early
polyphony, classical and modern pieces.
The festival of spiritual music opened at the Moscow International
Music Center on January 9 with a performance of the Sinod choir
supervised by Alexey Puzakov. They performed a troparion and contakion
of Christmas with the music of Alexander Kastalsky, carols of Sergey
Rakhmaninov, Nikolai Golovanov "The Cherub Song" (based on Johann
Sebastian Bach), Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Ilarion and others.
Vladimir Spivakov, president of the Moscow International Music Center
and well-known violin player and conductor, and Ilarion are the
organizers of the festival.
