Bishop’s choir of Astrakhan in concerts of sacred music

Abstract

In the post-Soviet period, there was a noticeable increase in interest in the church singing art. Professional musicians were given the opportunity to perform and study music that had not been so widely distributed until that time. For many, another direction for self-realization has opened up. Spiritual music has increasingly begun to go beyond the scope of worship and is performed everywhere by both secular and church choirs on the stage. Thus, this kind of the richest Russian cultural heritage became more accessible not only for the parishioners of churches, but also for the listeners of concert halls.Traditions of concerts of Orthodox music, with the joint performance of church and secular choirs have been laid in Astrakhan since the early 1990s. The organization of such events is one of the directions of concert and educational activities of the Astrakhan Metropolis. The Astrakhan Bishops' Choir has always been an indispensable participant in these concerts. He is in many ways a model for other singing groups of the city, such a format of activity has a great influence on the professional state of choir choirs, repertoire preferences, manner of performance and much more.In this article we will consider the concert style of singing of large cathedrals on the example of the bishops' choir of the Intercession and Assumption cathedrals, their concert and festival activities.