The Parishioners of Washington's Cathedral of St. John the Baptist will long treasure in their hearts very warm memories of the weekend of April 24-25, memories of performances by a choir from a unique educational institution in Moscow — the Moscow Choir Direction/Choral Seminary.  In the evening on April 24, 38 young singers under the direction of Priest Andrei Nefedov  chanted the entire All-night Vigil at our church.  They had just endured the rigors of a tiring flight half-way around the globe, and began singing the Vigil Service at what for them was 4:00 AM, Moscow time.  Yet their performance of all of the chants throughout Vespers and Matins was excellent, not only from the standpoint of musicality/musical technique, but most importantly, in the sense that their chanting was prayerful and spiritually inspired.  Several of the choir members later said that they had found it very easy to pray in our church, and that they could have continued to sing on and on.  ...

In thanks for our Moscow guests' vocal efforts, after the Service our parish treated them to a banquet.  Despite the late hour, fellowship between our guests and our parishioners continued for quite a while — toasts were made, there were questions about the choral arts in Russia and in Russian America, and gifts were exchanged.  Archpriest Gennadiy Nefedov, rector of the Holy Theophany Church in what had once been Holy Theophany Monastery in Moscow's Kitai-Gorod district, presented our parish with several remarkable publications he had recently authored, books that are used as teaching materials in the choir directing/choral seminary, and DVD recordings of their choir's concert performances.  By the way, Fr. Gennadiy Nefedov is the father of the choir director Priest Andrei Nefedov, of choir-member Father Deacon Nikolai, and of Father Deacon Ioann, who is subdeacon to the Most-holy Patriarch Kirill.

At the evening banquet, the Fr. Gennadiy presented a moving talk on the deeper meaning of the term "encounter" in the spiritual life of religious church people, and of his efforts to re-establish church choral traditions that had been lost during the past century.  Fr. Andrei spoke about the Moscow Choir-Direction/Choral Seminary's educational activities.

The next morning, the choir took part in events held under the aegis of the World Russian Forum; they sang several patriotic numbers at a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, and at a ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial, honoring World War II Veterans and marking the meeting of Allied Forces at the Elbe River.

That same evening, the young choristers returned to our church, and at 6:00 PM gave a wonderful concert of Paschal music and other liturgical chant. Those in attendance found it difficult to refrain from applauding in church....

The remainder of the concert took place in the Parish Hall.  There we heard Russian folk songs and World War II era patriotic songs. Following the second part of the concert, the audience was able to express its heart-felt appreciation of and delight in the group's vocal expertise, and to request several encores.

Following the concert, supper was served to our guests, and fellowship with our new friends continued.

Photogallery

Source