On Wednesday, December 8, at the invitation of Sergey I. Kislyak, Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the United States, the parish choir of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington took part in an Advent concert. The concert was held at the home of the Russian Ambassador on 16th Street. The choir opened the concert with the singing of the troparion and kontakion of Christ’s Nativity (comp. by Bertniansky), performed the wonderful Russian carol "Silent Night over Palestine," the second part of which was performed as a solo by bass Vladimir Ekzarkhov, and singing the Minor Doxology (comp. by Kastalsky). Distinguished concert guests, among them U.S. congressmen and federal department heads, received the singers enthusiastically. Many of them expressed a desire to attend a church service in order to hear these compositions in a liturgical setting.

Young master cellist Dmitry Volkov also performed at the concert, as did mezzo-soprano Irina Shishkova and members of the Washington Balalaika Society.

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