Quartet to perform sacred music, folk songs
The Konevets Quartet, powerful Russian voices from St. Petersburg, will present a program of sacred music and folk songs at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in New Salem. The Konevets Quartet, under the direction of Igor Dmitriev, was founded by graduates of the St. Petersburg Music Conservatory in July 1992 with the goal of sharing the rich Russian vocal tradition with its audiences.
The quartet takes its name from the Konevets Island and Monastery, northeast of St. Petersburg on Lake Ladoga. Members of the quartet have also studied at the Glinka Choral Academy and each is an experienced choir director, composer and arranger.
The quartet’s aim was to become a chamber choir with a fused harmonic sound rather than soloists, and the repertoire has been developed and arranged with this in mind. It includes primarily Russian sacred music, ranging from hymns by 20th century composers such as Chesnokov, Grechaninov and Stravinsky, to ancient chants in one-, two- and three-part arrangements.
The repertoire also features Russian folk songs and regimental songs and marches of the Tsarist armies and military academies, forbidden during Communist times.
Finally, the quartet performs choral music by Russian composers with lyrics by Russian poets such as Pushkin and Lermontov, and with music by Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Taneyev and other famous Russian composers. Some of the songs are rarely performed or unknown even in Russia, and the quartet constantly searches to expand the breadth of its music.
As musical ambassadors of Russian Church music and of the Konevets Monastery, part of the quartet’s revenue goes towards the restoration of the monastery, which suffered catastrophic damage during the Soviet era, and its representational church in the heart of St. Petersburg.
With this goal, it has toured extensively to wide success, including Russia, England, Scotland, America, France, Italy, Ireland and throughout Scandinavia.
The Konevets Quartet has taken part in dozens of prestigious international festivals and has recorded seven critically acclaimed compact discs. These quartet’s CDs are distributed worldwide and are available for purchase at its concerts.