About Elegy Chamber Choir
Moscow Chamber choir "Elegy" is the academic amateur collective. Everyone, loving choral singing and the academic music, having ear for music and familiar with a musical notation can be a participant of the choir. Today the choir includes about thirty amateurs of choral music, among which representatives of the most different trades and occupations.
The choir was founded in 1992 by Tatiana Dmitrieva, who was its leader during 16 years. The first concert of the choir took place in October of the same year in Nikitniki Trinity Church in Moscow. The art of the choir is based on principles created by well-known Russian choral conductor Alexander Ponomarev, founder of world famous Moscow Children choir “Vesna”. In a way “Elegy” is a successor and continuer of the Moscow Chamber Choir “Vitrazhi” (1977 - 1992), founded by Elena Rastvorova, who was also a Ponomarev’s pupil.
For sixteen years of existence the choir has sung a great number of pieces of different styles: from music of 15th century up to a jazz and modern compositions, from folk songs up to cantatas and oratories. The basis of repertoire is classical choral miniatures of Russian and foreign composers.
The choir very often sings concert programs in Moscow in such prestigious halls as the Glinka Museum of musical culture, the House of composers, the Concert hall of the Gnessins Russian academy of music etc. The geography of tours of choir includes such Russian cities as Nizhniy Novgorod, Dubna, Kashira, Saint Petersburg, Gatchina, Tula. In 1995 the choir went on tour to Ukraine (city of Dnepropetrovsk). In 1995, 1998 and 2004 the collective visited musical festivals to Germany (the cities of Buehl, Padeborn, Rockenberg). In 2005 the Chamber choir “Elegy” has won special prize on festival “International days of church music” in Hajnowka (Poland). In 2006 the choir gave two concerts in Tallinn (Estonia). In February 2007 the Chamber choir “Elegy” has won 2nd prize on festival of orthodox music in Grodno (Belarus). In November 2007 the choir sang in France and Germany, in July 2008 – in Vienna (Austria). Since September 2008 the choir is headed by Marina Alekseeva.
Contact e-mail: elegymoscow@narod.ru