Another highlight of the ELCIR St. Petersburg Deanery Meeting on January 18, 2022 was the presentation of Darya Shkurlyatyeva, church music history teacher, director of Agricola Choir in Vyborg. Darya shared about the current state of music ministry in the deanery. Thirteen of the deanery’s 21 congregations have instruments which can be used to hold music concerts. Six of the congregations have pipe organs. The deanery has 8 choirs. Many of the deanery’s congregations have cantors with higher education in music. Some of the things church cantors need most are printed music, teachers’ guides such as how to do music work with children and the elderly, master classes, e. g. in organ improvisation, and organized inter-congregational collaboration in music.The ELCIR Church Music Committee/Guild is developing a website for church cantors, which will address music ministry in ELCIR congregations, share materials on Lutheran musical heritage, and serve as a venue for church cantors to exchange music scores and teaching materials.
Guild Head Marina Väisä is working on a 4-voice accompaniment for the hymns in the 2013 ELCIR Hymnal. During two years, the accompaniments will be made available and downloadable from the website.
In spring 2022, the ELCIR Theological Institute plans to sign a cooperation agreement with the church music department of the Sibelius Academy in Kuopio, Finland.
Contact Darya Shkurlyatyeva at https://vk.com/shdarja for more info on work plans in the area of church music.
Please keep the music ministry of The Church of Ingria in your prayers that it may be enhanced and that cantors and musicians’ groups can be in contact with each other and work together.
Photo credit: Yelena Novichkova