On February 27, 2023, participants of the regional stage of the All-Russian Educational Skills Contest (in the Teacher of the Year and other categories) went on an organ tour to the Lutheran Church of Vyborg, Leningrad Oblast. The tour was proposed by the Vyborg Education Committee. The church gladly introduced the visitors to its organ, one of the five pipe organs in Leningrad Oblast!Church member and musicologist Darya Shkurlyatyeva (organ, cello), director of Mikael Agricola Church Choir, served as the tour guide assisted by musician Vladimir Yanyonok (organ, piano, bass fife.) The guests were introduced to the sound range of the church’s organ, having a chance to compare the sound of the organ and the piano, the timbre of the organ’s flute stops and that of a bass fife, and heard an organ solo and an organ & cello ensemble.
The music program opened with the organ setting of a “vivat canticle” (a panegyrical song from the times of Peter the Great) and continued with works of J. S. Bach.
Also, Darya Shkurlyatyeva talked about the 19th-century author and musicologist Vladimir Odoyevsky and introduced the guests to other musical instruments on display in the church: a psalmodicon and a 5-string kantele.
Many blessings to the church’s guests in their education work and many thanks to Darya for her presentations!
Photo credit: Yelena Polevina
