What do bikers and church musicians have in common? A love of travel! On July 20, 2023, the Singers’ Field in Vyborg (an outdoor venue for song and music concerts) hosted a Concert of Religious Choirs as part of the 3rd motorcycling festival “The Baltic Rally.” Ten ensembles from St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast went on this musical pilgrimage. The choirs performed one after another, wishing each other God’s blessings. The event went in a very benevolent and joyful atmosphere! Thanks be to God for the opportunity to reach out with the Gospel through music, to sing and play together, and to fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ!Many thanks to Yuri Gerasimov, director of the clergy choir of the St. Petersburg Metropolitan See of The Russian Orthodox Church, the organizer of this many-hour musical marathon, for the invitation to sing at the Singers’ Field!
Mikael Agricola Choir of the Lutheran Church in Vyborg was joined by the following dear people:
Rev. Pavel Krylov, ELCIR West Ingrian dean, senior pastor of the Lutheran Church in Skvoritsy, pastor of the German congregation of St. Anne’s Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg;
Marina Väisä, head of the ELCIR Guild of Cantors and Organists;
Yelena Baranova, cantor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Rzhev; Rzhev church choir members Yelizaveta Baranova and Ludmila Petrova;
Yulia Lotova, cantor of Sts. Peter and Paul Congregation of the ELCIR in Moscow;
Darya Vasilyeva, parishioner at St. Mary’s Lutheran Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Information courtesy of Darya Shkurlyatyeva, cantor of the Lutheran Church in Vyborg.
Photo credits: Yelena Polevina, Yulia Lotova, Marina Shkurlyatyeva, Yelizaveta Baranova.
