On January 13, 2024, Mikael Agricola Choir directed by Darya Shkurlyatyeva from the Lutheran Church of Vyborg, Leningrad Oblast, traveled to St. Petersburg. Together with the choir and bell ensemble of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, they closed the season of Christmas song.The program included Christmas songs, instrumental versions of sacred compositions for voice, and ethnographic compositions.
Solos:
Veronika Kochetkova, triangle
Tatiana Ryumina, tenor recorder
Grigori Brusnitsyn, baritone horn
Galina Yelshayeva, pipe organ, pump organ
Darya Shkurlyatyeva, virsikannel, Celtic harp
Marina Shkurlyatyeva directed a 5-string kantele ensemble. St. Michael’s choir director Viktoria Yakovleva conducted the combined choir.
St. Michael’s senior pastor Dmitri Petrov made Gospel-based comments for the audience before and at the end of the concert and was there afterwards to answer questions. The Agricola Choir members shared how Christians in Karelia and on the Karelian Isthmus did not only use the kantele for retelling traditional epics, but also for Christian home prayer. St. Michael’s member Tatyana Ryumina, director of St. Michael’s church museum and tenor recorder player, told one of the runic stories from the Kalevala epic with the help of a toy pike that the Vyborg choir brought along.
In conclusion, all the listeners and the two choirs sang Silent Night together.
Many thanks to all the voice and instrument musicians for the co-performance and the hospitality and excellent organization on the part of St. Michael’s church!
Photos by Olga Malkova
Information courtesy of Darya Shkurlyatyeva, director of Mikael Agricola Choir, Vyborg
