Darya Shkurlyatyeva (right in the attached photo), director of Mikael Agricola Choir at the Lutheran Church of Vyborg, Leningrad Oblast, participated in the 8th Slovisha Festival of Musical Antiquities.On June 14, 2024, Darya gave a paper entitled “The Virsikannel as a Musical Instrument and a Teaching Aid” at a conference which took place at Veliky Novgorod Philharmonic Society on the premises of the Novgorod Kremlin. The conference gathered museum workers, musical instrument makers, researchers, educators, and string instrument performers from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Veliky Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Leningrad Oblast, and Udmurtia.
The virsikannel, a type of psalmodicon, is a string & bow musical instrument popular among Lutherans in the late 19th century. Mikael Agricola Choir is reviving the tradition of singing to the virsikannel.
Darya and her mother Marina Shkurlyatyeva taught a master class in kantele and virsikannel playing for the festival’s participants.