In the beginning

In the first of a series of posts introducing some of the music for our summer concert, we begin in the beginning… Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina Despite a dry title,…

Russian Easter

Easter is by far the biggest church festival in Russia – more so than Christmas, perhaps because the harsh conditions of Russian life, particularly for the peasants, meant that the…

The Bells

One thing that the Russian and English churches have in common is that both have complicated and distinctive bellringing traditions. Russian ringing often starts with just a single bell, and…

Russian Art

Tchaikovsky, Tolstoy, Borodin, Chekhov, Mussorgsky, Dostoevsky and of course, Rachmaninov. Russian music and literature is adored across the world, but Russian art is less well known. Unless you’ve been to…