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…

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…

We had a break from Rachmaninov at choir practice this evening, and looked ahead to the biggest work for our summer concert, Aaron Copland’s “In the Beginning”. It’s a stunning…

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…

Some unusual video footage of Rachmaninov’s All Night Vigil being sung liturgically, in the church near where he was born, in Moscow. It’s not sung in church very often because…

Those of you who follow us on Facebook will already know that we like to share little bits of background about the music that we’re singing, and keep our friends…