Slavyanka is an American
a cappella vocal group based in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
. Their repertoire consists largely of religious and secular music performed in a variety of
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto ...
. Most of the group's singers have full-time jobs outside the group and do not speak the languages sung. Originally a men's chorus, the group expanded to include women in 2013.
It is currently under the direction of Irina Shachneva.
History
Slavyanka was founded in 1979 by a group of former
Yale Russian Chorus
The Yale Russian Chorus is a tenor-bass choral ensemble at Yale University, established in 1953 by Denis Mickiewicz, a student at the Yale Music School, and George Litton, president of the Yale Russian Club. The group sings a variety of secular an ...
members including Paul Andrews, John McCarthy, and Peter Gleick. The name "Slavyanka" was chosen in reference to a 19th century Slavic name for California's
Russian River.
In 1983, the group became a
501(c)(3) nonprofit
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
. Directors of the group have included founder Paul Andrews (1979—1993),
Aleksei Shipovalnikov (1993—1996),
Gregory Smirnov (1996—2011), and Irina Shachneva (2011—Present). The group started out with around 15 men and presently has a rotating membership of around 40 men and women.
Slavyanka has sung over 400 concerts. The group toured the Soviet Union in 1986, 1989, and 1999, and returned for a tour of Russia in 2016.
In 1986, they were the first American chorus to perform in St. Petersburg's
Glinka Capella.
In 2016, they were the only American choir invited to perform at the 150th anniversary of Moscow's
Tchaikovsky Conservatory
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
.
In 1986 and 1990, Slavyanka was chosen to perform at the Western Regional Conventions of the
American Choral Directors Association
The American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization with the stated purpose of promoting excellence in the field of choral music. Its membership comprises approximately 22,000 ...
. The group performed for
Mikhail Gorbachev when he visited San Francisco in 1990.
Notable performances of historic works by the group include
Sergei Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil The All-night vigil is a service of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches consisting of an aggregation of the canonical hours of Compline (in Greek usage only), Vespers (or, on a few occasions, Great Compline), Matins, and the Fir ...
, the Western premiere of
Aleksei Shipovalnikov's Vespers, and the US premiere of
Konstantin Shvedov's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, recovered from secreted Soviet negatives.
Slavyanka's performed languages have included
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
,
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* Som ...
,
Old Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language.
Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and other ...
,
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
,
Croatian
Croatian may refer to:
* Croatia
*Croatian language
*Croatian people
*Croatians (demonym)
See also
*
*
* Croatan (disambiguation)
* Croatia (disambiguation)
* Croatoan (disambiguation)
* Hrvatski (disambiguation)
* Hrvatsko (disambiguation)
* S ...
,
Latvian
Latvian may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Latvia
**Latvians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to what is modern-day Latvia and the immediate geographical region
**Latvian language, also referred to as Lettish
**Latvian cuisine
**Latvi ...
,
Lithuanian
Lithuanian may refer to:
* Lithuanians
* Lithuanian language
* The country of Lithuania
* Grand Duchy of Lithuania
* Culture of Lithuania
* Lithuanian cuisine
* Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Je ...
,
Macedonian
Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia.
Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to:
People Modern
* Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Mac ...
,
Slovene,
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
**Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three script ...
, and
Svan.
Some of their repertoire incorporates
Tuvan throat singing
Tuvan throat singing, the main technique of which is known as ''khoomei'' ( tyv, хөөмей, xöömej, mn, хөөмий; ᠬᠦᠭᠡᠮᠡᠢ, khöömii, russian: хоомей, Chinese: 呼麦, pinyin: ''hūmài''), includes a type of overt ...
.
Recordings
Slavyanka has recorded 10 albums:
* ''Russian Church Music'' (1988)
* ''Russia Old & New'' (1991)
* ''Konstantin Shvedov: Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom'' (1991)
* ''Little Odessa, movie soundtrack'' (1994)
* ''Slavyanka Sounds of Heaven'' (1999)
* ''Slavyanka in Concert, Mission San Luis Obispo'' (1999)
* ''Song of the Volga Boatmen'' (2000)
* ''With Love from the Balkans and Caucasus'' (2003)
* ''Slavyanka Russian Favorites'' (2004)
* ''Slavyanka in Russia'' (2016)
In addition, Slavyanka's music has been featured in the films
Tell Me a Riddle
"Tell Me a Riddle" is a short story by Tillie Olsen. It was published in 1961 as the title story of a collection of four Olsen short stories.
Reception
The short story "Tell Me a Riddle" has been called "a powerful study of the politics of vo ...
(1980),
Little Odessa (1994), and
What Dreams May Come (1998).
See also
*
Yale Russian Chorus
The Yale Russian Chorus is a tenor-bass choral ensemble at Yale University, established in 1953 by Denis Mickiewicz, a student at the Yale Music School, and George Litton, president of the Yale Russian Club. The group sings a variety of secular an ...
References
External links
Official website*
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 1979
Musical groups from California
Musical groups from San Francisco
Choirs_in_California
A cappella musical groups
501(c)(3)_organizations