History

choir It is impossible to tell about activity of the unique creative group, the state Volga Russian folk choir named after Peter Miloslavov without perceiving all subtleties of a singing process, folk dance, instrumental accompaniment, feeling aroma of the unhurried, spiritual life the Volga people has lived for centuries.

Volga folk choir was founded in February 1952 by the decision of the RSFSR government, and Petr Miloslavov became the founder and its first artistic director. The collector, connoisseur, researcher of expressive Volga melodies, he set a unique for his time arrangement of the choir artists on the stage in such a way that one can hear the entire choral palette, all the timbres, merging in a powerful choral sound from any place in the hall. Surprisingly soft semi-academic manner of singing is the main feature of the Volga choir. It is impossible to forget such singing.

Volga Russian folk choir was created as a professional group of the Volga region to promote the culture of peoples living on the banks of the great river Volga. New unusual direction of the "new type choir" in the period of its recruitment attracted a lot of young people during its staffing. Having arrived to Kuibyshev Petr Miloslavov had the definite view regarding the folk choir idea, and it was in Kuibyshev where Miloslavov found it possible to bring to life the theoretical drafts on creation of an extraordinary group.
In autumn of 1952 the young choir group performed its first program to the audience. The audition of the audience perception was beyond expectations, the listeners were surprised and accepted that performance enthusiastically. Almost two months later the choir received the status of the state one and the right to perform in public... A year later Volga folk choir won the love of the whole country, and in 5 years it conquered the stage of the Chatelet theatre in France.

From the very first day the history of the group was created by unique personalities. Their experience is still used by creative people. The founder of the group Petr Miloslavov organized a platform where folk art masters could freely improvise and carry out creative experiments. Thanks to this approach, a group of talented musicians was formed in the Volga folk choir. The benefits of their activities are up-to-date even today.

Songwriters Venjamin Burygin and Viktor Bokov, composers Mikhail Chumakov and Grigory Ponomarenko, soloist Valentina Mikhailova worked here in different historical periods. It is in the Volga folk choir where a famous singer Ekaterina Shavrina started her singing career. No surprise such an environment enabled the creation of many songs that have become folk. Among them is the famous "Belosnezhnaya Vishnya (Snow-white Cherry)", later included in Ludmila Zykina's repertoire. In 1970 a brilliant choreographer Vyacheslav Modzolevskij who fully changed the development of folk dance, came to the glorified group. With his occurence the Volga folk choir became a role model for many folk groups.

Among a large number of talented people working in the Volga choir, it is worth to mention the artistic director, the honored artist of the Russian Federation Vladimir Pakhomov. Being a convinced follower of Peter Miloslavov he retained a special manner of Volga choir singing, wrote many arrangements, found and worked out a whole layer of folk songs of the Samara region, created a program of spiritual songs, thereby Vladimir Pakhomov greatly enriched the repertoire of Volga Choir.

... Hundreds of small masterpieces: folk songs and dances make up a powerful layer of Russian culture. This is what is called a cultural heritage. Folk choirs are the culture-beams, the guarantors of culture preservation, multiplying and continuation of the song and dance tradition from generation to generation. The state Volga Russian folk choir named after Miloslavov is one of the brightest among them. The repertoire of the Group contains songs and dances of the peoples of the Volga region, they sparkle from the stage like diamonds of folk art.

These days the state Volga Russian folk choir is the only group in the Volga region representing the richest song heritage of the peoples of the Volga region at such a high professional level. The success of the Volga folk choir is provided by a high degree of culture of performance, elegance, filigree of all the details of both vocal, instrumental and dance work. This is the main feature of real art!

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