KONEVETS VOCAL QUARTET UK AUTUMN TOUR (OCTOBER 2003)
(SEE BELOW FOR CONCERT LISTINGS)
The Quartet, founded by its director and bass Igor Dmitriev, as boys, were trained at the Glinka
Capella School, and later went on to graduate from the St. Petersburg (previously Leningrad)
Municipal Conservatoire, after which they served in the Red Army for two years. The Quartet
really started by singing at Konevets Monastery over a period of two years and thereafter was
released to tour internationally which they have been doing for the past eleven years. The members
of the Quartet are not monks, although retain a special association both with Konevets Monastery and
with New Valaam Monastery in Finland to where many of the Konevets monks escaped at the height of
clerical persecution in the Soviet Union. The Quartet presents internationally much of the great
Russian heritage of sacred and secular music. The aim is to make it accessible to the public at
large and not just for those who are familiar with Orthodox traditions, in a similar way to such
choral groups as the Tallis Scholars and the Hilliard Ensemble.
The repertoire for the tour will be presented usually in two parts - Sacred (sung in Church
Slavonic) and Secular (Classical and National/Folk) in which all the singers have solos. This
unique a capella Quartet specialises in hymns and chants from the Russian Orthodox liturgy, sung
unaccompanied in the polyphonic Russian tradition. The secular part of the programme includes
beautiful romances, ballads, folk songs and imperial marches/hymns from Tsarist times. The
repertoire is mainly drawn from 18th to 20th composers who include Bortnyansky, Chesnokov,
Grechaninov, Kastalsky, Kedrov. Taneyev, Trubachev, and with lyrics by Pushkin.
The international and celebrated theatre director, Peter Brook wrote following concerts in Paris at
La Sainte Chapelle and Les Bouffes du Nord:
"At first, silence - pure silence and we wait. Miracle: sound of equal purity. Four
disembodied voices creating notes that seem to emanate from elsewhere. The small
group of singers from St. Petersburg lead us into a space where sound and silence unite ."
KONEVETS UK AUTUMN TOUR 2003
OCTOBER
3 Friday DUMFRIES - St. George's Church (C of S) - Concert - 1930
Contact: Jill Hardy - tel: 01387 730297
4 Saturday HELENSBURGH - Victoria Halls - Concert - 1945
Contacts: Jean Carter - tel: 01436 672992
David Menzies - tel: 01436 671967
5 Sunday GLASGOW - Killermont Parish Church, Rannoch Drive, Bearsden
Concert - 2000 Contact: Rev'd. Alan Hamilton -
tel: 0141 942 0021
email: [log in to unmask]
6 Monday GLASGOW - Glasgow University Club - 1900
Contact: Tania Konn-Roberts
tel: 0141 779 2497 (H); 330 6735 (W)
7 Tuesday HAWICK - St. Mary & St. David Catholic Church
Concert - 1930 Contact: Owen Connelly - tel: 01450 378213
8 Wednesday KELSO, St. Mary's Catholic Church - Concert - 1900
9 Thursday HOLKER HALL, Holker (Cumbria) - Concert - 1930
Contact: Elizabeth Warden - tel: 015395 58328
10 Friday *CULLERCOATS (Northumberland) - St. George's Church
Concert - 1930 Contact: Mrs June Leeming
tel: 0191 2522 1516
11 Saturday MINSTERACRES (Nr. Consett/Riding Mill) - free
12 Sunday Parish Church - 1030 Mass Concert - 1930
Contact: Fr. Mark White CP - tel: 01434 673248
13 Monday HALL SCHOOL - Demo/Concert 1400
(Nr. Minsteracres) Contact: Marc Bryant - tel: 01661 842147
14 Tuesday YORKSHIRE (private visit) Broughton Hall
15 Wednesday PRINKNASH ABBEY
Contact: Br. William (Guest Master) tel: 01452 812455
Fr. Mark (Precentor)
16 Thursday *TOPSHAM (Nr. Exeter) - St. Margaret's Parish Church
Concert - 1930 Contact: Myra
Green
tel:
01392 873059
17 Friday *TUNBRIDGE WELLS - King Charles the Martyr Church
Concert - 1930 Contact: Michael Holman
tel: 01892
523013
18 Saturday LONDON - St. Mark's. Church, Myddleton Square, Angel
Concert - 2000 Contact: Simon Keys
Mobile: 07968 440684 tel: 020 7
833 9615
19 Sunday LONDON, Chiswick - Russian Cathedral, 57 Harvard Road, W4
time to be confirmed (after Divine Liturgy)
contact details via mobile: 07761 370219
*Charity Concerts DR/26/9/03
THE KONEVETS VOCAL QUARTET
Dmitry Mednikov Tenor I
Alexander Nikanov Tenor II
Mikhail Trifonov Baritone
Igor Dmitriev Bass (Director)
Recorded CDs:
Russian Orthodox Church Music - hymns and chants of the Konevets & Valaam Monasteries
Konevets Quartet - Russian Sacred Music of the XVIIth - XX centuries
Konevets Quartet - Russian Folk Songs
Songs from Mother Russia
The Christmas Liturgy
Russian Classical Songs
Russian Sacred Music - We Hymn Thee ( recorded at Konevets Monastery 2002)
For further information contact David Rees (Konevets Management) Tel/Fax: 020 8533 5577,
email:[log in to unmask]
Konevets Internet address: www.konevets.com
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