Revival of traditions: Academic choir of Belteleradiocompany celebrates 95th anniversary with concert in Belgosphilarmonia

In the Small Hall named after G. Shirma of the Belarusian State Philharmonic, an evening of choral music "From eternity music suddenly heard ..." was held with great success by the honored team of the Republic of Belarus - the Academic Choir of the National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus. The concert was timed to the 95th anniversary of the team, writes sb.by.

At the conductor's console worked the chief conductor of the choir - Semyon Klimanov. The program of the evening featured works by composers of different eras and schools: Sergey Taneyev, Andrei Bondarenko, Galina Grigorieva, Ivo Antonini, Arvo Pärt and other authors. The Belarusian premiere of composer Daniel Elder’s score “Three themes of life and love” for choir and percussion instruments took place.

- I liked the fact that the choir returned to its former form, which he had under Viktor Vladimirovich Rovdo. There was a period when leaders changed in the team, there were some false searches for an “innovative” musical form, even an appeal to a variety manner: musical “trinkets” began to appear in the repertoire of the choir. Now the band has returned to the repertoire that is intended for it - spiritual music. This is the main reason for the existence of such choral groups. The new chief conductor Semyon Klimanov, in my opinion, is a serious person, he is a student of Viktor Rovda. I felt that Semyon Mikhailovich took up the team with a strong, masterful hand and with an iron will. I was very happy about that. It is felt that the master came to the choir with high demands for choral music. I learned Viktor Rovdo’s handwriting and saw the revival of our beautiful Belarusian choral traditions. They sang perfectly, giving the music a theatrical reading: the replicas of the artists were brought to each subsequent number.

- In the first section, we sing modern music, showing that our Belarusian composers also keep up with the times. The second featured the music of Russian composers, such as Sergei Taneyev, whose 170th birthday we celebrate this year. This year is an anniversary for our teacher and long-term team leader Viktor Vladimirovich Rovdo. He liked to turn to the music of Moscow composers, Taneyev. In commemoration of our anniversary year, they decided to perform the work of Leonid Zahlevny “Paazersky wienok”.

- Do you feel like a follower of your teacher’s spiritual traditions?

- That sounds too loud and too weighty for me, but I guess so. Of course, others should talk about this – our audience, musicians, colleagues. We hope they heard that in our speech.