News of the JINR Cultural Centre "Mir"

The seasons of the choir "Belcanto"

The most remarkable event of the outgoing season was the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the choir "Belcanto" of the JINR Cultural Centre "Mir". The staff celebrated this round date with a boat ride on a riverboat and a large anniversary concert.

The choir members found and invited participants from previous years, prepared a festive programme and recalled pieces from the old repertoire. The audience was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the humorous but wise song When I'm Sixty-Four by the Beatles. The singers had a hard time with this song, since not all of them are fluent in English. New costumes and a huge modern TV set that today decorates the choir room and is very helpful during rehearsals, became a valuable gift for the choir from JINR and the Cultural Centre "Mir".

Another event decorated our choral autumn - participation in the performance of the Harry Potter symphonic soundtrack together with the youth symphony orchestra RockestraLive. This is a musical group from Moscow, performing instrumental variations based on hits of mainly modern rock bands as part of a symphony orchestra. We performed together in the large hall of the State Kremlin Palace. Collaboration with young professionals is a fabulous experience and an amazing adventure.

In winter, in the coldest weather, the choir "Belcanto" supported a wonderful tradition that was held in our Cultural Centre - the Christmas concert "Melodies of the world". Merry carols, holiday hymns and popular Christmas songs were heard in the concert hall.

And so, spring came and with it - the Bright Easter. The choir "Belcanto" took part in the festive concert with great pleasure. Easter chants were performed tenderly and reverently: the ancient "Troparion of Easter" and the modern "The Thief on the cross", the voices of the young soloists Natalia and Tamerlan were heard.

To summarize, we are planning for the future. We will fulfill the behests of Diana Minaeva and follow the principle of "pickles" - the longer you are in brine, the more salted you become. This covenant should be understood this way: the longer you sing in the choir, the better your voice sounds, your hearing becomes finer and your breathing becomes stronger. We will keep preserving Russian choral traditions and passing them on to young people.

We thank our listeners, friends and family for their support and warm applause!

Ekaterina VIKTOROVA,
soloist Academic choir "Belcanto"