Concert by the Moscow Synodal Choir

On Sunday 8 September, Matins and the Divine Liturgy at the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh were celebrated by Archpriest Daniel Lugovoi, the dean of parishes in South Africa, accompanied by Hieromonk Kirill (Peregudin), an employee of the Department for External Church Relations. The choir of the Church of St. Sergius and the Moscow Synodal Choir sang during the service.

Later that day, at the conclusion of the Days of Russian Spiritual Culture in South Africa, a concert by the Moscow Synodal Choir took place. Before the performance began, Archpriest Daniel Lugovoi and Hieromonk Kirill (Peregudin) welcomed the audience. Father Daniel noted in his speech that it was not by chance that the concert was held on the day of the celebration of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, because it was before this ancient miracle-working image in the Church of St Nicholas in Tolmachy in Moscow that the formation and development of the modern collective of the Moscow Synodal Choir took place.

 The choir performed church hymns by famous Russian composers: Sergei Rachmaninoff, Georgy Sviridov, Dmitry Bortnyansky, Pavel Chesnokov, and others. Among the guests of the concert were Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation I.I. Rogachev and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus I.G. Bely.

At the end of the concert, Father Daniel presented conductor Mikhail Kotelnikov with an ostrich egg decorated with scenes from the life of St Sergius of Radonezh.