Ukrainian nightingale sings in Kelvingrove

Something out of the ordinary will take place in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum on Sunday 18 March at 3pm.

During the concert on that day a song composed by the father of Russian classical music, Mikhail Glinka, will be sung by pupils from Glasgow Russian School who are members of the new Singing Studio there.

Glinka wrote the song using a poem entitled ‘The Nightingale’ by a local poet when he was a guest on the estate of his friends the Tarnovskys. Their estate was Kachanovka, in the Ukraine.

The current representative of the Tarnovsky family, and former owner of the estate, Mrs Tanya Hine, OBE, lives in Bearsden, and will be at the concert with members of her family. Mrs Hine will hear the song written on her family’s estate performed in Russian by schoolchildren of Russian heritage along with Russkaya Cappella, the adult Scottish choir that sings Russian music.

Said Svetlana Zvereva, co – director of Russkaya Cappella: ‘It’s remarkable that Scotland now has enough children to form a children’s choir singing in Russian. Sometimes the children are of

purely Russian parentage or have one parent from one of the republics of the former Soviet Union. Whatever their background, these children now have the chance, through the Glasgow Russian School, of preserving their Russian cultural heritage, including its musical component.This is also enriching Scotland’s artistic traditions.’

Picture shows children of the Glasgow Russian School’s Singing Studio in rehearsal.

Yet another Christmas

Russian Orthodox church styled singers – Russkaya Cappella – will have a concert in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery on Sunday 18 March next year. Before then, they will perform in Edinburgh on Thursday 23 February under the auspices of the Princess Dashkova Centre.

But their first concert of 2012 will be on Saturday 7 January at 10.25am in the Chapel of St Andrew in Meadow Lane, Edinburgh EH8 9 NR to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas. The following day – Sunday 8 January – they will sing in Glasgow Cathedral at Castle Street. G4 as part of the St Mungo Celebrations. The events around that time will mark the 1400th anniversary of the founding of Glasgow by its patron saint who is also known as St Kentigern.

For more information see Russkaya Cappella’s website: http://russkayacappella.yolasite.com/news-and-concerts.php