Let's be friends, your choir and ours: Altai State University organized a webinar for university choirs from different parts of Russia

On October 6, the youth academic choir of Altai State University held a webinar “Organization of work and development of a student choir: classics and modern trends.” The organizer was the Center for Creativity and Leisure for students and staff of Altai State University.

During the webinar, issues related to the recruitment of students into groups (informing and attracting students), the selection of the repertoire of groups (classics and modern trends) and the exchange of experience were discussed.

The initiator of the webinar was Ksenia Ikonnikova, Vice-Rector for Educational Work and Additional Education of Altai State University:

“This year we are celebrating the 45th anniversary of the chapel choir; we have made out a plan for its development. This type of communication is an innovation for choral groups, but the meeting aroused great interest and response from the leaders. Sharing experiences with colleagues is a very important creative process. Webinars of this type contribute to strengthening connections between universities across the country, the exchange of experience between leaders of choral associations, as well as the planning and organization of joint work. In this anniversary year, lovers of real creativity will find many surprises. I’ll reveal a secret and say that a joint concert is being prepared with the TSU Chapel. Keep an eye on the posters."

This was the first time such a webinar was held, said Larisa Rogova, Director of the Center for Creativity and Leisure for students and employees of Altai State University. She expressed confidence that chapel choirs from different cities will meet regularly.

“I think we will continue this practice. The topic of recruiting participants for the ensemble and repertoire is the most pressing issue for student choirs. How to attract people to the choir, how to interest modern students? After all, the repertoire of a chapel or academic choir is mostly classical works, symphonic and chamber concerts, operas, literary and musical compositions, oratorios, cantatas, programs for a cappella choir. The task today is to use modern instruments to introduce students to the high art of singing, which contains both the history and traditions of our people. It was interesting to learn from my colleagues how they solve these problems. One way is to shoot youth videos that show the work of the choir, the rehearsal environment and the atmosphere within the group. Staging small interludes before events, by participating in which the viewer can feel like part of the team. There are also plans to hold joint concerts both at the site of Altai State University and at the sites of our colleagues.”

An example for everyone was the experience of the Russian Folk Collective of the Academic Choir of the Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University, which was shared by Maxim Ivanov, Artistic Director of the group:

“One of the experiments for us was the Choral ballet “Letters of Van Gogh.” This performance was created based on the paintings of the great artist. Everyone came to us with their own Van Gogh, but we did not intend to tell about this artist, we meant to do something that would evoke feelings and emotions in the audience. This was not a classical synthesis; in our performance, the team members tried themselves both as dancers and as actors. By conducting such experiments, each participant develops in a new way.”

Head of the Youth Academic Choir of Altai State University, Nikolai Lazovsky, spoke about the work of the group, the repertoire plan and concert activities of the Youth Academic Choir of Altai State University.

“This was a very useful webinar for my team and me. At it, I noticed some decisions in terms of popularizing the team among first-year students. It was also interesting to learn the internal processes of other teams. As a result, I will go to Tomsk for a personal meeting with Mikhail Davydov, Artistic Director and conductor of the Choir Chapel of Tomsk State University. At the meeting we will discuss joint concerts and exchange ideas and experiences,” shared Nikolai Lazovsky.

Now the choir is preparing a very complex cantata “Stabat Mater” for a joint concert with the string orchestra of the Altai State Music College in Barnaul.

Mikhail Davydov, Artistic Director of the chapel choir at Tomsk State University, also commented on the webinar:

“Very positive impressions! Such webinars are extremely useful, and it seems to me that we can safely expand the geographical coverage of participants. I have identified useful points for myself and will implement them in the work of the choir.”

Mikhail Davydov also shared his experience of the choir’s participation in youth events, such as New Year, Student’s Day, and initiation into students. For such events, the chapel choir learns modern works in choral interpretation, thereby attracting students to choral creativity. Such numbers, of course, are not the basis of the repertoire.

Let us add that webinars of this type contribute to strengthening ties between universities across the country, the exchange of experience between leaders of choral associations, as well as the planning and organization of joint work.