Artistic director of the Sretensky Monastery choir Poltorukhin - about the secret weapon of composers

The audience listened to the "Voices of Our Souls" concert with fascination, as if listening to the beauty of high-pitched voices and the heroic sonority of the basses. The applause turned into an ovation at the end. They performed "Many Summers" for an encore. And the concert began with the prayer "Our Father" arranged by Max Fadeev.

Andrey Poltorukhin: Max Fadeev came to us on his own. An important event happened in his life (the former producer of Glucose was baptized. - Author's note), and he offered us his cooperation, his work has changed dramatically. Max Fadeev publicly published the notes of the prayer "Our Father", recorded with the choir, adding that he would be happy if people would hear it. Prayer is the way to salvation, if it touches the heart, then the music is alive.

The concert in Vitebsk turned out to be a variety show - it included the songs "Call me Softly by your name" by Igor Matvienko, "Georgian Song" by Bulat Okudzhava, "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" by Alexandra Pakhmutova

Andrey Poltorukhin: On the eve of the festival, we had a concert of sacred music at the Church of St. Nicholas on Three Mountains in Moscow.

It depends on the organizers of the concert. At the concert of the Union State with two orchestras - the Presidential Orchestra of the Republic of Belarus and the Orchestra of the Federal Security Service of Russia - we performed "Call Me Softly by Your Name" and "Victory Day" arranged by Fyodor Stepanov. Our band has a spiritual and educational function, but we also perform the best examples of secular music: folk, military, pop songs. It's a time-tested classic.

The choir performs a lot of songs in your arrangement. As a composer, you arrange secular music to the chorus

Andrey Poltorukhin: Processing is a "secret weapon", in them I can emphasize the strengths of the team, rethinking the work, and place the necessary accents.

And where is Alexander Amerkhanov, who made arrangements for the choir during the regency of Nikon Zhila? He managed to learn his skills from Archimandrite Matthew (Mormyl).

Andrey Poltorukhin: Colleague Amerkhanov is creating a choir in Crimea, he is in the deaconate service now. A native Muscovite, Alexander worked for twenty years in the choir of the Sretensky Monastery and at the same time was the choir director of the Sretensky Theological Seminary. Then he led the Bishop's Choir of the Pskov Caves Monastery for several years. Alexander now lives in Sevastopol. Here he faces new challenges - to create a men's choir of St. Vladimir's Cathedral in Chersonesos and a large children's choir.