6 December 2018 in the Sergievsky hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow held the first meeting of the Church-public Council under the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia on development of Russian Church music, according to patriarhiei.
The meeting was chaired by the rector of the Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhovo, Moscow, Chairman of the Board Archpriest Alexander Ageikin.
The meeting was attended by members of the Council:
- artistic Director and chief conductor of the Moscow Synodal choir, the Deputy Chairman of the Council, honoured artist of Russia Alexei Puzakov;
- the Regent of the temple of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Solntsevo district of Moscow, Executive Secretary of the Council Varvara Volkova;
- Regent fraternal choir named after Archimandrite Matfei (mormyl) Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra Archimandrite Gleb (Kozhevnikov);
- head of Regent school at the Moscow theological Academy, the Regent of the 2nd academic choir of the Moscow theological Academy Archimandrite Lazarus (Gnativ);
- the head Precentor of the diocesan courses of the Pyatigorsk diocese Archpriest Sergei Kuznetsov;
- choir Director of regional clergy of the Moscow diocese, rector of the Church in honor of icon of mother of God “quick to hearken” D. Churilkovo priest Sergei Golev;
- the Regent of the temple of the Holy righteous John of Kronstadt in the city of Chisinau, Victor Bragar;
- Regent choir of the Cathedral Church in honor of Intercession of the Holy virgin of Vladivostok Lyudmila Makarenko.
- associate Professor of choral conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatory named after N.. Rimsky-Korsakov, head of the Department of choral conducting of faculty of Church arts of the St Petersburg theological schools Anton Maksimov;
- choir Director of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan district honored artist of Russia Oleg Ovchinnikov
- the Director of the Center for training Church professionals the diocese of Smolensk Elena Polyanskaya;
- Regent choir of the ascension Cathedral of Novosibirsk Tatiana Remorov;
- artistic Director and chief Regent of the festive choir of St. Daniel monastery of Moscow Georgy Safonov;
- senior lecturer of the Department of old Russian singing art of Sankt-the Petersburg state Conservatory named after N.. Rimskogo-Korsakova Ekaterina Smirnova;
- Regent of the Patriarchal choir of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour Ilya Tolkachev;
- conductor, teacher of the Belarusian state Academy of music Professor Nicholas Szymanski;
- choir Director of the Church of the mother of God “Joy of All who sorrow” in Minsk, the conductor of the choir “Salutaris” Olga Yanum.
The meeting was also attended by members of the Council representing the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad: Regent’s Cathedral in honor of St. Nicholas in Vienna Tatiana Scherba, Precentor of the Cathedral of resurrection in Berlin Matthias Wilke, Precentor of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Paris Marina Politova, Regent of the Cathedral choir of the Synodal Znamensky Cathedral in the city of new York Peter Fekula. The meeting was attended by the invited guest is the Executive Director of all-Russian choral society Pavel Pozhigailo.
Archpriest Alexander Ageikin summarized the work of the Church and community Council. Later in the meeting the following reports were presented: “the Cathedral Choir in Berlin: a brief historical background, contemporary situation and problems” (Matthias Wilke), “Questions of liturgical singing in foreign parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church on the example of Vienna and the Austrian diocese” (Tatyana Shcherba), “the choral activities of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in North America” (Peter Fekula), “Orthodox Church music in France” (Marina Politova), “report on the development of Church singing in Pyatigorsk and Circassian diocese” (Archpriest Sergei Kuznetsov), “Actual problems of organizing and conducting choral conventions” (Georgy Safonov).
The main issue on the agenda was the discussion of preparation of the II International Congress for choir conductors and singers of the Russian Orthodox Church, which will be held in Moscow in 2019.