Inside Furman is published monthly during the school year by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
Singers touring Russia this summer
by Jessica Taylor
Much has changed in Russia since the Furman Singers last toured there 14 years ago. In 1990, the seeds of change were beginning to sprout as the then-Soviet Union was showing signs of its imminent collapse.
The Russia that the Furman Singers will enter on their two-week tour this summer is much different now. What has not changed, however, is the experience students will gain from touring a foreign country and learning and performing compositions in their original environments.
For students, the chance to sing music in the venue for which it was written for is priceless. “It gives it a whole different life,” says Bingham Vick, professor of music and director of the Furman Singers. “You can perform great music anywhere, but to do that in the original venue is quite an experience. For musicians, it's a soul-enriching kind of learning that you can't get any other way.
“What we do best is that core repertoire of great choral masterpieces,” says Vick. This summer, the Singers will perform music from Russian composers Chesnokov, Kalinnikov and Rachmaninoff, as well as other genres of American pop and jazz.
The 41-voice group will embark from Atlanta on July 26 and return August 7. They will rehearse in Atlanta and perform their concert at area churches before departing.
Planned tour stops for the group include Moscow, where the Singers will be joined by the University Choir of Moscow State University in the Assembly Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. In St. Petersburg, the group will perform in Smolny Cathedral and Scheremetev Palace. Jaani Church in Tallinn, Estonia, will mark another performance for the Singers, and in Helsinki the Singers will present a concert in the Church in the Rock.
But that's just the planned performances. As happened during their previous visit to Russia, sometimes the most unexpected circumstances have a way of becoming memorable — and historic.
In 1990 the Singers were touring the Kremlin, a walled part of Moscow that was highly controlled by the communist government. While touring the Cathedral of the Dormition, they asked if they could sing a piece. Later that afternoon, they were scheduled to give an outdoor concert, but it was canceled because of rain. Instead of giving up, their tour guides called the and asked if they could give their concert there. Much to Vick and the group's surprise, the cathedral willingly welcomed them.
That afternoon the concert was memorable not only for the Singers but also for tourists and citizens who had been deprived of sacred music in any capacity since the communist regime had taken over. All was going well until Vick looked over and saw a large woman beside him, staring at him intensely. This woman, called “Olga” by Vick and the Singers, was the curator of the cathedrals within the Kremlin, and apparently no one had asked her permission before consenting to let the Singers perform.
Angry and upset, Olga ordered the performance to stop, and the Singers quickly rushed off-stage and hurried back to their buses. As a peace offering, Vick gave Olga a cassette and program in Russian that explained about Furman and the Singers.
Apparently feeling remorseful for her brash treatment of the group, Olga then asked if there was anything she could do for them. Vick asked if they could take a picture, which was usually prohibited. She obliged, and informed them that they should feel honored for being allowed to perform there. Not only was the cathedral the same place where Ivan the Terrible and other Russian czars had been crowned, but the Singers were also the first choir to perform there since 1918.
“It was an incredible experience,” says Vick. “And something we didn't expect at all. No one that was there will ever forget it.”