Russian chorus serenades Sonoma on Jan. 22

Slavyanka performs regularly throughout California and the Soviet Union. and has sung on the soundtracks for several movies, including “Little Odessa” and “What Dreams May Come.”|

The Slavyanka Russian Chorus returns to Sonoma on Sunday, Jan. 22, with a program titled “Christmas in January – Songs of Russian Winter.”

Slavyanka, the name the early Russian settlers in California gave to the river that is today known as the Russian River, is a Bay Area-based a cappella chorus of 40 members, “united by a common interest in the choral music of the peoples of Russia and Eastern Europe,” according to a press release from the group. It was founded by two alumni of the Yale Russian Chorus in 1979. In 2013, Slavyanka expanded to both a men’s chorus and a mixed ensemble with women singers as an ongoing component in the performances.

For its Jan. 22 program, Slavyanka will perform Byzantine and Greek Orthodox chants, Cossack, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Georgian and Serbian carols, traditional Russian and Bulgarian winter songs, and several selections from Russian composers who immigrated to the United States. There will also be a performance of the “Polovetsian Dances” from Borodin’s opera Prince Igor.

Slavyanka performs regularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout California.

The group can be heard on the soundtracks of several movies, including “Little Odessa” and “What Dreams May Come,” and has toured the former Soviet Union, Russia and the Balkans.

Slavyanka takes the stage at Vintage House at 3 p.m. on Jan. 22. The event is sponsored by the Sonoma Classical Music Society.

Tickets are $35 for adults, $25 for members of the Society and $10 for students. Tickets are available from Readers’ Books, Pharmaca, Vintage House, at the Society’s website, sonomaclassical.org, and at the door.

The next concert in the Sonoma Classical Music Society’s 2017 season will be Sunday, March 19, at Vintage House at 3 p.m., when the Prima Trio returns for the third time to Sonoma with its blend of genres and styles for piano, clarinet and violin/viola.

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