Chicago: October 2, 2007
A Clergyman of Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral to Participate In the Irkutsk Festival of Church Music and Bell Ringing

The city of Irkutsk will host a Festival of Church Music and Bell Ringing on October 5-10, 2007, as part of the program "Shining Russia: Days of Russian Spirituality and Culture."

The year 2007 marks the 280 th anniversary of the establishment of Irkutsk Diocese. As reported today at a press conference by Deacon Antony Smolin, Choir Director of the Clerical and Lay Choir of the Irkutsk Diocese, the musical community of Irkutsk proposed to host a festival to mark this occasion.

Participating in the festival will be Protopriest Vadim Gan of Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in Chicago, deacons of the Russian Orthodox Church from Moscow, St Petersburg, Minsk, Irkutsk and Bratsk. The holiday choir of Danilov Monastery in Moscow will also take part, as will the Clerical and Lay Choir of the Irkutsk Diocese.

The Festival will include performances of the deacon's musical art and of bell ringing, master classes and practical conferences on church music singing. The event will include actual bell ringing, which will open the Days of Russian Spirituality and Culture on October 7. The peals will be heard from Epiphany Cathedral, Spassky Church and from a mobile bell tower on the square of the Eternal Flame.

The conferences will discuss the methods of development of church musical customs among young singers. The conferees will speak on deaconal service in the Russian Orthodox Church, the history and traditions of bell ringing, and the life and work of the eminent figure of the Russian Orthodox Church, Stepan Smolensky.

The program will include a concert given by Danilov Monastery at Irkutsk Philarmonic Hall and Divine Liturgy in Znamensky Cathedral.