Ryazan State Russian Choir, named after E. Popov
(Popov Choir)

The history of the choir began in the distant 1932 in the village of Bolshaya Zhuravinka of Ryazhsk county of Ryazan province.

In those days the church was closed and the backbone of the amateur­ collective was the church choir under the direction­ of the regent Dmitry Bezrukov. In 1934 one of the brightest soloists - the singer Irina Kosilkina - began to lead. The choir became a participant and winner of amateur art reviews in Moscow and acquired its first serious name - the Ryazan Regional Choir of Russian Song.

In October 1946 the Russian folk choir from the village of Bolshaya Zhuravinka of Ryazhsk district of the Ryazan region under the leadership of Irina Kosilkina received the status of "state".

The unique combination of high professionalism and characteristic original Ryazan sound makes the choir a pearl of Russian folk-art culture. The first members of the choir, as well as its founder were ordinary villagers who sang as they learned from their parents and grandfathers. Hence the characteristic Ryazan manner of performance. Also, Zhuravinka inhabitants had a great influence on the choir's repertoire. Until now in the "golden fund" of the song and ­dance heritage of the collective, authentic Ryazhsk choral melodies have been preserved.

The Ryazan manner of singing is sonorous, with unique polyphony and colors of timbres. In the choral sound the subvocal system is peculiarly developed, there is a low bass part - an octave. The intonation system is dominated by a light, lyrical beginning, a life-affirming nature of the sound.

From the first days of its professional existence the Ryazan Folk Choir set the main tasks of preserving the local original manner of singing, recording and processing­ Ryazan folklore and searching for new works that meet the high creative requirements ­of art.

Irina Kosilkina

In 1950 the State Ryazan Russian­ People's Choir was headed by Evgeny Popov. With his arrival much attention was paid to the development of the choir's professional skills. The new period of development of the collective, associated with the arrival of a gifted, experienced musician, is characterized by a great creative upsurge when the Russian folk song rises to the heights of true art.

The name of composer E. Popov is also associated with such a facet of the choir's work as the performance of songs on the poems of our countryman Sergei Yesenin. Throughout his career E. Popov created choral masterpieces based on Esenin's poetry. The music embodied the famous Esenin poems "Birch", "Scattered shrubs. Vast steppe horizons...", "Who am I? What am I?", "Sleeping feather", "Fields are reaped and groves are bare..." and the visiting card of the team - "Horned moon's over window. Under window's breezy".

In the early 1950s choreographer Y. Golovanov created a ballet troupe at the choir, organically complementing­ concert image of the choir. For more than half a century the hearts of the audience are conquered with masterfully honed, temperament and lyrical dance compositions: "Sekirinskaya dance", "Mikhailovskoe lace", "Lyrical roundelay" and many others. During this period a great contribution to the development of the choir was made by the choreographer M. Kruglikov and the choirmaster Y. Afonin.

People's Artist of the RSFSR
Evgeny Popov

In 1987 the artistic director of the collec­tive became a graduate of the Gnessin State Musical­ Pedagogical Institute Alexander Kozyrev. Having worked with E. Popov as the chief choirmaster, he sensitively perceived the artistic style and school of the master bringing to the repertoire of the Ryazan Folk Choir new forms addressed to the ritual traditions of the Ryazan region.

Under the leadership of A. Kozyrev such ritual performances as "Ryazan Wedding", "Trinity", "Christmas Festivities" were created. He is the author of songs on the poems of S. Yesenin and Ryazan poets B. Zhavoronkov, A. Potapov included in the repertoire of the choir.

In 1996 for the high artistic skill and authenticity of the folk singing tradition the Ryazan Choir was awarded the honorary title of "Academic". In 2001 the State Academic Ryazan Russian Folk Choir was awarded the name of its legend artistic director - Evgeny Popo­va.

Ryazan State Academic Russian Folk Choir named after E. Popov is a laureate of the All-Union­, a diploma winner of international and republican festivals, a laureate of the "Zolden Apollo" prize, a laureate of the A. Averkin Prize, and was awarded the Gold Medal named after academician V. Utkin.

The artists of the choir were warmly welcomed by the audience of many countries: Greece, France­, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, China, Mongolia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Canada.

Honored Artist of the Russian Federation
Alexander Kozyrev

In 2003 the duties of artistic director were entrusted to Nadezhda Koltsova­. It is necessary to note the attitude to the selection of repertoire­ which consisted of the best examples of folk and author's choral music. The repertoire considers local peculiarities, gives priority to works that have a direct connection with Ryazan and the region, Ryazan composers and poets. Her artistic credo is the preservation of tradition combined with a sense of modernity.

Under the direction of N. Koltsova the Ryazan Choir successfully performs in the best concert halls of Moscow.

During the period 2003-2005 solo concert programs were created­, each of which has its own thematic focus: "Ryazan Madonna" (2003), the work of A. Averkin and E. Popov (2003), "Ryazan Song Spring" (2004), "Christmas Fair" (2005), "My Whole Life - Ryazan Choir" E. Popov (2005) и etc.
A lot is written about N. Koltsova in the regional press, noting the high professionalism and the huge ­interest that each concert program causes. All concerts are sold out, attracting more and more new listeners.

From 2007 to 2011 the choir was led by a talented accordionist, chief conductor of the orchestra Alexander Oreshkin, Honored Artist of Russia Alexander Ermakov, Konstantin Panin, chief choirmaster Maria Zorko. Each of them contributed to the preservation and development of the team.

People's Artist of the RSFSR
Nadezhda Koltsova

Today under the leadership of the Honored Worker of Culture of Russia Svetlana Sukhova, in creative collaboration with the Honorary Worker of Culture ­and Art of the Ryazan Region, The Chief Conductor A. Oreshkin and the Chief Choreographer, Honored Worker of Culture of Russia N. Shichkin, the Ryazan State Academic Russian Folk Choir named after E. Popov occupies a worthy place among the professional­ collectives of national art.

The activities of the children's choir studio at the Ryazan Folk Choir have been resumed, in which­ the young artistic generation is brought up in the spirit of preserving and developing the traditions of the collective.

Throughout the creative life of the Ryazan Folk Choir creative cooperation was carried out ­with many Russian composers - A. Novikov, F. Maslov, A. Mosolov, A. Averkin, V. Temnov, G. Ponomarenko, A. Ermako­ and others.

Over the past decades the Ryazan Folk Choir has been a welcome guest in every village of our region, performed in the cities of Russia and­ the republics of the former Soviet Union. The artists of the choir were warmly welcomed by the German audience.

Svetlana Sukhova

The search for modern artistic solutions aimed at the theatricalization of concert­ programs, the involvement of literary drama are now becoming an important guide ­in the creative activities of the Ryazan Folk Choir. The program " And when you send your song flying, remember!", dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, has become a new stage form in the repertoire of the collective embodying the artistic synthesis of three genres - drama, choral music and choreography. New programs of the choir "Kasi­movskaya Bride", "Ryazan artisan", "Tales of the Land of Ryazan" about the history and cultural­ traditions of the Ryazan region combine the artistic word and the art of folk singing.

Over the years of S. Sukhova's work as the artistic director of the choir many graduates of professional cultural institutions came to the team, the level of vocal performance and scenography of programs increased.

All the original features of the song tradition of the native land are carefully­ preserved by the Ryazan Folk Choir, the basis of the repertoire of which consists of ancient melodies. Such songs as "The Red Sun Has Set", "Rowan, Rowan tree", " Blue-gray eagle" have been performed by the choir since 1932, since ­the first performances of the amateur group.

And today, as before, the creative credo of the team remains unchanged - ­the revival, preservation and development of the richest folklore traditions of the native land and the Russian folk singing culture.