On Sunday the 20th and Friday the 25th of March, members of the Yale Russian Chorus (YRC), in Florida for spring break, paid a visit to Three Hierarchs Church in Hollywood and St. Luke the Blessed Surgeon Church in Pompano Beach, where they sang at the divine services of Great and Holy Lent.

On the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas, the Chorus sang at the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great in Three Hierarchs Church antiphonally with the parish choir. The following Friday morning, they sang at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in St. Luke the Blessed Surgeon Church.

Celebrating both Liturgies was Archimandrite Siluan (Lembei; cleric of Three Hierarchs Church). In both parishes, Fr. Siluan thanked the YRC members for their beautiful singing, and commended them on choosing to dedicate part of the break from their studies to spend time in the church, using their talented voices to glorify God. On Sunday, he gifted them various icons and spiritual books.

It was the YRC’s first time visiting either church, though in previous years visits had been paid to St. Vladimir Church in Miami. Chorus members were shown the temples and given an overview of the history of both parishes.

After Sunday Liturgy, the sisterhood of Three Hierarchs Church treated the Chorus members to a delicious lenten luncheon, where they continued to delight parishioners with songs from their repertoire.

A video of the YRC visit to Three Hierarchs Church is available on their YouTube channel here.

Background:
From Yale.edu

The Yale Russian Chorus (YRC) is a tenor-bass a cappella choral ensemble specializing in sacred and secular Slavic choral music. Chorus members are Yale University students from a variety of academic disciplines. Founded in 1953 by Denis Mickiewicz, a Yale student at the time, the YRC is recognized as one of the world’s premier performance ensembles of Slavic music today.

The repertoire spans the twelfth century to the twenty-first, and stretches across Eastern Europe from Slovakia to Georgia, including a variety of sacred and secular settings. These include ancient chant, folk songs, and works by Tchaikovsky, Bortnyansky, Kedrov, and Chesnokov, to name a few. The recordings of the Yale Russian Chorus have been placed on the New York Times critics’ choice list and described as a must-have recording by National Public Radio’s Performance Today. Their latest album, Immersion, is available on iTunes and Amazon.com.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Yale Russian Chorus, please contact yale.russian.chorus@gmail.com to learn more.