The Slavyanka Male Russian Chorus regularly presents a cappella concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area and California. The repertoire is drawn mostly from Russian sources: Orthodox liturgical, Russian and other slavic folk and composed music. It includes compositions by Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and a host of less well-known purveyors of the Slavic soul in song.
Slavyanka is the name that the early Russian settlers in California gave to the river that is today known as the Russian River. The Slavyanka Male Chorus was formed in 1979 by several former members of the Yale Russian Chorus. Membership has varied from twenty to thirty men, all with other primary occupations ranging from business and the trades to law, science and medicine. The chorus toured the former Soviet Union in 1986, 1989 and 1999, where it performed for historically its largest and most appreciative audiences.
In May of 2004, Slavyanka celebrated its 25th year. Male alumni and other friends came from all over the US. Video highlights of the concert are available at (click here) Moving Camera.com
Since July, 1997, Slavyanka's Music Director has been
Gregory A. Smirnov, formerly music director in Pskov, Russia, before migrating to the US, in 1992.
Slavyanka has released seven recordings including two on the Dorian label, and two on Harmonia Mundi USA . Many are available at larger retail outlets, but may also be ordered through Slavyanka Russian Male Chorus from
our recordings "czar".
In February 1993, the chorus performed the world premiere of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by Konstantin Nikolaevich Shvedov (1886-1954). Slavyanka's recording of that work is now available in a new CD release by Dorian Recordings.
In 1994, Slavyanka provided 4 cuts for the soundtrack of "Little Odessa"
In July, 1997 Slavyanka was filmed singing Gregory Smirnov's arrangement of the "Jesus Prayer" by Alfred Schnittke in "What Dreams May Come"(released 1998) with Robin Williams, Max Von Sydow, Annabella Sciorra and Cuba Gooding,Jr. Directed by Vincent Ward ("Map of the Human Heart", "The Navigator".) Polygram/Interscope/Metafilmics
Slavyanka Russian Male Chorus is seeking new members, especially high tenors and low basses. Russian language ability is not required. Rehearsals are 7:30 to 10pm Tuesday evenings at St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church, Turk and Baker, San Francisco. For an audition appointment, contact our director,
Gregory Smirnov or call him at (650) 365-1363.
Mail List
To be placed on the mailing list for concert announcements, send name, e-mail address and postal address to:
Privacy Policy: while Slavyanka Russian Male Chorus has occasionally allowed other, usually similar vocal groups its one-time use, we have never sold our mailing list and have no plans to do so in the future.
Cyrillic Web.
Unicode Cyrillic lyrics for a number of songs in the Slavyanka repertoire (No 'russification' required)
and instructions for getting your Windows browser to display Cyrillic characters:
This page is http://www.slavyanka.org, updated 8/7/2007 Maintained by
Donn Davy
Meeting Time & Location Information
Tuesday at 7:30 PM St. John the Baptist Serbian Orthodox Church 900 Baker Street San Francisco, California 94115 map it USA
Contact Information
John Kuhlman phone: 415-897-6578 fax: 415-493-5760 contact us
Slavyanka Rehearsals are conducted weekly on Tuesdays at 7:30 - 10 PM. The location is at the corner of Turk and Baker Streets. Contact Gregory Smirnov at gregory.smirnov@rcn.com for information and auditions.
Gregory Smirnov
