G.I. Tsitovich Folk Choir

The choir was created in 1952 on the basis of a small song choir in the village of Big Podlessie (Brest region). The first leader and inspirer of the group was Gennady Ivanovich Tsitovich - choral conductor, folklorist, ethnographer, People's Artist of the USSR, laureate of the BSSR State Prize.

Already in the early stages of the formation of the People’s Choir, critics, spectators and listeners noted the high performing skills, novelty and originality of its repertoire. At the beginning of 1955, the newspaper Pravda wrote a review on one of the collective’s performances: “... How much folk wisdom has been invested in the performance of simple, accessible songs of the Belarusian people! You listen to beautiful lingering, lyrical, comic songs performed by a female choir and unwittingly forget it. What they sing in a concert. It seems that girls are singing somewhere in the field, you can vividly imagine blooming Belarus, the beauty of its nature, the spiritual wealth of its people ... ”

Since 1975, the team has been headed by artistic director and chief conductor Mikhail Pavlovich Drinevsky, who is the People’s Artist of Belarus, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus “For Spiritual Adrajenne”, honorary academician of the International Personnel Academy, professor, talented musician, and connoisseur of musical folklore. Mikhail Pavlovich continues to develop the traditions of the choir, the beginning of which was laid by Gennady Ivanovich Tsitovich.

For successes in the field of choral art, promotion of the Belarusian national culture, a high level of performing skills:

• in1983 the team was awarded the title of "academic";
• in 1987, the choir was named after G.I. Tsitovich;
• In 2002, the team was given the status of “National”.
• in 2004, by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of September 10, 2004, the National Academic Folk Choir of the Republic of Belarus named after G. I. Tsitovich was named the state cultural institution.

Artistic Directions

For over 50 years, the artistic search for the choir has been developing in three main areas. The first is the opening of a folk song in its natural form, in all its pristine purity and beauty. Musical compositions “The Ox Raging”, “Yes Wheaten Yar”, “Whitewashed Snowballs” became the hallmark of the collective repertoire. Old wedding and lyric songs arranged by G. Tsitovich, K. Poplavsky, M. Drinevsky, N. Orphan for stage performance in the choir are also close to ethnographic primary sources. These are colorful harvest songs in the vocal-choreographic composition “Harvest Festival”, a sonorous suite of spring tunes.

The second direction of the choir’s creativity is the disclosure of his own choral professional skills in singing a cappella (with the conductor entering the stage) of choral arrangements of folk and contemporary author’s songs, such as “Sitting in the arms of veterans” A. Pakhmutova, “Oh, you are my pear” M Drinevsky.

The third direction has always been showing on the stage of folk art in the synthetic unity of singing, instrumental music and dance. Here, all three groups that are part of the creative composition of the People’s Choir (choral, dance and orchestral) perform simultaneously, creating colorful play actions, round dance songs, dance scenes, small genre pictures or detailed vocal-choreographic compositions (“You my blooming ").

The choir has several thousand performances that took place in all regions of the Republic of Belarus and abroad. Such countries as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, Germany, Finland, Korea, Turkey, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, France, Canada, China, Monaco on the world tour map of the collective.

• 2002 - 74 concerts;
• 2003 - 71 concerts;
• 2004 - 72 concerts;
• 2005 - 72 concerts;
• 2006 - 62 concerts;
• 2007 - 76 concerts.

The team of the G.I. Tsitovich National Academic Folk Choir of the Republic of Belarus took part in numerous international competitions and festivals, which won awards, diplomas and the love of thousands of spectators.

• 1955 - Fifth International Festival of Youth and Students, Moscow - winning a gold medal by a female group of the choir;
• 1968 - Ninth International Student Festival, Bulgaria - winning the big gold medal with the female vocal quartet “Kupalinka”;
• 1967 - 1970 - All-Union contests - diplomas of the I degree;
• 1980 - Diploma of the Olympics-80;
• 1989 - April Spring International Festival, Korea - the main prize of the Silver Cup festival;
• 2002 - International Festival of Sacred Music “God Magus”, Mogilev - Grand Prix;
• 2003 - International festival "Gaynovskaya days of church music", Poland, Gaynovka , Bialystok - conquest of the Grand Prix;
• 2003 - The Tenth Regional Song and Music Festival of the Dnieper Russia, Belarus and Ukraine “Dnieper Voices in Dubrovna”, Dubrovno (Vitebsk Region) - Certificate of Merit;
• 2003 - Participation in celebrations and cultural events dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the National Ukrainian Folk Choir named after G. Verevka, Ukraine, Kiev - Acknowledgment;
• 2004 - International festival "Gaynovskaya days of church music", Poland, Gaynovka - Thanks for participating in the inauguration concert;
• 2005 - the 12th International Song and Music Festival of the Dnieper Russia, Belarus and Ukraine “Dnieper Voices in Dubrovna”, Dubrovno (Vitebsk Region) - Diploma;
• 2007 - “Ninth Festival of Russian Sacred Music”, Lithuania, Vilnius , Visaginas - Diploma;
• 2008 - the festival "Brest Musical Evenings", Brest;
• 2008 - festival of spiritual chants “Kalozha evangelism”, Grodno - Grand Prix.

Ivan Konstantinovich Abrazevich - chief choirmaster

• Official site of the National Academic Folk Choir of the Republic of Belarus named after G. I. Tsitovich
• Presentation video on Youtube video service