The legendary Pokrovsky Ensemble was founded thirty-five years ago by Dmitry Pokrovsky, an outstanding musician, scholar and recipient of the State Prize of the USSR. The Ensemble was the first to combine the study of folklore and professional performance as well as the traditions of folk music with modern music practices.
The unique nature of the Pokrovsky Ensemble is not just due to its virtuoso mastery of different folk singing styles, but also in their natural synthesis with contemporary music and in the ability to create new music from the traditional and to transform it into an international cultural phenomenon.
The Ensemble’s repertoire includes Russian music from various traditions and styles. The Ensemble’s performances of Cossack songs, songs from Russia’s western regions, southern Russian songs and songs from the north of Russia have proved immensely popular among audiences, introducing then to the huge tremendous variety of Russian music.
At the Ensemble’s concerts one can also hear religious songs. An entire concert series has been dedicated to celebrations in the Christian calendar, various rituals and folk drama. Songs performed include military, festive, comic and ritual songs, masterpieces of Russian lyrical chant, romances and limericks.
The Ensemble performs classical music (Igor Stravinsky and Alexander Borodin) as well as folklore, in addition to works by contemporary composers (Alfred Schnittke, Rodion Shchedrin, Vladimir Dashkevich, Anton Batagov, Vladimir Martynov, Alexander Raskatov, Sergei Berinsky, Vladimir Nikolaev, Iraida Yusupova and Marina Shmotova among others).
The Ensemble frequently works on local projects with leading musicians and other ensembles in highly varied genres and styles including classical, jazz and electronic music. Among them are the ensemble OPUS POSTH directed by Tatiana Grindenko, the Kubansk Cossack Chorus, the St Nicholas Choir of the Tretyakov Gallery directed by Alexei Puzakov, the Paul Winter Consort group, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Adès and Peter Donohoe, The Pocket Symphony ensemble directed by Nazar Kozhukhar, the 4’33” ensemble directed by Alexei Aigui, the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, the Forces of Nature dance ensemble and the Revels ensemble directed by Jack Langstaff.
Over the years the Ensemble has successfully collaborated with such outstanding musicians as Ivan Sokolov, Mikhail Lidsky, Pavel Dombrovsky, Mikhail Dubov, Sergey Letov, Alexei Borisov, Peter Gabriel, Nóirín Ní Riain, Renato Braz, Paul McCandless, Paul Vertigo, Chris Berry, Mike Ellis, Paul Halley, Peter Seeger, Theresa Thomason, Elena Vasilieva and Mark Pekarsky.
Thanks to the support of Yuri Lyubimov, since 1998 the Ensemble has been part of the Creative Workshop at the Taganka Theatre and, while retaining its older programmes, has worked to form new ones featuring traditional and contemporary music. In recent years the Ensemble has toured on several occasions to Japan, the USA, Great Britain, Austria, Germany, Finland, Israel, Spain and Italy, performing at the world’s great classical music venues with renowned musicians and conductors.