On October 23 the first “Pure Sound” award ceremony and gala concert were held in the hall of the Moscow New Opera Theatre. The “Pure Sound” International Recording Award is a major project of the Russian Musical Union, established in 2018 to support talented composers, performers, sound engineers and music publishers working on releases of Russian academic music. It is a breakthrough in the audio recording field.
In his remarks at the “Pure Sound” award ceremonies, the Rector of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Alexander Sokolov, noted: “Today is celebration of collaboration: in every nomination there is always a composer, a sound engineer and a performer. This collaboration must be valued. It is no coincidence that the Moscow Conservatory has established a graduate school for sound engineers.”
The third degree laureate for “Best Choral Performance” in 2019 was conferred to the audio recording of “Pascha” – volume 11 in the monumental “Chants of the Russian Emigre” series. The CD was sung by the “Nizhny Novgorod” Municipal Chamber Choir under the direction of Ivan Stolnikov (Vadim Kiranov & Kyrill Kokushin, sound engineers). The CD includes pieces by Archbishop Gabriel (Chepur), V. Dreving, E. Evetz, I. Gardner, Archpriest V. Ilyenko, N. Kedrov (pere), N. Kedrov (fils), M. Konstantinov, M. Kovalevsky, B. Ledkovsky and S. Riabtchenko.
Volume 12 of the “Chants of the Russian Emigres” series is due to be recorded and released in 2020.