21 April 2010 a concert of the Balaam Male Choir (Igor Ushakov, Art Director and Conductor, Distinguished Artist of the Russian Federation) was held at the Hermitage Theater.

The concert was dedicated to an important event, the 20th anniversary of the collective’s creative activity.

In 1990 I. Ushakov founded the Male Choir under Saint Petersburg’s metochion of the Spas Preobrazhensky Balaam monastery and, with the further development of the performance and research experience, in 1994 founded the Balaam Institute of Singing Culture and the Balaam Male Choir that became the successor of original traditions of the Russian singing culture.

The collective’s repertoire includes over 600 works: samples of old Russian singing art, traditional and modern Russian church music, folk songs, author’s creations. In the opinion of experts, the Balaam Male Choir’s performance is distinctive for its special, typically national singing tone that is bright, powerful, deep and natural.

Special place in the collective’s repertoire is occupied by songs of the Russian Imperial Army and the Navy. The Balaam Male Choir is the only collective in Russia that is focused on the revival and restoration of Russian military patriotic song heritage.

The main area of the Choir’s activity is a creation of musical and historical programs and compositions. Each of them is dedicated to a specific memorable aspect of Russian history and culture.

The Choir recorded over 60 various discs. They include Songs of the Russian Navy, Songs of the Russian Guards, Anthems and Marches of the Russian Empire, Anthem to Heroes, Legendary Sevastopol, Russian Historical Songs, Attachment of the Crimea to Russia, Generalissimo Suvorov, Poltava, Borodino, Song Chronicle of the Caucasian War, Attachment of Central Asia to Russia, Let’s Remember, Brothers, the Glory of Russians!, and others.

According to Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy Director of the State Hermitage, the Balaam Male Choir pursues a noble mission of not just performing old songs. They collect and perform songs that can be called “the songs of martial victories of Russia”. The Balaam Choir created a unique corpus of Russian military songs. Every new disc is not only a joy for the lovers of old military songs but it is an opportunity to plunge into the past of our nation and get in touch with the great military history of our country.