Noted musician to offer presentation on OCA liturgical music chat room May 2, 2006

SYOSSET, NY [OCA Communications] — Aleksei V. Shipovalnikov, professor of liturgical music at Saint Tikhon’s Seminary and director of the Spirit of Orthodoxy Choir, will be the guest presenter on the Orthodox Church in America’s liturgical music chat room session on May 2, 2006 from 8:30 until 9:30 pm.

Mr. Shipovalnikov will discuss his life and experiences as a choir director in Russia and in the US and will offer insights and practical advice to choir directors and singers alike.

The chat room, open to all choir directors, singers, and other individual interested in Orthodox Christian liturgical music, is sponsored by the OCA Department of Liturgical Music and Translations.

To access the chatroom, log on to http://www.oca.org and follow the links to the liturgical music section. Once there, scroll down to the chatroom link and follow the instructions.

BIOGRAPHY OF ALEKSEI SHIPOVALNIKOV

Aleksei V. Shipovalnikov was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, the son of a priest and the great-great-grandson of the last governor of Colonial Russia (Alaska), Prince Dimitrii Petrovich Maksutov. Educated in Russia, his post-graduate studies included a master class with Leonard Bernstein in Moscow. He served as artistic director and manager of the Moscow State University Symphony Orchestra and Academic Choir and as music director at the Church of the Mother of God “the Unexpected Joy” in Moscow. He has also conducted in West Germany and Poland, establishing a reputation for innovative programming despite the political risks involved during the communist period.

After moving to the US in 1990, he served as choir director of Christ the Savior Church, San Francisco; music director of the Slavyanka Men’s Slavic Chorus; and guest lecturer at Columbia, George Washington, Princeton, Stamford, and Southern Methodist Universities.

In 1998 he established the Spirit of Orthodoxy Choir, Inc., which has acquired a reputation for professional quality singing in the New York tri-state area and elsewhere. He is currently music director at Saints Peter and Paul Church, Jersey City, NJ, and professor of liturgical music at Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, South Canaan, PA.