The V. S. Popov Big Children's Choir of Russia Today Media ( rus, Большой Детский Хор имени В. С. Попова (БДХ), r=Bolshoi Detskiy Khor imeni V. S. Popova (BDKh)) is one of the most popular children's choirs from the former

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. It is affiliated with the

Rossiya Segodnya MIA Rossiya Segodnya (; ) is a media group owned and operated by the Russian government, created on the basis of RIA Novosti. The group owns and operates Sputnik, RIA Novosti, inoSMI and several other entities. The head of the organisation is ...

agency.

History

The choir was founded in 1970 and is based in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. Its founding chief conductor was professor Victor Sergeevich Popov (1934–2008), People's Artist of the USSR. The choir, originally known as ''Big Children's Choir of the USSR All-Union National Radio Service and USSR Central Television Networks'' (russian: Большой детский хор Всесоюзного радио и Центрального телевидения) honoured its founder by assuming his name in 2008. The choir has a very large repertoire made of thousands of different musical compositions, including short

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

s, cantatas, classical music, and Soviet and Russian patriotic songs and folk music. The choir had (and still has) the widest popularity in Soviet and post-Soviet society because of its repertoire for children including songs from children and teenage films, and even sang with well-known singers and starred in its own television programs and specials in the 1980s. The choir's collection contains compositions written by composers such as Mikhail Glinka,

Pyotr Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

, Sergei Rachmaninoff,

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, ...

, Dmitri Shostakovich,

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

Aleksandra Pakhmutova Aleksandra Nikolayevna Pakhmutova (russian: Александра Николаевна Пахмутова ; born 9 November 1929) is a Soviet and Russian composer. She has remained one of the best-known figures in Soviet The Soviet Union ...

, Vladimir Shainsky, Eugeny Krylatov, Jury Chichkov etc.

Popular alumni of the BCC

*Sergey Paramonov *Dmitry Golov *Oleg Kasyanov *Vitaliy Nikolaev *Tatyana Melekhina *Margarita Suhankina *Olga Korolkova *Dmitry Galikhin * Dmitry Mashnin *Konstantin Dyukin *Yuri Korobko *Sergey Kuzyurin *Alexey Proshkin *Alexey Stopkin *Konstantin Kirillov *Svetlana Kuleshova

External links

BBC Documentary "The Songs of Comrade Time""What became of the Soviet Union's child stars?" BBC World ServiceClub of members and fans of Big Children's Choir

Unofficial site

Video channel
Russian music Choirs of children Musical groups established in 1970 1970 establishments in the Soviet Union {{Russia-stub