Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov Chairs Meeting of Church Music Department at Almaty Seminary

October 21, 2025. With the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, a meeting of the Church Music Department was held at the Almaty Orthodox Theological Seminary.

The session was chaired by the head of the department – Oleg Nikolaevich Ovchinnikov, professor at the seminary, Honored Artist of Russia, member of the Church‑Public Council under the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for the Development of Church Singing, conductor of the Metropolitan Choir, and secretary of the Metropolis of Kazakhstan.

Participants in the meeting included: vice‑rector for academic affairs of the Almaty Seminary Pyotr Bakhtiyarov, head of the seminary’s office Fr. Alexander Shishlov, head of the choir director’s department and choirmaster of the Metropolitan Choir V.V. Dudareva, as well as faculty members of the pastoral and choir directing programs who teach musical disciplines.

The attendees addressed pressing theoretical and practical issues related to the teaching of church singing, and the cultivation in students of an understanding of its specificity and significance within Orthodox worship. New approaches were discussed regarding the study of music theory at the seminary and the students’ acquisition of foundational musical literacy and vocal technique.

Oleg Nikolaevich thanked the faculty for their dedicated work, emphasizing the importance of strengthening the department’s activity in order to raise the overall level of pedagogical and scholarly work at the theological school.