On 7 January, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates its Christmas, in accordance with the old Julian calendar. It is a day of both solemn ritual and joyous celebration.
It has become traditional for the President of Malta to host the Russian community in Malta and their Maltese friends and collaborators to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas festivity in the Russian Chapel at San Anton. It is in the spirit of friendship and solidarity that His Excellency the President of Malta and his consort have once more conceded, through their courtesy, that this celebration be held at this palace by a concert which, this year, was organized on Tuesday 7 January 2014.
Present for the occasion were His Excellency the President of Malta Dr George Abela, President Emeritus Dr Eddie Fenech Adami, the Hon Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr George Vella and Mrs Vella, many Ambassadors including of the USA, Hellenic Republic, Ireland, Austria, Italy, France, Germany, the British and the Australian High Commissioners, apart from Mr Oleg Beglov, Director of the Russian Centre for Science and Culture and other distinguished personalities.
The evening commenced with the inauguration of the book ‘George Whitmore’s new chapel at San Anton later known as the Russian Chapel’ by Dr Anthony Pace who gave the audience the background of the book. This presentation was followed by a welcome speech by Mr Oleg Beglov, Director of the Russian Centre for Science and Culture, who dwelt on the significance that the Russian Chapel of San Anton has for the Russian community when it came to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas, that it is not only a cultural event but also a spiritual celebration bringing the two cultures together.
Mr Beglov thanked President Abela for his enormous contribution towards the restoration of the Russian Chapel. Mr Beglov maintained that one can admire the magnificent changes the chapel went through, with the coming of Nikolai Mukhin member of the Russian Academy of Arts who painted the Cupola of the Chapel and with the impressive sculpture depicting Saint George who is strongly associated with both Russia and Malta, donated by Zurab Tsereteli President of the Russian Academy of Arts.
The speech was followed by a concert by the Trio under the artistic direction of Alexei Lundin, who was the main attraction of the event. The ensemble is made up of Alexei Lundin who played the violin, is an honored artist of Russia and a concert master of the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Sergei Poltavsky who played the alto and Evgeniy Rumyantsev who played the cello. The three are highly professional graduates from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
The trio played works from Peter Tchaikovsky, from Sergei Taneev who was a famous composer and a student of Tchaikovsky, and also from Alexander Borodin who is specially known for his symphonies. The group showed their virtuoso skill by finishing with an encore from Nicola Paganini’s compositions.
After this outstanding performance the guests were invited to proceed to the upper chambers of the Palace were refreshments were served.
According to most of the people present this was one of the best performances ever produced for this occasion.