At the Representation of the Moscow Patriarchate in the USA — St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York — festive events were held marking the 75th birthday of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’.
On the eve of the jubilee, on the evening of November 19, after the evening service, a festive concert was held in the parish hall of the cathedral, organized by the Representation of the World Russian People’s Council at the UN and the production agency Spotlight Artists Management and Production.
The guests of the event included not only the clergy and parishioners of the Patriarchal Cathedral but also residents of New York. At the start of the celebration, the cathedral clergy told the guests about the life of His Holiness and his primatial ministry. The St. Nicholas Cathedral Chamber Choir under the direction of Alexander Chaplinsky sang Many Years in Greek and Church Slavonic.
The musical program of the festive evening consisted of works by Russian classical composers — well-known solo numbers and duets from Tchaikovsky’s operas “The Queen of Spades” and “Eugene Onegin” (performed by sopranos Zoya Gramagin and Yohenia Fortes and tenors Pavel Sulyandziga and Mikhail Urusov), the much-loved Waltz of the Flowers from the ballet “The Nutcracker” (piano duet — Rayna Wang and Nikita Stepanenko), as well as vocal and piano works by M. Glinka and S. Rachmaninoff.
On Saturday, November 20, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated at St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York, at which petitions of thanksgiving were offered for His Holiness. At the end of the service, the clergy and faithful prayerfully proclaimed Many Years to the Primate.