Synagogues on wheels in Russia
On July 18 the Jewish ethnographic expedition started off in Moscow. Within three weeks synagogues on wheels or mitzvah-mobiles will travel around Russia. During this time they will visit about 50 cities.
The first route will pass through cities in the south of Russia: Stavropol, Kislovodsk, Armavir, Sochi, Novorossiysk, Krasnodar, Taganrog, Rostov, Novocherkassk, Volgograd, Volga, Saratov, Penza and Ryazan.
The second mitzvah-mobile will go to Siberia - from Omsk via Novosibirsk and Barnaul to Bijsk, Novokuznetsk, Prokopyevsk, Kemerovo, Ugra, Tomsk, Mariinsky, Achinsk, Krasnoyarsk and Abakan.
The third synagogue on wheels will pass through Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Yoshkar-Ola, Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny, Izhevsk, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, Miass, Ufa, Samara, Togliatti and stop in Ulyanovsk.
The Russian-Italian Organ Duo plays I 3- och 5- Takt by Erland von Koch
The Russian-Italian Organ Duo (Elena Kalashnikova and Luca Massaglia) plays I 3- och 5- Takt by Swedish composer Erland von Koch (1910-2009).
Erland von Koch, born in Stockholm as the son of composer Sigurd von Koch (1879-1919), studied at the Stockholm Conservatory from 1931 to 1935 and subsequently passed the advanced choirmaster and organist examinations. Between 1936 and 1938, he lived in Germany and France in order to pursue studies in composition with Paul Höffer, conducting with Clemens Krauss, and piano with Claudio Arrau. Later, he took private classes with Tor Mann in Sweden.
Teaching at the Karl Wohlfarts Musikschule from 1939 to 1945, von Koch also spent the final two years of this period working as a sound expert and choirmaster for radio broadcasting. He composed much music for the Swedish film industry. From 1953 to 1975, he was lecturer in Harmony at the Stockholm Conservatory, where he was appointed a professor in 1968.
Von Koch became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1957.
He has received numerous other honors and prizes at both national and international levels for his compositions. He wrote six symphonies (of which the fifth, Lapponica, is dedicated to the Sami people), twelve Scandinavian Dances, one opera (Pelle Svanslös), and five ballets, as well as music for wind orchestra.
Even in his nineties he composed/studied every day. His works can be described as uncomplicated and his motto was always to keep the melody.
The International Russian-Italian Organ Duo started its activity in 2017.
The members of the Duo are Elena Kalashnikova (born in Pyatigorsk, Caucasus, Russia) and Luca Massaglia (born in Turin, Italy).
Elena Kalashnikova studied piano at the Music College in Stavropol and she pursued her piano studies at the Leonid Sobinov State Conservatory in Saratov (under the guidance of Prof. Alla Dolzhenko), where she studied organ as well.
She performed piano concerts in Russia as soloist and as a member of various chamber ensembles.
She worked as piano accompanist and piano teacher at the Music School n. 19 in Saratov and as piano accompanist at the Saratov Conservatory.
She is currently music teacher at the Ivan Turgenev Russian school in Turin (Italy) and organist at the Madonna degli Angeli Sanctuary of the same city.
As organist, she cooperated with the Accademia Corale Guido d'Arezzo of Turin.
Detailed information about Luca Massaglia can be found at his personal website:
Russian-Italian Organ Duo has a matchless repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary music and that includes original pieces for organ 4-hands, original pieces for two organs and transcriptions mainly of orchestral works.
Some notable composers have written pieces specially for the Duo: Franklin D. Ashdown (U.S.A.), Jay C. Batzner (U.S.A.), Michael Canales (U.S.A.), Carson Cooman (U.S.A.), Emma Lou Diemer (U.S.A.), Paul A. Epstein (U.S.A.), Stanley M. Hoffman (U.S.A.), Robert S. Potterton (U.S.A.), Justin H. Rubin (U.S.A.), Charles Shadle (U.S.A.), Khadija Zeynalova (Azerbaijan - Germany), Johan Famaey (Belgium), Adrian Vernon Fish (England), John Riley (England), Paul Ritchie (England), Aaro Pertmann (Estonia), Tapio Säyppö (Finland), Wolfram Graf (Germany), Rainer Lischka (Germany), Alexander Moseler (Germany), Markus Nickel (Germany), Andreas Willscher (Germany), Victor Kioulaphides (Greece - U.S.A.), Gilberto Bosco (Italy), Fausto Caporali (Italy), Carlotta Ferrari (Italy), Walter Gatti (Italy), Grimoaldo Macchia (Italy), Angelo Maria Trovato (Italy), Vidas Pinkevičius (Lithuania), Konstancja Kochaniec (Poland), Șerban Nichifor (Romania), Irina Dubkova (Russia), Anna Vetlugina (Russia), Milko Bizjak (Slovenia), Mateo Soto (Spain), Maria Löfberg (Sweden), Johan-Magnus Sjöberg (Sweden), Boryslav Stronko (Ukraine).