Sergey Shapoval in concert

Russian professional musician Sergey Shapoval performed an educational and still entertaining concert on January 14, 2000, at the Valley View United Methodist Church at 95th & Antioch.

Because the stage was in the middle, half of the seats were unusable and additional folding chairs were added behind the last row of seats. The audience was about 250-280 people. About two-thirds were members of the church's congregation, and about one-third were the Russian immigrants.

The concert began after a short speech by the church's pastor Lee Johnson, who announced that the concert was a joint project of the church's congregation and our newspaper.

Sergey opened his concert by playing the bayan, a very popular Russian musical instrument. He told some interesting facts about Russia using a map and a chalkboard, played many Russian folks instruments: garmoshka, gusley, balalayka, shepherd flute, and even used the wooden spoons to play music. He constantly used jokes and called people from the audience to "help" him. There were improvised dialogs between the audience and the musician. The concert ended with applause that turned into standing ovation.

After the concert, there was a gathering around the table with Russian matreshkas (nesting dolls), samovars (special tea pots), wooden toys, etc. Many spectators asked Sergey questions about Russia and said their "thank yous" for his impressive performance.

All the money from the concert was in the benefit of our newspaper. Sergey did not accept any money for his charitable performance, considering his involvement as a community duty. Sergey's concert, and especially preparation for the concert, established a nice and warm relationship with the leaders of the hosting church and pastor Lee Johnson personally. The ticket prices were very affordable ($2 for senior citizens and children) because the main purpose of the concert was an introduction of Russian culture and Russian professional musicians to the American audience. However, to run our newspaper and aour Russian-American club is costly, and money from the concert will help to pay printing expenses of our next issue.

Mrs. Margie Tritt telling about Russian matreshkas (nesting dolls)

Sergey Shapoval (right) is telling jokes and Pastor Lee Johnson (left) is laughing at them