On Sunday, October 20, 2019, the doors opened at 11:00am for the 12th time for the “Taste of Russia” festival at the Holy Virgin Cathedral. Only one year was missed, since its inception in 2006, when there were conflicting schedules of all of the dedicated volunteers and miscellaneous other community events in San Francisco Bay Area.
There was much to do in the area of the cathedral and school halls and the courtyard, including tasting all of the traditional Russian foods, such as piroshki, borscht, pelmeni, beef stroganoff, as well as a barbecue of sausages, shashlik and fine meats. Both bars, courtyard and in the walkway between halls, offered plenty of libations, including Russian beer, wines, flavored vodkas, mixed drinks and sodas, juices and waters. Truly a labor of love, families worked together to set up, prepare, cook, clean and support the efforts of this Russian Orthodox community fundraising effort for the beloved Holy Virgin Cathedral, home of the relics of St.John of Shanghai and China.
The cathedral choir with their choir director, Vladimir Krassovsky, in addition to singing the liturgy stayed to perform a repertoire of their concerts in the cathedral hall, and the multi-talented Vladimir Krassovsky, iconagrapher also presented an icon painting demonstration.
The official opening was at 12:00 noon, on the stage in the school hall, when Congress of Russian Americans, President Natalie Sabelnik thanked everyone for coming, performing, volunteering and helping under the skilled leadership of Mira Troyan. Shawn Sabelnik-Whooley presented Mira Troyan with a bouquet of flowers and thanked Ms.Troyan for her wonderful organizational work. Sabelnik, who was the MC, also thanked dedicated sound engineer Nick Ionoff and his assistant, Carlos for their enormous help in coordinating all of the music and sound needs. Sabelnik also introduced Matt Davis from the US Department of State, Foreign Missions to say a brief word. Matt Davis, although not a native Russian speaker, who tries to speak Russian to his two young children, thanked Natalie Sabelnik for the invitation, explained how he has worked with CRA in the past, and congratulated the cathedral for a splendid “Taste of Russia” festival.
Congress of Russian Americans was one of the sponsors of the festival, and the coordinators of the program of entertainment, which included beautiful costumes and dances of Vladimir Riazantsev’s Russian Folk Ensemble (where V.Riazantsev also accompanied the dancers on the bayan), newcomers to the festival, Slavitza Folk A-Cappella Group, Sivka-Burka Children’s Cossack Ensemble (again accompanied by V.Riazantsev), Kalinka Women’s Dance Ensemble from Sacramento with young singer, Liliya Vartanova, classical guitarist, Yvgenyi Shilin, singers Oksanna & Liza Nadelson (accompanied by Roman Shatsev), and again Liza with her brother, David, in a Latin ballroom dance. Another newcomer to the HVC stage, Soussanna Chubarian (accompanied by Tatiana Scott). Halfway through the program, Natalie Sabelnik introduced her daughter, Sasha Sabelnik-Whooley to assist with the introductions of the performers, and introduced stage veterans, Russian Center Dance group, under the direction of Aleksei Prokoshin. The program concluded with the Grande Finale by world-reknowned Nikolai Massenkoff and his Massenkoff Russian Folk Orchestra (including piano, flute, guitar, balalaikas, 2 accordions and again, V.Riazantsev on the bayan). It’s important to note, that three of the programs performers were Honored Artists, V.Riazantsev (Russia), Yvgenyi Shilin (Kazakhstan) and Roman Shatsev (Belorussia).
During the intermissions, audience could visit the CRA sponsor table, eat more of the delicious food and a vast variety of desserts (e.g. napoleon, vatrushka & many more), buy souvenirs, jewelry, arts & crafts from the tables of the Russian American Women’s League and the Sisterhood of the Holy Virgin Cathedral. All proceeds going to the cathedral’s fundraiser.
Comments by many of the guests were that the food was plentiful, delicious and some of the best Russian food they’ve every had. The music, singing, dancing and the Russian costumes, especially the bejeweled boyar costumes, the cossack uniforms, sarafans, and all the rest of the colorful costumes also contributed to one of the best programs attended. This was evidenced at the end, when guests were reluctant to leave and were already making plans for next year’s “Taste of Russia” festival (yet, to be determined when)!
