Bolschoi Don Kosaken

The Cossacks can look back on a long history. The term »Cossack« comes from the Tatar language and means »free man«. In the 16th century, Cossacks from the steppes along the Dnieper, Dniester, Don and Volga rivers settled in what is now Ukraine and Russia. They were gifted farmers, excellent horsemen and deeply religious people. They expressed their passion for life in songs, especially in choral singing. Cossack singing could be heard in all situations – at religious masses, private celebrations or even when preparing for battle –.

After the October Revolution in 1917, many Cossacks emigrated to the West, including the conductor Sergei Jaroff, who founded a men's choir in a camp in Turkey. The songs full of longing and misery, but also full of hope, were the only thing the men had taken with them from their homeland.

Professor Petja Houdjakov, the current director of the Bolshoi Don Cossacks, now in his nineties, has succeeded in further developing the tradition of Cossack singing, which consists of low basses (basso profundo) and high tenor voices (falsetto), and turning it into a mystical sound experience.

For 45 years, the Bolshoi Don Cossacks' concert of sacred Russian, Ukrainian and international songs has been a fixture of the pre-Christmas season in Vienna and puts visitors in the mood for Christmas.