NEW WEBSITE COMING SOON!

Nicolai Pavlovich Budashkin 1910-1988 was a famous Soviet composer who wrote some of the most enduring arrangements of Russian folk music for balalaika and domra orchestras, and many of his arrangements are played by the Sydney Balalaika Orchestra.

During WW2, his music was used to inspire patriotic feeling. After the war he became one of the musical directors for the state Ossipov Balalaika Orchestra. He also wrote music for plays and film scores.

The SBO is fortunate indeed to play some of his arrangements, noted for their magnificent orchestration like: ‘Russian Fantasy,’ ‘Fantasy on Russian Folk Songs,’ ‘Russian Overture’ and ‘Legend of Lake Baikal.’

Budashkin had huge orchestras with 80 trained musicians at his disposal. The SBO’s musical director Victor Serghie has not been so fortunate.

“Transforming these Budashkin scores to make them playable for a smaller orchestra with fewer than 30 musicians, has been a major challenge,” said Victor. “And somehow we have been able to achieve it.”

Not far from Sydney in the Southern Highlands, near Fitzroy Falls, is the enchanting little village of Burrawang. On the 19th of October the SBO gave its first concert there in the School of Arts. We often find that some of the orchestra’s most appreciative audiences are in the countryside, and so it was in Burrawang. The School of Arts is not a large building and the stage was even smaller. Fortunately not the whole orchestra was able to attend otherwise there would not have been room for them on the stage.

It was Sunday 13th of October and once more the Sydney Balalaika Orchestra (SBO) gave a concert at the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Singleton as part of their ‘Sacred Spaces’ musical programme. “It was our third concert here, and one of our best,” said musical director Victor Serghie.

Singin' in the Rain! Ulladulla - 17 March 2019 It rained. It poured. It deluged. But the sound of the rain thundering on the roof of the Ulladulla Civic Centre never dampened the audience’s enthusiasm for the Sydney Balalaika Orchestra’s first concert for 2019 on 17 March.

It was the second time the SBO had played in Ulladulla, 230 kms south of Sydney. While the rain certainly kept the audience numbers down, it was a reminder that distance does not diminish the enjoyment of our audiences.

The SBO’s players often form small groups where there is a need for fewer musicians or ‘pop up’ mood music.

On Sunday, 4 November, a group of six SBO musicians played a few numbers at the Pioneer Theatre in Castle Hill. SBO members donated their time to the event, as the Hills Harmony Choir had arranged it as a fundraiser for Lifeline. ‘We were feeling a bit thin on the ground with only a fifth of the usual orchestra on stage, so we invited the Harmony Choir to join us for our last number,’

Every year the Sydney Balalaika Orchestra plays at the retirement home in Cabramatta named after the famous Russian Orthodox Saint Sergius of Radonezh, and this year was no different. The orchestra plays free for the residents who are amongst our most appreciative of audiences.

‘For many years at St Sergius, I have introduced the orchestra using the Russian language,’ says musical director Victor Serghie. ‘But more and more I now find I am using English,’ he said.