The choir’s establishment history

We all met at the English and Korean courses in the Protestant Church. Pastor Joseph O. decided to create a choir in the church and invited me to be a conductor. From the beginning a big group assembled. People came and left and in the end set up a group of people who really grew fond of singing in the choir. There were:

In this composition we sang in the Protestant Church from June to September 2000. Latter we found out about the opening of the Catholic Church in our city. My father was a Catholic, I desired to work in the Catholic Church and the choir decided to follow me. In this way on the 8^th October priest Janusz accepted our choir. We had the choir rehearsals three times a week and we sang at each holy mass.

The time passed by our first Christmas and Easter has come. Until that moment we have been already singing for one year. To our great joy priest Janusz announced us that the Pope John Paul II will visit our country and that we can go to that meeting in Astana. We were proud that we could represent our home city Atyrau. The meeting with the Pope had a big influence on us, some of us decided to be baptized and to adopt the Catholic faith.

Our second Christmas and Easter has come. As at the first time we presented a nativity play. The preparation of the theatre play and concerts for the biggest Christian Feasts has become our tradition. In 2001 part of the church was already built. Our choir was complemented by the new people. It was:

The years passed, the small choristers grew up and the older ones got adult and started up families. The adult choristers promised to bring to the choir their children when it is possible. Everybody lives his own life but our choir exists. At all Feasts the choir sings at full composition. We sing not only in the church but also during city celebrations: we give concerts at old people’s home, at MSNK “Wiedergeburt”. We participated in the city choir competitions. We sing not only in Russian but also in Kazakh, German, Italian, Polish. We received the diploma of the MSNK 2002 and 2006, the diploma from the City Cultural Department 2005 and 2006. We also received a letter of commendation from CNTA 2005.

It is the 7^th year of our artistic work. Our choir is getting bigger and with new people coming to sing. Quite recently three toddlers have joined us …

We like to sing and also this year both young and adult choristers are awaiting summer holidays camp of our choir.

We hope that our choir will sing not only in our home city but also outside its borders in other Catholic Churches.

 The choir conductor and organist in the Roman Catholic Church in Atyrau

Olga Gaun