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Draft:Nikon Zhila

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  • Comment: @Z. Patterson: thank you. I agree with removing the discography sourced to Discogs and haven't restored it. Every remaining statement about Zhila is now cited inline to a published source. I have also added 2 independent interviews focused on him (Russian Culture Foundation; VestiPK, Voronezh, 2013) and a sourced note that he handed the choir to Andrei Poltorukhin in 2023. Likewriter2 (talk) 12:38, 28 September 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: I removed information that cited Discogs per WP:BLP and WP:DISCOGS. User-generated sources do not belong in biographies of living people unless they are by the subject themselves. If you believe the information I removed is correct, please find a reliable source that mentions the information I removed. See also WP:BLPCITE and WP:USERG. Z. Patterson (talk) 11:48, 28 August 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: Resubmitting with the sourcing tightened. The claim rests on WP:ANYBIO #1: Zhila was made an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation by presidential decree of 11 August 2010 (No. 999), now cited to the official kremlin.ru text of the decree rather than to a mirror site. Independent secondary comment on Zhila himself is cited in the Reception section from Fest (Emma Heidenreich, 5 March 2019). I recognise this is a thin body of person-specific coverage and would welcome guidance on whether the state honour is sufficient on its own here. Likewriter2 (talk) 13:06, 31 July 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: The choir they lead may be notable, but to establish notability for Zhila, we need to see multiple reliable, secondary sources showing her due coverage separate from the larger involvement of the choir. Sulfurboy (talk) 02:01, 24 July 2026 (UTC)



Nikon Zhila
Никон Жила
Born
Nikon Stepanovich Zhila

(1976-11-30) November 30, 1976 (age 49)
Zagorsk (now Sergiyev Posad), Moscow Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR
OccupationsChoral conductor, music critic
Years active2000–present
Known forArtistic director of the Sretensky Monastery Choir (2005–2023)
AwardsHonored Artist of the Russian Federation (2010)

Nikon Stepanovich Zhila (Russian: Никон Степанович Жила; born 30 November 1976) is a Russian choral conductor and music critic. From 2005 to 2023 he was the artistic director and regent of the Choir of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, one of Russia's best-known Russian Orthodox male choirs, which he led on international concert tours and in services accompanying the Patriarch of Moscow.[1][2] He was named an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation in 2010.[3]

Early life and education

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Zhila was born on 30 November 1976 in Zagorsk (now Sergiyev Posad), Moscow Oblast, into the family of a priest, Stefan Zhila, a teacher at the Moscow Theological Schools. He sang in the church choirs of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius from childhood.[2] He graduated from the Prokofiev Moscow Regional Music College in 1995 and from the choral conducting department of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in 2001.[2][4] He joined the Sretensky Monastery Choir as a chorister in 2000, and in 2001–2002 completed military service as a performer with the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Internal Troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.[2]

Career

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Sretensky Monastery Choir

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In 2005 Zhila was appointed regent of the Sretensky Monastery Choir at the invitation of the monastery's superior, Archimandrite (later Metropolitan) Tikhon (Shevkunov).[2] Under his direction the ensemble was reorganised and its repertoire widened beyond liturgical chant to Russian folk and Soviet-era songs, romances and arrangements; the choir performed World War II-era songs a cappella for the first time.[2] From 2005 the choir served as the principal choir accompanying services of the Patriarch of Moscow in Russia and abroad.[2] The choir sings without instrumental accompaniment, and Zhila conducts without a baton.[5]

Zhila has discussed his repertoire policy in the Russian press. In an interview for Kultura.RF, the culture portal of the Russian Ministry of Culture, he described how the concert programme grew around the liturgical core: Russian folk songs, pre-revolutionary versions of soldiers' songs, romances, and arrangements of spirituals such as "Let My People Go", whose first soloist in the choir was Dmitry Belosselskiy, later an international opera bass.[6] He noted that by then the choir had sung on every continent except Africa and Antarctica, with appearances ranging from Notre-Dame de Paris to the Great Wall of China, and that the most requested encore was the Lyube song "Horse".[6] In an interview with the Russian Culture Foundation he argued that choral music had lost the popularity it had in the Soviet period and that new choral repertoire needed to be written.[7] In December 2012 he gave an interview to the federal daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta about the choir's new disc and concert programme,[8] and he spoke to the regional press in Voronezh during the choir's visits in 2013 and 2016.[9][10]

International tours

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The choir toured widely under Zhila. In 2007 it made a round-the-world tour marking the reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church, with concerts in cities including New York, Washington, Boston, Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney, Berlin and London.[1][2] In October 2012 the choir returned to the United States for a three-week, nine-city tour marking the fifth anniversary of the reunification, performing at venues including the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress in Washington, Carnegie Hall in New York and Symphony Hall in Chicago, with further concerts in Boston, Miami, Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.[1][11][12][8] Zhila described the visit as a pilgrimage tied to the restored unity of the church rather than a concert tour.[8] The choir also toured Australia, appearing at Adelaide Town Hall among other venues.[5][13]

In February 2014 the choir performed the Russian national anthem at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.[14][15] Zhila's tenure as artistic director continued until 2023, when he handed the direction of the choir to Andrei Poltorukhin, a former chorister of the ensemble.[2][16]

Writing on music

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Zhila has also written as a music critic. In a December 2023 essay for the arts publication ArtCulture, he discussed differences in the interpretation of sacred music during a worship service and in concert performance.[17]

Reception

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Reviewing a 2019 Adelaide concert, Fest wrote that Zhila "bows respectfully and takes quiet command of his choristers", and singled out the choir's basso profondo singers.[5] Tours under his direction were reviewed in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Washington Examiner, San Francisco Classical Voice and The Australian.[11][12][18][19][20]

Honours

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 "The Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir comes to USA". Russia Beyond the Headlines. September 7, 2012. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Regent of the Choir: Nikon Zhila". Sretensky Monastery Choir (bestchoir.ru). Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  3. 1 2 "Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 11 августа 2010 года № 999 «О награждении государственными наградами Российской Федерации»" [Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of August 11, 2010 No. 999 "On awarding state awards of the Russian Federation"] (in Russian). President of Russia official website. August 11, 2010. Retrieved 2026-07-31. (also published on the Official Internet Portal of Legal Information, archived May 9, 2019)
  4. ↑ "Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir, conductor Nikon Zhila". Global Academy of Music. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  5. 1 2 3 "Review: Sretensky Monastery Choir". Fest. March 5, 2019. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  6. 1 2 Letnikova, Natalya. "Никон Жила: «Мы не пели только в Антарктиде и в Африке»" [Nikon Zhila: "The only places we have not sung are Antarctica and Africa"]. Kultura.RF (in Russian). Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  7. ↑ "Никон Жила: Пришло время создавать новую хоровую музыку" [Nikon Zhila: The time has come to create new choral music] (in Russian). Russian Culture Foundation. Retrieved 2026-09-28.
  8. 1 2 3 Khoroshilova, Tatyana (5 December 2012). "Никон Жила: Мы готовим диск с совершенно новой программой" [Nikon Zhila: We are preparing a disc with a completely new programme]. Rossiyskaya Gazeta (in Russian). Archived from the original on 27 November 2024. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  9. ↑ "Регент Хора Сретенского монастыря Никон Жила в Воронеже: «Наша музыка интернациональна!»" [Sretensky Monastery Choir regent Nikon Zhila in Voronezh: "Our music is international!"]. VestiPK (in Russian). 22 May 2013. Retrieved 2026-09-28.
  10. ↑ "Регент хора Сретенского монастыря Никон Жила: «Мы можем представить публике всю широкую палитру русской музыки»" [Sretensky Monastery Choir regent Nikon Zhila: "We can present the public with the full palette of Russian music"]. Культура ВРН (in Russian). May 2016. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  11. 1 2 "Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir at Carnegie Hall". The New York Times. October 2012. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  12. 1 2 "Moscow's Sretensky Monastery Choir visits DC". The Washington Post. October 4, 2012. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  13. ↑ "Music from the Sretensky Monastery". Limelight. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  14. ↑ "Classical music at the Sochi 2014 Opening Ceremony". Classic FM. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  15. ↑ "Of anthems and ballet: sopranos, choruses, and classical music open Sochi Games". The Washington Post. February 7, 2014. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  16. ↑ "Хор Сретенского монастыря" [Sretensky Monastery Choir] (in Russian). Sretensky Monastery. Retrieved 2026-09-28.
  17. ↑ Zhila, Nikon (December 28, 2023). "Interpretation of the performance of sacred music during a worship service and during a concert". ArtCulture. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  18. ↑ "Voices of Russia ring out". Washington Examiner. 2012. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  19. ↑ "Full-Blooded Russian Voices". San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  20. ↑ "Rumble of the Russian soul". The Australian. Retrieved 2026-07-23.

Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:Russian conductors (music) Category:Russian choral conductors Category:Russian music critics Category:People from Sergiyev Posad

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