Aleksei Shipovalnikov

Aleksei Viktorovich Shipovalnikov studied composition, musicology and conducting at the Gnesin State Musical and Pedogogical Institute and at the Moscow Institute of Culture. In Moscow, he founded and conducted a choir at the “Unexpected Joy” Orthodox church. He also founded and directed a “Fellowship of Musical Evenings,” conducting a series of chamber concerts of rarely heard music under the auspices of Moscow University and of the Russian Musical Society. Upon moving to the United States, he led the “Slavyanka” Men’s Slavic Chorus in San Francisco, CA, while serving as music director at the Church of Christ the Savior in the same city. He has liturgical music, history of church music, liturgics and conducting at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, where he also developed the course “Liturgical Structures of Sacred Music.” He is currently the music director at Saints Peter & Paul Orthodox Church in Jersey City, NJ, as well as the founder and music director Emeritus of the “Spirit of Orthodoxy Choir,” with which he has released four recordings over the years. At SSLM, Shipovalnikov leads the second and third year Liturgical Performance Practice Course as well as serving as lead faculty for the Continuing Education Program and consulting all interested students across a variety of topics in the field of Russian Church Music.