The court chorus of its majesty Quantum Gravity.
In 1978 Academician M.A.Markov initiated conducting in Moscow of international seminars on Quantum Gravity. Its majesty Quantum Gravity owns a country of 10-33cm in size and enthrals everyone who looked at it even once. Only thirty infected came to the first seminar but already the second one collected crowds
The hit of the cultural program of the seminars was a small church choir whose precentor was Galina Koltsova.
In the beginning these were home musical parties but soon it became crowded at home.
-
- (Photo on the left) In his youth, Bryce DeWitt, the father of Quantum Gravity had an experience of singing in the orthodox church. Many years later he sings the Grechaninov’s Liturgy with Galina Koltsova. The last on the left is Will Unruh.
-
- (Photo on the right) Andrei Barvinsky, Jim Hartle, Bob Wald, Will Unruh, Galina and Bryce.
Then the organizers took a risk and arranged a concert directly in the St. Nikolos-Archangel church at Nikolskoye. Plain boards were laid in the church for seats. At 6 p.m. the conference bus came to the precinct of the church. The Hawking’s throne was carried up the steep strairs on hands…
A scandal did, of course, take place. The local KGB «stood on its ears» (Russian, untranslatable) but nobody suffered. Dmitrii Valenko, the elder of the St. Nikolos-Archangel church took the main blow upon himself. This was the first worldly concert in an active orthodox church, and … the first public performance of the now famous Blagovest Ensemble.
Twenty years and six seminars on Quantum Gravity elapsed. Where then Its Majesty found itself? Alas, essentially where it had been. And where now is its court chorus? Oh!… However, judge on your own.
Narrator — G. Vilkovisky
