Alexandrov Ensemble
Soviet Russian musical group; official army choir of the Russian armed forces
The Alexandrov Ensemble (Russian: Ансамбль Александрова, romanized: Ansambl' Aleksandrova), commonly known as the Red Army Choir in the West, is an official army choir of the Russian armed forces. Founded during the Soviet era, the ensemble consists of a male choir, an orchestra, and a dance ensemble.
The Ensemble has entertained audiences both in Russia and throughout the world, performing a range of music including folk tunes, hymns, operatic arias and popular music. The group's repertoire has included The Volga Boatmen's Song, Katyusha, Kalinka, and Ave Maria.
It is named for its first director, Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov (1883–1946). Its formal name since 1998 has been A. V. Alexandrov Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army (Russian: Академи́ческий анса́мбль пе́сни и пля́ски Росси́йской А́рмии и́мени А. В. Алекса́ндрова, romanized: Akademíchesky ansámbl′ pésni i plyáski Rossýskoy Ármii ímeni A. V. Aleksándrova), shortened to Academic Ensemble (Russian: Академи́ческий анса́мбль, romanized: Akademíchesky ansámbl′) on second reference.
On 25 December 2016, its artistic director, Valery Khalilov, and 63 other members of the Ensemble were killed in the Russian Defence Ministry aircraft crash of a 1983 Tupolev Tu-154 into the Black Sea just after takeoff from the southern resort city of Sochi, Russia. The Red Army Choir singers and dancers were en route to Syria to entertain Russian troops there for Orthodox Christmas celebrations.
Name
At the establishment, in 1928, the choir was named Red Army Song Ensemble of the M. V. Frunze Red Army Central House (Russian: Анса́мбль красноарме́йской пе́сни Центра́льного до́ма Кра́сной А́рмии и́мени М. В. Фру́нзе, romanized: Ansámbl′ krasnoarméyskoy pésni Tsentrál′nogo dóma Krásnoy Ármii ímeni M. V. Frúnze). In 1935, it was renamed Red-Bannered Red Army Song and Dance Ensemble of the USSR (Russian: Краснознамённый анса́мбль красноарме́йской пе́сни и пля́ски СССР, romanized: Krasnozamyónny ansámbl′ krasnoarméyskoy pésni i plyáski SSSR).
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q620990. VIAF identifies the subject as 136084980. The Library of Congress control number is n83225141. 4 of 7 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1883, 1946, 1998 and 2016.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alexandrov Ensemble” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.