Washington Balalaika Society Orchestra, America's finest Russian folk orchestra, presents Balalaika! St. Petersburg to Kiev.  The concerts will feature music selections from Russia to the Ukraine under the direction of conductor Svetlana Nikonova.  Soloists will include balalaika virtuoso Andrei Saveliev and Evgenia Tochenaya on domra.

The program will include solo performances by seven of the orchestra's instrumentalists with music arranged by conductor and artistic director Svetlana Nikonova, spotlighting many of the fascinating instruments they play play.

The concert is an international, cross-cultural musical tour of Europe, from northern Finland to Sicily, Russia to France. Ms. Nikonova has prepared a palette of music from romance to ragtime, featuring selections by Gliere, Faure, Saint-Saens and Khatchaturian, as well as folk and popular favorites, including “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Saber Dance”. Headlining the show will be America’s favorite balalaika stylist, Andrei Saveliev, with new arrangements including the flamboyant “Flight of the Bumblebee”, and domra soloist Zhenya Tochenaya with a salute to her native Ukraine as well as a duet presentation of George L. Cobb’s 1918 classic, “Russian Rag”.