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Victor Pokrovsky

1 byte added, 14:19, August 18, 2008
Life: correcting misspelling
After the Bolshevik coup of 1917, he was recalled to army service in 1918 into the White Army, to advance eventually to the rank of Captain. As the Red Army advanced, he was forced to leave Kazan and retreat with the White Army across Siberia. With the end of the Civil War, he ended up in Manchuria and was discharged on [[May 12]], 1923. Having lost everything, including his family, he set to organizing a [[choir]] to earn a living. As Manchuria included a large Russian population prior to the war that supported and operated the Trans-Siberian Railway short cuts to Vladivostok, a Russian-based lifestyle was available for his choir to work in. Indeed, the Harbin [[diocese|Archdiocese]] was active, as the situation in Russia deteriorated, including supporting the [[Church of Japan]].
After the Great Kanto Earthquake of [[September 1]], 1923, severely damaged the Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Tokyo, the then Archbishop Sergius often visited Harbin to obtain support for restoring the Cathedral. Amongst his activities, Sergius was looking for a capable leader for the choir at the cathedral. Among the candidates that the [[archbishop]] interviewed he liked the music of Victor Pokrovsky who was directing the choir at the Holy Theotokos Church in Harbin. Invited by the archbishop, Victor moved to Japan in 1924 to form a full-scale choir at the Holy Resurrection Cathedral and to introduce the new Russian masterpieces, such as those by Arkhangelsky and KastaskyKastalsky.
For the next sixteen years Victor was deeply engaged in developing a first-class choir and learning Japanese so as to translate and arrange the new masterpieces for the choir. During this time he found time to marry a Russian young lady, but suffered tragedy when she died in childbirth, leaving him a son to raise. A couple of years later he married again, to a young lady from Harbin with whom he had two daughters.

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