Serge Jaroff and His Don Cossack Choir: The Refugees Who Took the World by Storm.

Serge Jaroff's Don Cossack Choir was an improbable phenomenon. Founded at a miserable Turkish internment camp in 1920, it drew members from Don Cossack regiments expelled from Russia after the Russian Civil War. Jaroff, a detainee who had attended the Moscow Synodal School of Church Singing in Moscow, was ordered to establish and conduct it. He arranged repertoire from memory and turned thirty-six amateur singers into a world-class a cappella ensemble. Once liberated, they concertized throughout the non-Soviet world and enjoyed longterm success. Banned from Russia forever, they eventually became American citizens. Except for recent Dutch and Russian research they have received little scholarly attention, and there are no major studies about them in English. This essay describes their history, seeking to identify key components of their artistic excellence and commercial success, and advocates for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]