if anybody needs a unique vacation opportunity, here is the tourist welcome page from Velikiy Novgorod

Join us for a public presentation by two Linkages Board members who have traveled extensively and lived in the Russian Far East territories.

Monday, April 16, 2018

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Brighton Public Library Learning Center

2300 Elmwood Ave., 14618

Kristine Fredrick and Anton Yun will discuss their experience as residents and show photos of their travels in the Far East. Continue reading Living in Russia’s Far East →

Enjoy an evening of music with Russian connections – composers, performers, or something else – brought to you by Howard Spindler and the Eastman Community Music School.

A reception will follow the concert in the Cominsky Promenade.

Yale Russian Chorus

The Yale Russian Chorus will ring in the New Year with two concerts in the Rochester area, January 4th & 5th, displaying a varied repertoire evoking spacious Orthodox cathedrals, the clamor of cities, remote village life, soldiers on the march, and the broad steppes.

Thursday, January 4, 7:30 pm the annual “Russian Friendship Concert” at Kilbourn Hall, hosted by Linkages Rochester and the Eastman School of Music Community Education Division. Learn more about Rochester’s ties with its sister city, Novgorod, at a reception following the concert. Admission is free to concert and reception.

Friday, January 5, 7:30 pm, the Yale Russian Chorus in concert, Calvary St. Andrew’s Church, 95 Averill Avenue. (Corner of Averill & Ashland, in Rochester’s South Wedge: just a block from Cheesy Eddie’s! Plenty of street parking with additional parking in the Postler & Jaeckle lot on Averill next to South Avenue) . An Orthodox Christmas celebration (and more) with special guests! Admission: free will offering to defray costs gladly accepted.

Music from the Republic of Georgia

The Caucusus region on Russia’s southern border, near the Black Sea, has its own unique musical tradition. The Yale Russian Chorus welcomes interested singers and their friends to participate in a workshop on Georgian Music to be held at the Eastman School of Music the afternoon of January 4. Special guest Ray Kinoshita, Y ‘ 76 joins us from Toronto to lead the workshop. Music reading skills NOT required, but a willingness to sing along will greatly enhance the experience. For more information and to sign up, please contact

LINKAGES ANNUAL ПИКНИК

Tuesday, August 22 2017, 5:30 Buckland Lodge (click for map), Brighton

(with luck, we might have warm weather)

Continue reading LINKAGES ANNUAL ПИКНИК →

Summer 2017 Newsletter

St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra with Nikolai Lugansky

Eastman Presents Series, Eastman Piano Series

February 28, 2017 | 8:00 PM Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre

• Tickets:
• Starting at: $26

Buy Tickets  * More Information

Domestic Violence. домашнее насилие. In any language it’s a reality and a tragedy for thousands of victims, mostly women, but also men and children. In 2014-15 sister cities, Rochester, NY and Velikiy Novgorod, Russia, engaged in a year-long exchange on domestic violence (DV) in the United States and Russia. The exchange was funded by a US Department of State grant to Linkages through the US Russia Peer to Peer Dialogue Program. Linkages is the not-for-profit organization in Rochester, NY that has sponsored the sister city relationship in the US since 1990. Continue reading Domestic Violence. домашнее насилие. →