Lyra are four singers but a larger community from St. Petersburg, Russia.LYRA’s 25 members have split up into smaller groups to reach more places on an international tour. LYRA has two meanings the group believes meld together well. The first refers to a musical instrument called a lyre. The second meaning, in Russian, deals with inspiration or romance.
Since their beginnings in 1994, the "geography of our performances has become pretty wide. We perform not only in Russia, but also outside it. Thanks to the friends who help us arrange trips, we regularly give concerts in the countries of Western Europe – Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden. We also make annual concert trips around the USA. Apart of our concert activity, we also take part in worship services at churches of different Christian confessions.We consider this not only as interesting multicultural events but also as a wonderful and important ecumenical experience."
"LYRA’s main goal is exploring and popularizing Russian choral music from the ancient songs of the Orthodox Church to works of little-known, but remarkable composers of the 18th–20th centuries. The well-known masters: Bortniansky, Tchesnokov, Gretchaninov and Tchaikovsky are well represented. Folk songs of lyric, dancing and ritual nature are performed not only in the composer’s original arrangements, but those of LYRA’s as well. Secular songs of Russian classical composers Taneev, Tchaikovsky, and Rakhmaninov represent yet another side of LYRA’s creative activity.
"In 2001 we were awarded the Montreux (Switzerland) international choral festival diploma. In 2005 our group was also a winner of Coleraine International Choral Festival (Northern Ireland)."