Army Career
He served as a Don Cossack lieutenant in the Russian Civil War. In 1920, the Don Army were driven to the Crimea by the Red Army. They evacuated from there to the Turkish internment camp Çilingir, near Constantinopel, (now Istanbul) . In January 1921 Jaroff put together a choir from Russian refugees in the internment camp. Most of the singers who later performed in the Don Cossacks Choir had been members of the Don divisions since the war in 1914. The 3rd Don division in March 1921 was interned on the Greek island of Lemnos.
Then the troops, including the singers, were shipped to Burgas, Bulgaria. The Russian representative asked Jaroff and his choir to join the church. On 23 June 1923, they performed in the cathedral of Sofia. The choir consisted of 32 professional singers, and the artistic level was very high. The choir had an offer to sing in France but due to lack of money the choir made their official debut in Vienna.
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