Some years ago, an opera adapted from The Overcoat, the Gogol short story Vladimir Nabokov considered the greatest in all Russian literature, got the composer Ilya Kuznetsnov short-listed for Russia’s prestigious Golden Mask Award. This year, he celebrates one of the holiest days on the church calendar leading his stage oratorio, Wondrous Salvation, with the support of the St. Petersburg Diocese. —M.G.