Slavyanka began as a men’s a cappella chorus in San Francisco and performed most of it music in Russian. Singers were amateur musicians from varied professions, including computer programmers, scientists, teachers, lawyers, and businessmen. Most of them did not speak Russian. Thirty men united by a common interest in choral music of the people of Russia and Eastern Europe. The chorus was founded in 1979 in San Francisco, California.

Reflecting the name "Slavyanka" given by early Russian settlers in 1812 to what is now called the Russian River in California, the chorus became known as The Slavyanka  Men's Chorus  and performed annual concerts at the fort.

 In 1812, Russian settlers from Alaska founded the colony of Fort Ross at the Kasaya Pomo village of Metini. (To this day the Kashaya people retain Russian loan words in their ancient Hokan language.) Fort Ross is located just north of San Francisco, near the mouth of a river that the Russian colonists called Slavyanka. The old fort stands to this day as a restored historical monument to the way of life of those early Russian settlers. 

Slavyanka performed nearly four hundred concerts throughout northern California during the period 1979- 2012.  An extensive and varied repertoire of folk, liturgical, classical, and contemporary music was developed . At concerts, audiences were struck by the rich and unusual tonalities rarely heard in America. In 1986, Slavyanka toured in Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and in 1989 and 1999 the chorus again toured Russia, both times receiving many favorable comments.

The Chorus and singers learned much during 1986, 1989 and 1999 concert tours in Russia from meetings and rehearsals with several great Soviet choruses. In September 1989, Slavyanka was pleased to host the Vladimir Chamber Choir at four Bay Area concerts. During the 1999 tour the Chorus met and performed with the well-known Pskov Academic Choir in the city of Pskov.  Concerts were performed in St. Petersburg and Moscow singing favorite Russian Orthodox sacred music in churches and monasteries. Slavyanka has undertaken several major projects including the performance of Rachmaninov's Vespers at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and Stanford Chapel, in 1988, the world premiere in 1993 of twentieth century composer Konstantin Shvedov's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, also at Grace Cathedral, and the Western premiere of the Shipovalnikov Vespers, in 1995. In the year 2000 the chorus joined with women’s voices to form the Slavyanka Millennium Chorus and again performed the Rachmaninov Vespers in several Bay Area churches ending with a full house performance at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco on Palm Sunday.

For 34 years, the Chorus was a men's chorus that was joined on occasion by female soloists and women's ensembles. In 2013, however, the Chorus officially expanded to include women and became the The Slavyanka Russian Chorus. The repertoire now includes music for mixed ensemble and women's voices, as well as distinctive men's choral pieces.

The Chorus performs extensively in the Bay Area (around 12 concerts annually), and was privileged to be invited to tour and perform in  Russia in 2016 and in 2019 celebrated its 40th Anniversary. During its rich musical history the Chorus has released eight albums, has appeared on Bay Area television segments, contributed to the PBS documentary Spirit of a People, A New Portrait of Russia, and has recorded music for several movies: Tell Me a Riddle (1980), Little Odessa (1994), and What Dreams May Come (1998) and in 2016 appeared and performed the Russian television show equivalent to USA Good Morning America.

The Chorus' Artistic Director is Irina Shachneva (2012-present). Former directors include Paul Andrews (1979-1991;  Aleksei Shipovalnikov (1991-1997), and Gregory Smirnov (1997-2011).