Bel Canto Chorus presents Rachmaninoff's "All-Night Vigil"

 

Bel Canto Chorus will present Sergei Rachmaninoff’s profoundly moving All-Night Vigil (Vespers) on Sunday, March 10, at 3:00 PM at St. Joseph Center Chapel. In honor of Maestro Hynson’s 25th anniversary as music director, Bel Canto Chorus and Boy Choirs will also present the world premiere of its newly commissioned work, At All Times And At Every Hour (Morning Prayers) by Alexander Levine.

 

Alexander Levine’s At All Times And At Every Hour (Morning Prayers) is a through-composed series of four morning prayers for acappella chorus and boy choir. The piece was commissioned for this concert by Bel Canto Chorus to honor Richard Hynson’s 25th anniversary as music director. Levine will be in attendance at the concert for the world premiere performance. A celebratory reception for all gathered will be held in St. Joseph Hall after the concert.

 

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil (Vespers) is a musical setting for a night-long service celebrated in Russian monasteries and Russian orthodox churches. Written at the height of Rachmaninoff’s compositional powers, this lush and beautiful composition for unaccompanied voices is considered to be the finest of his sacred works. “Even in my dreams I could not have imagined that I would write such a work,” Rachmaninoff told the singers at the first performance in March 1915.