In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff’s birth (1873-1943), PaTRAM Institute invites you to experience the sublime beauty of his choral tour de force, the All-Night Vigil, as adapted and performed by the PaTRAM Institute Male Choir, a GRAMMY®-nominated ensemble. Composed in 1915, this masterpiece offers the listener a sublime sense of spiritual transcendence that is all the more remarkable given the turmoil and anguish that surrounded Rachmaninoff that year: World War I raged, and Russia teetered on the brink of the Bolshevik Revolution. The Vigil is a traditional Russian Orthodox evening worship service. Combining the offices of Vespers and Matins, it is celebrated on evenings in advance of Sundays and major feast days. Rachmaninoff’s setting of 15 fixed texts principally relies on traditional chant melodies and ingeniously elevates a strict Slavic ethos to a majestic expression of faith.
The Rachmaninoff in the Holy Land project brought together experienced choristers from around the globe to unite as the PaTRAM Institute Male Choir. In addition to beautifying numerous divine services at the holiest sites of Christianity and performing several concerts for diverse audiences to rapturous acclaim, the ensemble recorded the present original arrangement for male choir of Rachmaninoff’s masterwork. The singers seamlessly coalesced in harmonic unity under the direction of gifted conductor Maestra Ekaterina Antonenko to prepare this ethereal masterpiece of spiritual artistry.
Today, the All-Night Vigil stands as the crowning achievement of the Russian Orthodox choral tradition. We trust that the listener will thoroughly enjoy the merits of this important work, reimagined to showcase the rich sonorities of the uniquely Slavic sound that only a male choir can generate.
PaTRAM Institute co-founders Alexis and Katherine Lukianov served as Executive Producers. The album was recorded and mastered by the multi-Grammy award winner and nominee, Soundmirror, and is distributed by the multi-Grammy winning recording label, Chandos Records. We chose the zenith of religious and historic destinations, the cradle of Christianity – the Holy City of Jerusalem – as the location for our recording. The Russian Orthodox Convent Monastery Church of the Ascension, a peaceful gem with a rich acoustic, set amidst an olive grove atop the Mount of Olives, served as the ideal venue.
