Romantically Russian - An Evening of Russian Choral Music

Description

Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale, directed by Elena Sharkova, presents an exciting North American premiere: Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov's choral masterpiece All-Night Vigil.

Ippolitov-Ivanov, a student of Rimsky-Korsakov and friend of Peter Tchaikovsky, was one of the most respected choral composers of his time. His All-Night Vigil is largely based on Russian orthodox chants. Banned under Soviet rule it is performed again since 1989 and increasingly popular the world over.

The second half of the concert presents several short pieces of the Russian romantic choral repertoire. Pavel Chesnokov's "All of Creation Rejoices" from the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great and "Angel Was Proclaiming" are two of the composer's 400 sacred choral pieces. With the advent of the Communist Revolution in 1917, no one was permitted to produce any form of sacred art and Chesnokov turned his attention to secular choral music, composing yet another hundred choral pieces. Victor Kalinnikov's "Elegy" sets to music one of Alexander Pushkin's beloved lyrical poems about the beauty of the Russian countryside. Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Rejoice, O Virgin" and "Praise the Name of the Lord" are from this famous composer's "All-Night Vigil" and serve as both continuation of and counterpoint to Ippolitov-Ivanov's setting of the Vigil performed in the concert's first half. These two pieces reveal the virtuosic nature of Rachmaninoff's choral writing, as well as the lyrical beauty of his melodies and harmonies.

Artistic director Elena Sharkova is a nationally and internationally recognized conductor, music educator and an expert on Russian music. Ms Sharkova will give a pre-concert lecture 30 minutes before the start of the performance.

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