Cappella Romana presents Sergei Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil, a luminous choral masterwork blending ancient Slavic spiritual traditions with late-Romantic expression.
Cappella Romana brings Sergei Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil to St. Mary's Cathedral on Saturday, October 17, at 2 PM. It's a choral work that sits right where ancient Slavic spiritual tradition meets late-Romantic expression, and it's widely regarded as one of the most beautiful choral masterworks ever written.
Rachmaninoff composed the Vigil in 1915, and it's built on ancient Russian Orthodox chants. He wove those plainsong melodies into a work of transcendent beauty, with bass notes so low they push the limits of the human voice. The title is a bit of a misnomer, though: despite the name, the performance won't last all night. The music transforms into an outpouring of profound emotional and spiritual vision that finds beauty in darkness.
Cappella Romana is presenting the Vigil as it was intended, with unadorned Russian chants filling out the performance as palette cleansers between Rachmaninoff's sumptuous courses. The chants provide the context for the larger work, and hearing them side by side gives you a better sense of where the piece comes from.
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Tickets range from $5 to $65, and the concert starts at 2 PM at St. Mary's Cathedral, 1739 NW Couch St, Portland, OR 97209.
