EX CATHEDRA open Leamington Music’s 2023/24 Season of Early Music concerts by celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birth.
They will perform the Russian composer’s All Night Vigil (‘Vespers’) of 1915 in St Mary’s Church in Warwick on October 10.
Powerful, passionate, hypnotic – in a time of turmoil and amid the shock of war, Rachmaninoff turned to the choral heritage he held dear, and created one of the most awe-inspiring vocal masterpieces.
With its luminous choral tapestry, mesmeric melodies and some of the lowest notes ever heard sung, there is little wonder it is beloved by audiences and singers alike.
Jeffrey Skidmore directs the voices of Ex Cathedra and they are joined for this performance by soloists Martha McLorinan (mezzo-soprano) and James Robinson (tenor).
Jeffrey said: “The All-Night Vigil is Rachmaninoff’s most-loved work, and uses orthodox chants from the Znamenny tradition, Greece and, poignantly, from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.”
The Early Music series continues on November 7 when The Chelys Consort of Viols and Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano) celebrate William Byrd at 400. The full Leamington Music Winter Season has seventeen concerts in all, ranging from brass bands to the tango.
