“The darkness is a time for contemplation, not fear; and the light is a time for bell-like rejoicing.”

Join us by candlelight 🕯️
On October 24 & 25, we enter into a musical vigil with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s beloved All-Night Vigil and Reena Esmail’s A Winter Breviary.

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From Charles Edward McGuire‘s program notes:

The vigil has long been a mode for prayer and contemplation in Western society. In both religious and quasi-religious works, the vigil can be both solemn and intense, and it is always contemplative.

In Esmail’s notes on A Winter Breviary, she refers to the three movements as “a set of carols [that] traces a journey through the solstice, the longest night of the year. The texts follow the canonical hours of Evensong, Matins, and Lauds, and the music maps onto Hindustani raags for those same hours … This set is a meeting of cultures, and of the many ways we honor the darkness, and celebrate the return of light.”…These three movements cover the same services that Rachmaninoff set in his All Night Vigil.

Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil is a profoundly personal and deeply religious work, and one that reflects the composer’s context and spirituality. Cleveland Chamber Choir’s Artistic Director Gregory Ristow has noted that …the All-Night Vigil “very much push[es] the boundaries of Orthodox music.” Ten of the movements are based on Russian Orthodox chant from the tenth to the seventieth centuries; Rachmaninoff said that melodies from the other five sounded to him so much like Orthodox chant that they were “conscious counterfeits.”

The starting point for both Esmail and Rachmaninoff was praying through the night. In both cases, the darkness is a time for contemplation, not fear; and the light is a time for bell-like rejoicing. In each case, the composers celebrated what a vigil – a period of wakefulness, a period of waiting – could be.

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Register for tickets here. The concert is presented with “pay what you wish” tickets. Thank you for your support! You may also email info@clevelandchamberchoir.org to reserve tickets.

Inspired by musical themes of creating peace and community, a portion of all donations will be directed to Re:Source Cleveland, helping them further their mission of helping our newest neighbors to create roots within the community.

Vespers: Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil
Friday, October 24, 7:30pm at Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland
Saturday, October 25, 7:00pm at Fairchild Chapel, Oberlin

Charles Edward McGuire, PhD, from Oberlin College & Conservatory, will present a pre-concert talk 45 minutes prior to each performance.

The choir is grateful for the full season grant support provided by The Louise H. and David S. Ingalls Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council, and support by Trinity Cathedral as named Artist in Residence.