CHANTS OF THE GREAT LENT

February 19, 2018 at 12:41 pm

Riga Orthodox Chamber Choir "BLAGOVEST" and conductor Aleksandrs Brandavs invite to the annual concert of the Great Lent Chants in Riga Cathedral (Riga Dome Cathedral), on Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 18:00.

With its annual concerts of the Great Lent (previously in the Concert Hall “Ave Sol” and this year in Riga Cathedral), one of the best performers of the sacred music - the Riga Orthodox Chamber Choir "BLAGOVEST" under the direction of Aleksandrs Brandavs is continuing the tradition of public performances of the Great Lent chants, established in the 19th century in St. Petersburg by the great Russian composer Alexey Lvov, giving the opportunity to the secular audience to hear these chants filled with deep emotions and blessed solemnity.

Inviting to the concert, Aleksandrs Brandavs, Artistic Director and conductor of the choir, emphasizes: "The Great Lent chants are distinct in their philosophy and emotional saturation, which requires a particular filigree of performance. If the Christmas chants, sung just recently by our choir in the vaults of St. Peter's Church in Riga, are full of joy and festive mood and captivating the audience, then the Great Lent chants are penetrated with deep reflection, repentance, and depth of tragedy of crucifixion. At the same time, in every composition there is a combination of this tragedy and the upcoming joy of the resurrection, which many forget. Despite emotional drama, there is hope in every chant. Hope for everyone to atone for their sins and be forgiven."

The program of the Great Lent concert, as every year, will commence with Artemy Vedel's “Pokayaniya otverzi mi dveri” (Open to Me the Doors of Repentance), a composition that is sung only during the Great Lent and that expresses the essence of all human emotions during the Great Lent. The audience will have the opportunity to hear again movements of the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom of Sergey Rachmaninov and - performed by "BLAGOVEST" for the first time - an Ode from the Arvo Pärt's "Kanon Pokayanen" (Canon of Repentance). The concert program will also feature compositions, both traditionally included in the choir’s repertoire and newly discovered, by Alexander Arkhangelsky, Alexander Grechaninov, Pavel Chesnokov, Nikolai Golovanov, Georgy Sviridov.

The Riga Orthodox Chamber Choir "BLAGOVEST", already overgrown the boundaries of a chamber choir, is in its way a unique choir, which unites at a high level of professionalism the best traditions of Latvian choral singing and bright and thoughtful technique of performing orthodox music. Sacred music performed by the choir "BLAGOVEST" move and inspire listeners not only in Latvia, but all around the world. To the victories and high achievements at many international choral competitions and festivals, under the leadership of its founder and artistic director Aleksandrs Brandavs the choir added last year the title of Champion of the European Choir Games and the victories at the prestigious Grand Prix of Nations in Riga and Colombo, receiving high praise for conscientious and persistent work of the leader and singers of the choir during 28 years.

Tickets for concert are available at the sales points of “Biļešu serviss” and at the box office of Riga Cathedral.

About the choir

Riga Orthodox Chamber Choir BLAGOVEST from Latvia was founded in 1990 with an aim to popularize forgotten treasures of Russian sacred music, which makes the most part of the choir's repertoire.

The choir has wide range of interests: from monophonic neumatic chants, called znamenniy raspev, based on Byzantine church music up to contemporary composers’ quests of spirituality. Various secular compositions of outstanding Russian, Latvian, and Western composers are included in the choir's repertoire as well. Read more

CHANTS OF THE GREAT LENT

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About the choir