Russian Choral Group Slavyanka Performs ALL-NIGHT VIGIL Tonight

San Francisco, CA - The 100th anniversary of the premiere of Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil (Vespers) will be celebrated with three performances of the choral work by Bay Area Russian choral ensemble Slavyanka tonight, August 21 at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Palo Alto, Saturday, August 22 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, and Sunday, August 23 at First Congregational Church in Berkeley. Russian conductor and Slavyanka Artistic Director Irina Shachneva, an authority on Russian choral music, will lead the concerts.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door the day of the performances. Tickets are free for those 18 years of age and younger. Tickets are on sale now and available at www.slavyankachorus.org.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's sublime and timeless composition All-Night Vigil, more popularly known as Vespers, is one of the true jewels of the choral repertoire. One of the most universally loved choral pieces, it was written in 1915. All-Night Vigil represents the culmination of Russia's golden age of sacred music, and a moving expression of the nation's 1,000-year-old spiritual tradition. The settings borrow from three Orthodox services, Vespers, Matins, and Prime, in fifteen sections. Some of the incorporated chants are over 1,000 years old. Though much of it is written in a four-part, SATB arrangement, there frequently occurs six-, seven-, or eight-part harmony, and in one movement there is eleven-part harmony. Singers from around the country will be joining Slavyanka for these performances, forming a group of approximately 90 voices.

Rachmaninoff's work was premiered on March 10, 1915 by the Moscow Synodal Choir, comprised of musicians brought in from all over Russia in what has been recognized as one of the finest choruses ever formed. Nikolai M. Danilin led the performance. After the Russian Revolution two years later, the new government leadership condemned religious music.

Slavyanka Artistic Director Irina Shachneva has been a conductor, teacher, performer and manager for more than 25 years. She founded and was the first Artistic Director of the Municipal Choral School, Rhapsodie, which has since become one of the largest children's choral music schools in greater Moscow. She toured with her choirs in France, Bulgaria, Poland and Russia, and recorded a CD with them. After coming to the United States, Shachneva studied conducting with Tamara Brooks at the New England Conservatory of Music. She established the Boston Russian Chorus, and has been a guest conductor of the New England Conservatory Chorus, the Jordan Hall Festival Chorus, and the Plymouth Festival Chorus. In 2010, Shachneva founded and became the Artistic Director of the International Rachmaninoff Russian Music Festival in Boston. Its success led to a prestigious invitation to Russia, where she led the Festival Choir at an International Choral Festival celebrating the 450th anniversary of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square. In 2012 she also led the Second International Rachmaninoff Russian Music Festival in Boston. She became Slavyanka's artistic director in June 2012. She programmed and conducted the Bay Area's first International Russian Choral Music Festival in 2014.

Slavyanka is a San Francisco a cappella chorus specializing in Russian and Eastern European choral music. It takes its name from the old Russian name for Northern California's Russian River. The chorus was formed in 1979 by a group of former Yale Russian Chorus members and others interested in singing Russian music. For 34 years, the Chorus was composed only of male singers whom were joined on occasion by female soloists and women's ensembles. In 2013, however, the Slavyanka family officially expanded into one choir comprising male and female singers. While several performance pieces are still men-only, the inclusion of women's voices in Slavyanka allows the consideration of a wider repertoire range. In addition to its extensive repertoire of Russian historical and liturgical music, Slavyanka has also premiered works of contemporary Russian composers. The group toured the former Soviet Union and Russia in 1986, 1989, and 1999. During its first tour, it was the first American chorus ever invited to sing in Leningrad's (now St. Petersburg's) historic M.I. Glinka Kapella Hall. During Slavyanka's second tour the chorus performed sold-out concerts in Moscow, Kiev, Leningrad, and Vladimir. The group also participated in a wide variety of "people to people" and "choral exchange" concerts with choruses from the Soviet Union, and performed for then-President Mikhail Gorbachev in San Francisco in 1990. Artistic Director Irina Shachneva has led Slavyanka since June 2012.

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