Slavyanka Chorus presents a choral concert, “Reaching to Heaven” - including an extraordinary and little known Russian master work, and selections from one of the most beautiful and beloved settings of the Russian liturgy.
Sergei Taneev was Tchaikovsky’s star student, Rachmaninoff’s teacher, and perhaps Russia’s greatest master of counterpoint. His Opus 1, Ioann Damaskin, is filled with all the spiritual depth and high drama of the Russian choral tradition.
The text is equally remarkable. It was written by the monk John of Damascus (hence the title) in the 9th century for the funeral of one of his brother monks. At most funerals, we the living pray for the soul of the departed, and the prayers and musical texts reflect this perspective. What John of Damascus did instead was to write as if inside the psyche of his dying brother – giving a personal and human voice to the inward experience of dying, passing through and beyond death into the heavenly kingdom. It’s a deeply moving piece, both musically and spiritually. Here’s a link to the third and final section of the piece – “When the trumpet sounds the end of the world, receive your servant into your Divine Abode”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5TR9jCeDJc
In addition to this masterwork, we will also be performing portions of Tchaikovsky’s masterwork, Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. The bright, ethereal clarity of his writing is a deeply Russian invocation of a heavenly and divine mystery completely unlimited by boundaries of space and time.