Golden Voices of the East
and Michael Stairs, organ
A Chestnut Hill tradition! Experience the beauty of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and its exquisite organ, quaint Chestnut Hill shops and restaurants, the sound of regal brass and the voices of Mendelssohn Club. One of our most popular concerts, celebrate the holidays through timeless music spanning several centuries, traditions, and well-loved traditional carols. Featuring 
Rachmaninoff’s Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Click here to purchase tickets for this concert.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
22 E. Chestnut Hill Avenue, Philadelphia, PA
Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op.31, by Sergei Rachmaninoff is one of his two major unaccompanied choral works . The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is the primary worship service of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Rachmaninoff composed the work in July, 1910 at his summer estate Ivanovka, following his American tour of 1909. Writing to his friend Nikita Morozov, Rachmaninoff said of the work, “I have been thinking about the Liturgy for a long time and for a long time I strove to write it. I started to work on it somehow by chance and then suddenly became fascinated with it. And then I finished it very quickly. Not for a long time have I written anything with such pleasure.” The work premiered November 25, 1910 in Moscow. Russian Orthodox ecclesiastical authorities strongly objected to the work’s “spirit of modernism” and refused to sanction it for use during church services.Rachmaninoff did nothing to promote the work himself, and it soon fell into obscurity.
Other works for this concert will include:
Bortniansky Cherubic Hymn #7 (Heruvimskaya)
Chesnokov Salvation is Created (Spaseniye)
Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil #6 and Rejoice, O Virgin (Bogoroditsye)
Leontovich Shchedrik (Song of Good Cheer)
Arvo Pärt Bogoroditsye (Mother of God)
Rimsky-Korsakov Slava
Wonderful mention from David Patrick Stearns in the Inquirer. Alan is irresistible!
http://articles.philly.com/2011-12-19/news/30534535_1_texts-music-concert