Historic Rachmaninoff Vespers to benefit charity

Selections from Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil will be sung at a Vespers service at St. Nicholas Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church, 288 East 10th Street in New York City on Saturday, February 7, at 7:00 P.M. This is said to be the first time in the Western Hemisphere that Rachmaninoff’s Vespers is sung in an Orthodox liturgical service.

The service, at which two choirs will sing, will consist of the Vespers portion of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil sung in Church Slavonic, with propers and litanies set in English by Nicholas Reeves, organizer of the event and a doctoral student at the Manhattan School of Music, as well as choir director at Holy Trinity Church (OCA), East Meadow, NY. Father Chad Hatfield, Chancellor of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, will deliver the sermon.

All donations made at the service will benefit Emmaus House-Harlem, an Orthodox not-for-profit shelter and rehabilitation center currently experiencing financial difficulties. Presentations, testimonials, and information from and by Emmaus House members will follow the service.

The evening will conclude with the singing of additional liturgical selections.

This event is part of the 4 Stop Tour, a versatile series of performances encompassing four aspects of American musical culture. For more information, please visit www.4stoptour.com.

More information on Emmaus House-Harlem may be found here.