Kansas City, Phoenix Chorales Release RACHMANINOFF: ALL-NIGHT VIGIL Recording Today

The GRAMMY Award-winning conductor Charles Bruffy brings together his two professional choirs, the Kansas City Chorale and Phoenix Chorale, for this recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff's All-night Vigil (www.RACHparty.com). The scheduled release date on the Chandos label marks the 100th anniversary of the world premiere of the work given by the Moscow Synodal Choir today, March 10, 1915.

To celebrate the release of the recording and the 100th anniversary of the world premiere performance, the Kansas City Chorale and Phoenix Chorale have teamed up with Classical Minnesota Public Radio's Choral Stream to host a worldwide listening party starting at 9:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, March 10, 2015. The listening event, or #RACHparty, features the live radio broadcast premiere of the complete album on the Choral Stream followed by an exclusive live video interview / hangout featuring conductor Charles Bruffy, singers from both choirs, and more. The #RACHparty will be hosted by the Manager of the Choral Works initiative for American Public Media and Choral Stream coordinator, Tesfa Wondemagegnehu. Full details at www.classicalmpr.org/choral.

Before the #RACHparty begins that evening, American Public Media's Performance Today will broadcast a sneak preview of highlights from the new release to a national audience. During the broadcast, Performance Today host Fred Child will speak with artistic director Charles Bruffy and Dr. Vladimir Morosan, president of Musica Russica and a leading expert on Russian choral music. Child and Morosan will discuss the audience reaction to the premiere of Rachmaninoff's Vespers and why the piece is still relevant today.

The album can now be pre-ordered on iTunes which is also offering "Lord, Now Lettest Thou Thy Servant Depart in Peace" (Track 5) as an Instant Gratification download.

This SACD recording of Rachmaninoff's All-night Vigil follows live performances of the work by the combined ensembles in April and May 2014 in Phoenix and Kansas City. The Phoenix Chorale and Kansas City Chorale are regarded as among the finest professional choral ensembles in the world. Their recordings have earned a combined total of ten GRAMMY® Award nominations and four wins. Building on the success of previous collaborations, the performances marked the seventh time that the two choirs have performed together. Of their 2009 performance at Alice Tully Hall in New York, Vivien Schweitzer of The New York Times wrote that the choirs "performed with a buoyant pulse and energetic finesse', and praised 'the choirs' refined sound and elegant phrasing."

Founded in 1981, the Kansas City Chorale is a professional vocal ensemble that enriches local, national, and international communities through its dedication to excellence in performing music from diverse historical periods. The Chorale has received an ASCAP Award for adventurous programming in addition to receiving multiple GRAMMY® nominations and several wins, most recently in 2012 for "Best Choral Performance" for Life and Breath: Choral Works by René Clausen. Under the artistic direction of Charles Bruffy since 1988, the Kansas City Chorale has recorded works for Chandos Records and Nimbus Records, and was the first North American choir signed to that label. www.kcchorale.org

The GRAMMY®-winning Phoenix Chorale, under the direction of Artistic Director Charles Bruffy, is regarded as one of the finest choral ensembles in North America. What began in 1958 as a small study group of singers became a fully professional choir in 1992 made up of Arizona residents: highly educated and trained singers, teachers and professionals. In 2004, the Phoenix Chorale became the first North American choir to record for the U.K.'s prestigious Chandos Records and since then, the Chorale's recordings have earned a total of eight GRAMMY nominations and two GRAMMY® wins. www.phoenixchorale.org

One of the most admired choral conductors in the United States, GRAMMY®-winning conductor Charles Bruffy began his career as a tenor soloist, performing with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers. Robert Shaw encouraged his development as a conductor and in 1996 he was invited by National Public Radio to help celebrate Shaw's eightieth birthday with an on-air tribute. In 1999, The New York Times named him as the late, great conductor's potential heir, and Fanfare magazine called him 'one of the next big things in American choral music.' He has been Artistic Director of the Kansas City Chorale since 1988, of the Phoenix Chorale since 1999, and of the Kansas City Symphony Chorus since 2008. In 2009, he brought the Phoenix Chorale and Kansas City Chorale to Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center for their New York debut, The New York Times praising the choirs' 'refined sound and elegant phrasing... vivid intensity... [and] buoyant pulse and energetic finesse.' He conducts workshops and clinics across the US and abroad, serves on a number of advisory boards, and served on the Chorus America Board for seven years. Respected and renowned for his fresh and passionate interpretations of standards of the choral repertoire and for championing new music, he has commissioned and premiered works by composers such as Jean Belmont, Ola Gjeilo, Matthew Harris, Libby Larsen, Zhou Long, Stephen Paulus, Stephen Sametz, Steven Stucky, Eric Whitacre, and Chen Yi. Under his supervision, the Roger Dean Company, a division of the Lorenz Corporation, publishes a choral series specializing in music for professional ensembles and sophisticated high school and college choirs. His eclectic discography includes seven recordings for Chandos Records, four of which have been earned a total of ten Grammy nominations and four Grammy wins.

Launched in 2012, Classical Minnesota Public Radio's Choral Stream is a pioneering 24/7 stream, originating in Minnesota, the home of one of the country's most robust choral cultures. Curated by Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, the Choral Stream averages more than 1,000 streaming requests for listening each week (source: WebTrends, Inc.) and has an active online community. Like The Choral Stream on Facebook and visit classicalmpr.org/choral for blog posts and additional information.

American Public Media's Performance Today is America's most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on 294 public radio stations across the country, and reaches approximately 1.4 million listeners each week.

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