TrulyGrace

St. Paul Cathedral--Lyra, Russian Orthodox Sacred Music

This evening, Lyra, the Russian Orthodox choral group from St. Petersburg, Russia performed sacred works at St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh. I particularly liked those pieces they performed which highlighted the women's [Olga (Sopr.), Irina (Mezzo-Sopr.), Anna (Sopr.)] harmonies:

We Praise You, O Lord--Bortnansky
Cherubic Hymn--Chesnokov
Now Let Your Servant Depart in Peace
To Praise the Mother of God--Gretchaninov
Under Your Grace

The singers totalled six (and are representative of their larger group of 25): Two soprani, a mezzo-soprano, a tenor, baritone, and bass. Their full, colorful voices filled the Cathedral space with lovely, beautiful, prayerful tones from the 15th-20th Centuries.

Choir members from the Cathedral choir stayed to chat, and we were among the group purchasing CD's from Lyra after the concert. Amy M. and I chatted after making our CD purchases, and had a talk about tea (sans tea!)

posted by Grace @ 9/24/2006 10:32:00 PM