GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor Charles Bruffy brings together his two professional choirs, the Phoenix Chorale and Kansas City Chorale, for this recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-night Vigil (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 on March 10, 1915.

            To celebrate the release of the recording and the 100th anniversary of the world premiere performance, the Phoenix Chorale and Kansas City Chorale have teamed up with Classical Minnesota Public Radio’s Choral Stream to host a worldwide listening party starting at 9:00 p.m. EDT 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 bit.ly/RachPartyMPR.

             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.”