Russian Choral Concertos: An Introduction Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Choir & Andrei Petrenko

• Stepan Degtyarev (1766 - 1813): Today Christ is born in Bethlehem:
• 1 Degtyarev: Today Christ is born in Bethlehem 05:16
• Dmitry Bortnyansky (1751 - 1825): Sacred Concerto No. 34, May God Arise:
• 2 Bortnyansky: Sacred Concerto No. 34, May God Arise 05:13
• Alexander Arkhangelsky (1846 - 1924): I think of Judgement Day:
• 3 Arkhangelsky: I think of Judgement Day 07:53
• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943): O Mother of God:
• 4 Rachmaninoff: O Mother of God 05:46
• Pavel Chesnokov (1877 - 1944): Angel Cried Out:
• 5 Chesnokov: Angel Cried Out 03:21
• Blessed Is the Man:
• 6 Chesnokov: Blessed Is the Man 04:23
• God Is with Us:
• 7 Chesnokov: God Is with Us 02:23
• Valery Gavrilin (1939 - 19999): White, White Snow…:
• 8 Gavrilin: Chimes: White, White Snow… 10:04
• Georgy Sviridov (1915 -1998): Pushkin's Garland:
• 9 Sviridov: Pushkin's Garland: Magpie Chatter 03:10
• 10 Sviridov: Pushkin's Garland: Reveille 05:12
• Total Runtime 52:41

Info for Russian Choral Concertos: An Introduction

The polyphonic choral concerto performed a cappella first appeared in Russian music at the beginning of the 18th century. Sacred in origin, it began as a multimovement setting of liturgical texts. Although it later became more secular in character, it nonetheless retained an elevated nature thanks to its use of Christian imagery. Most of the composers who worked in this genre were choirmasters and conductors, and inherited the traditions of the oldest professional choirs in Russia: the Moscow Synodal Choir and the Saint Petersburg Court Chapel.

The Golden Age of the Russian choral concerto came with the works of Dmitry Bortnyansky and Stepan Degtyarev during the reign of Catherine the Great. The genre took a new turn at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, thanks to the efforts of Pavel Chesnokov, Sergei Rachmaninov and Alexander Arkhangelsky. Composers during the later 20th century had greater freedom to choose their poetic texts and to modify the form of the genre: they could make use of secular themes, as did Georgy Sviridov in Pushkin’s Garland , or follow the spiritual and philosophical path of the genre, as we see in Valery Gavrilin’s Chimes .

Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Choir
Andrei Petrenko, conductor

Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Choir
Founded in 2008, YPC consists of 60 professional musicians and performs about 50 concerts a year.

The Choir’s repertoire includes large-scale works, such as requiems by Mozart, Verdi, Fauré, Berlioz, Schnittke and Sylvestrov; magnificats by J.S.Bach and C.P.E. Bach; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Britten’s Spring Symphony, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Missa Sancti Spiritus and Passion Week by Grechaninov; Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 13 and The Execution of Stepan Razin; Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms; Shchedrin’s Byurokratiada; Victorova’s Exodus; cantatas by Taneyev and Prokofiev; works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Sviridov, and Gavrilin; Russian romance and ethnic songs.

Led by Andrei Petrenko, the Choir performed all across Russia, as well as in France, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Denmark, Japan and China. It participated in Beethoven fest, La Roque d’Antheron, La Folle Journee, Via Aeterna, Eurasia, Bach-Fest and other festivals, and was broadcast live by ARTE, WDR, Kultura and DW.

The Choir collaborated with conductors Dmitry Kitayenko, Krzysztof Penderecki, Valery Gergiev, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Dmitry Liss, Alexander Vedernikov, Evgeny Brazhnik, Andrey Boreyko, Enkhe; and orchestras – Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Harbin Philharmonic Orchestra, Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, and Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Along with its residence, the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic, YPC performed at Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Cathedral of Christ-the-Savior in Moscow, the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre and Saint Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Elbphilharmonie, Wiener Konzerthaus, Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Pleyel Hall in Paris, the Beethovenhalle Bonn, La Cité des Congrès de Nantes, Harbin Philharmonic, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo Metropolian Theatre and other venues across Eurasia.

Andrei Petrenko
graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory with a degree in choral conducting (class of E.P. Kudryavtseva-Murina). His first ensemble was the Choir of Singing Fans of the Leningrad Choral Society. Andrei Petrenko had worked with it from 1973 to 1989, performing in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Riga, Tallinn, Dresden, and Belgrade. For this activity, he received the Badge of Honor for the Excellence in the All-Russian Choral Society. From 1994 to 2000, he was the artistic director of the Smolny Cathedral Choir in St. Petersburg, with which he toured in Finland, Poland, Germany, Holland, Belgium and South Korea. From 1989 to 2000, being a professor at the department of choral conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he directed the Conservatory’s Chamber Choir. Under his supervision, the student ensemble toured Italy (1991) and won the 1st prize at the International Festival of Sacred Music in Hajnówka (Poland, 1993).

In 2000, Andrei Petrenko became Chief Choirmaster of the Mariinsky Theater. With the Mariinski Choir, he presented a cappella programs in the most prestigious halls in Russia, Lithuania, Finland, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Great Britain and Israel. His choral repertoire included Bach's St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion, Handel's Messiah, Requiems by Mozart and Berlioz, Brahms's A German Requiem, Rossini's Stabat Mater, Symphony of Psalms and Oedipus King by Stravinsky, Chimes by Gavrilin, Sibelius’ Kullervo, Spring and Bells cantatas by Rachmaninov, Kursk Songs by Sviridov, and Kokkonen’s Requiem. The choir headed by Andrei Petrenko got a Grammy nomination for the performance of Gubaidulina’s St. John Passion, and received the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) for the performance of Stravinsky's Oedipus rex.

For 20 years of work in the theater, Andrei Petrenko took part in more than 40 productions, including The Trojans, Benvenuto Cellini, Attila, A Masked Ball, The Nose, War and Peace, Prince Igor, Eugene Onegin, The Love for Three Oranges, Life for the Tsar, Golden Cockerel, Christmas Eve, La Bohème, Parsifal, Madame Butterfly, Tosca, The Twilight of the Gods, The Flying Dutchman, Jenůfa, The Gambler, Nabucco, Othello, The Enchantress, Turandot, The Brothers Karamazov, Dead Souls, Tristan and Isolde, The Mystery of the Apostle Paul, The Lefthander, A Christmas Tale.

In 2001, Petrenko was the choirmaster of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at the Salzburg Festival. He collaborated with the Santa Cecilia Choir and the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir. In 2008, he was the Guest Conductor of the Chorus of Radio France.

Since 2014, Andrei Petrenko has been working with the Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Choir, and has been its Artistic Director since 2015. Under his direction, the choir toured in France, Germany, Denmark, China, Japan; took part in international festivals: Beethoven fest, La Folle Journee, Via Aeterna, Le Rivage des voix, Harbin Summer, Moscow Easter Festival, Eurasia, Bach-fest, La Folle Journee in Yekaterinburg; YPC performed at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theater, St. Isaac's Cathedral and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Beethoven Hall in Bonn, the Concert Halls of the Harbin Phikharmonic and Karelian Philharmonic. Under Maestro Petrenko YPC recorded the following albums for the classical labels Mirare (France) and Fuga Libera (Belgium): The Russian Prayers; Great Music of Small Forms; and Russian Choral Concerto. Since 2015, Andrei Petrenko has also been collaborating with the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2020-2022, he was the Artistic Director of the Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Starting with February 2021, Mr Petrenko has been the Opera production assistant to the Artistic Director of the Mikhailovsky Theater Vladimir Kekhman.

Andrei Petrenko is a member of the Presidium of the Choral Society of Russia, a member of the jury of prestigious All-Russian and international competitions. He was awarded the Highest Theater Prize of St. Petersburg – Zolotoi Sofit and the diploma of the President of Russia "For the great contribution to the preparation of the Olympic Games in Sochi" (2014).

Booklet for Russian Choral Concertos: An Introduction