All-Night vigil
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Cappella Romana
John Michael Boyer, Interim Music Director
SEATTLE
Fri 16 Oct 2026, 7:30 PM
St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral
1245 10th Ave E
Seattle, WA 98102
PORTLAND
Sat 17 Oct 2026, 2:00 PM
St. Mary’s Cathedral
1739 NW Couch St
Portland, OR 97209
San Francisco
Sun 18 Oct 2026, 3:00 PM
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox
999 Brotherhood Way
San Francisco, CA 94132
Program
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): All-Night Vigil
Composed in 1915, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil stands as one of the most beautiful choral masterworks ever written—a luminous bridge between ancient Slavic spiritual traditions and late-Romantic expression, with bass notes so low they challenge the limits of the human voice.
Drawing deeply from ancient Russian Orthodox chants, Rachmaninoff weaves the timeless melodies of Russian plainsong into works of transcendent beauty. Cappella Romana presents the Vigil as intended, with unadorned Russian chants filling out the Vigil — palate cleansers between Rachmaninoff’s sumptuous courses.
This is music that transforms—an outpouring of profound emotional and spiritual vision that finds beauty in darkness. This performance won’t last all night, but you’ll wish it did.
“No, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 1915 choral classic ‘All-Night Vigil’ doesn’t really last all night, but many listeners will wish it did, especially when Portland’s own Cappella Romana’s impossibly low, resonant bass voices kick in. Beautifully blending Slavic song traditions with late Romanticism, the hour-plus-long sacred work is here accompanied, as the composer intended, by Greek, Ukrainian and other ancient chants, all sung by the ideal interpreters.”
—Brett Campbell, The Oregonian
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