Music, art and words will combine to evoke the mystery and majesty of Russian spirituality, in St Alban's Bach Choir's next concert, which takes place in St Albans Cathedral on Saturday March 24th.

Music, art and words will combine to evoke the mystery and majesty of Russian spirituality, in St Alban’s Bach Choir’s next concert, which takes place in St Albans Cathedral on Saturday March 24th. While the choir performs Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil (better known as the Vespers), the audience will be able to see projected images of icons painted by local artist and former choir member, Derek Bird. And during the course of the concert Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans and Vice-President of the Choir will read texts to complement the music. In this beautiful work of 1915, Rachmaninov uses the unaccompanied choir to produce amazingly rich and varied textures of sound, interwoven with tenor and alto solos, on this occasion sung by Richard Newman and Dalma Krajnyak.Conductor Andrew Lucas said, ‘Rachmaninov's All Night Vigil is a masterpiece of choral writing for unaccompanied chorus, using melodies from Russian Orthodox church chant. It's a wonderful experience of music with a different flavour from our usual style of concert, and the combination of music and images, interspersed by readings, is powerful.’The performance begins 7.30 pm. Tickets available from the Abbey Information Desk 01727 890256.