Late-night concert: Rachmaninov Vespers op. 37
Saturday March 16, 21:00
(Doors open at 20:30)
Oslo Cathedral
Adult: 350 NOK
Senior/student: 250 NOK
Child: 100 NOK
Duration: 1 hour
Oslo Cathedral Choir
Bergen Cathedral Choir
Tone Kummervold, alto
Mathias Gillebo, tenor
Kjetil Almenning, conductor
Vivianne Sydnes, conductor
Sergei Rachmaninov’s Vespers Op. 37, also known as the All-Night Vigil, was, incredibly enough, composed in two weeks in January 1915. The work is based on a Church Slavonic text from the Russian Orthodox liturgy, and ten of the fifteen movements are based on the Russian chant used by the Church. The work is technically challenging, with incredible timbres, complex harmonies, a high degree of precision, and a large vocal register. Many have pointed out that Rachmaninov uses the choir almost like an orchestra. Vespers is talked about as his most exquisite composition, and ‘the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church’. It was also one of the compositions that Rachmaninov himself was the most pleased with. Despite receiving glowing reviews from both audiences and critics, Vespers was rarely performed. The Russian Revolution in 1917 and the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, radically changed the conditions for church music. For long periods during the Soviet era, it was therefore not possible to perform the piece. Today, Vespers is an extremely popular and recognised work that is often performed all over the world. During the Church Music Festival, the work is performed by Oslo Cathedral Choir and Bergen Cathedral Choir, in addition to melodies from Ukraine, in an evocative late-night concert.
Oslo Cathedral Choir is one of Norway’s leading church choirs. The Cathedral Choir’s activities include concert productions, weekly participation in the church services, public and national jobs for CD recordings and tours. Oslo Cathedral Choir regularly collaborates with professional musicians and orchestras and has a wide repertoire, from early music to newly written works. The last few years, the choir has also performed at Olavsfestdagene, Ultima, Bergen International Festival, Oslo Jazz Festival, and Oslo Chamber Music Festival. The choir is under the direction of cantor and professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Vivianne Sydnes.
Bergen Cathedral Choir is one of Norway’s best amateur choirs and a church musical power house in Western Norway. With singers, programming, and presentation of the highest quality, the choir upholds and renews church music culture. Bergen Cathedral Choir was founded in 2009, and performs several concerts each year, most of them in Bergen, but they also go on tours in the Diocese of Bjørgvin and abroad. They regularly work with professional musicians and ensembles. With a good mix of well-known and unknown, old and new, they want to give the audience a great concert experience. The cathedral choir participates at church services in Bergen Cathedral’s congregation. Bergen Cathedral Choir is under the direction of conductor and cantor Kjetil Almenning.
Tone Kummervold has established herself as one of the leading mezzo-sopranos in Norway. She made her debut at the Norwegian Opera & Ballet in 2009, and became a permanent member of the soloist ensemble in the 2012/2013 season. Here she has sung over 30 different roles from the opera repertoire’s classics, such as Carmen and La Cenerentola, and most recently as Ulrica in Verdi’s
A Masked Ball. In 2022, she garnered great reviews for her interpretation of La Morte in the opera Flammen at the State Opera in Prague, and for Angela in the world premiere of The Listeners by Missy Mazzoli in Oslo. Kummervold regularly performs with the country’s leading orchestras, most recently Verdi’s Requiem with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Mathias Gillebo regularly works with leading orchestras and conductors both in Norway and abroad, with works such as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, the St. John and St. Matthew Passions, Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s Requiem. He is a sought-after Bach Evangelist, and is often hired for projects with newly written music. On stage, he has played several roles at the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, Oscarsborg Opera, and regional operas. Gillebo has a degree in theology, with a master’s thesis on how music affects thought and language. He has a PhD from the Norwegian Academy of Music, on song, ethics, and politics, with the project To Sing Reality.
Kjetil Almenning has his education from the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. He started as cantor in Bergen in 2009, and founded Bergen Cathedral Choir that same year. As a singer and conductor, Almenning has worked with, among others, the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Barents International Chamber Choir, the Swedish Radio Choir, and the professional vocal ensemble Vocal Art in Bodø. Almenning directs Bergen kirkeautunnale, an annual festival for church art and music.
Vivianne Sydnes is cantor in Oslo Cathedral, where she has the main responsibility for the choir activity. She is the conductor and artistic director of Oslo Cathedral Choir. Sydnes’ work includes both a cappella repertoire and great works for choir and orchestra. She has directed several world premieres by composers such as Lasse Thoresen, Torbjørn Dyrud, Andrew Smith, B. Morten Christophersen, and Gisle Kverndokk. Sydnes emphasises collaboration and quality, and has further developed the Cathedral’s choir life, as she has, among other things, established the Cathedral Choir and the Cathedral as an arena for learning. Sydnes has extended and developed Oslo Cathedral Choir’s strong position in Norwegian musical life. In addition to her work in the Cathedral, Sydnes is a professor in choir direction at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where she is responsible for the bachelor’s programme in choir direction and teaches church music students.
Photo: Oslo Domkor: Stasevicius, Bergen Domkor: Tuva Åserud, Vivianne Sydnes: Ellen Lande Gossner, Kjetil Almenning: Live Austgard, Tone Kummervold: Lilliand & Lena
