Event

STEINBERG PASSION WEEK

The English Chamber Choir and the Park Lane Group are proud to present a performance of the last major sacred work composed in Russia after the 1917 Revolution: Maximilian Steinbergs Passion Week. Steinberg composed this piece when sacred music was banned in Russia; it was never performed in his lifetime.

SPECIAL OFFER TO FRIENDS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY AND FRIENDS OF PLG -buy tickets at £12.

Born in Lithuania in 1883, into a cultured Jewish family, Steinberg became a pupil of the famous Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov and also marrying his daughter, which required him to convert to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, including Stravinsky and Rachmaninov, who emigrated with the Russian revolution, Steinberg remained on the staff of the Conservatoire in St Petersburg, where his pupils included Shostakovich, until his death in 1946.

For this performance, Steinbergs work (which is a concert setting, not a liturgy) will be prefaced by some individual gems from his immediate predecessors: his father-in-law Rimsky-Korsakov, his contemporary Grechaninov and Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky.

The English Chamber Choir and its conductor Guy Protheroe have a long tradition of, and international reputation for, performing music from the Eastern Orthodox traditions, presenting works by contemporary composers including John Tavener, Christos Hatzis, Ivan Moody and Michael Adamis, as well as the great liturgies and vigils of Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky.