Sacred Music by Alfred Schnittke: Three Sacred Hymns, Concerto for Choir Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Choir & Andrei Petrenko

• Alfred Schnittke (1934 - 1998): Three Sacred Hymns:
• 1 Schnittke: Three Sacred Hymns: No. 1, The Lord's Prayer 03:37
• 2 Schnittke: Three Sacred Hymns: No. 2, Ave Maria 01:35
• 3 Schnittke: Three Sacred Hymns: No. 3, Lord Jesus 01:30
• Concerto for Choir:
• 4 Schnittke: Concerto for Choir: I. Oh Thee the Sovereign of Everything Existing, Who Gives Us Precious Gifts 15:22
• 5 Schnittke: Concerto for Choir: II. Collected Songs, Where Every Verse Is Full of Grief 08:02
• 6 Schnittke: Concerto for Choir: III. For Those Who Will Deeply Go into the Meaning of the Mournful Words 15:10
• 7 Schnittke: Concerto for Choir: IV. This Work, Which I Began with Hope and Name of Thee 04:59
• Total Runtime 50:15

Info zu Sacred Music by Alfred Schnittke: Three Sacred Hymns, Concerto for Choir

Dieses neue Album des Philharmonischen Chors Jekaterinburg präsentiert Alfred Schnittkes Drei geistliche Hymnen sowie sein Chorkonzert, eine Vertonung der Gedichten von Grigor Narekatsi (des hl. Gregor von Narek). Andrei Petrenko, der künstlerische Leiter des Ensembles, sagt: „Das Chorkonzert ist ein einzigartiges chorisches Klanggemälde, das musikalische Schichten von großer Tiefgründigkeit miteinander verbindet. Das Werk hilft den Zuhörenden wie auch den Ausführenden, die irdische Existenz zu transzendieren und jene erhabenen Sphären zu erkunden, die Narekatsi und Schnittke eröffnet haben. Es ist eine Verkörperung von Spiritualität und besitzt eine unendliche Fülle an Bedeutungen, die sich nur durch seinen sakralen Text erschließen lassen.“

Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Choir
Andrei Petrenko, Dirigent

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 für Sacred Music by Alfred Schnittke: Three Sacred Hymns, Concerto for Choir