Within a one-month period this fall, three of the world’s greatest choral works will be performed at Saint Paul Church by three of the area’s most outstanding choral ensembles! On Friday, 9 October at 7:30 pm, the Ars Nova Singers, under the leadership of artistic director Thomas Edward Morgan, will perform the monumental Всенощное бдение (“All-Night Vigil”), Op. 37, by the great Russian composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff m(1873-1943). More popularly known as the “Rachmaninoff Vespers,” the work dates from 1915 and provides a rich glimpse of imperial Russian church music just before the Revolution of 1917 led to the formation of the Soviet Union. Following the pattern of the of the Russian Orthodox All-Night Vigil liturgy, which is actually man aggregation of the three canonical hours of Vespers, Matins, and Prime, the fifteen movements of the “Rachmaninoff Vespers” are for unaccompanied chorus (as is all Russian Orthodox music!), with ten based on traditional Russian chant, and all dressed in Rachmaninoff’s rich late Romantic harmonies. (And, no, the program will not last all night! Rachmaninoff provided about sixty minutes worth of music to be sung at the appropriate time during the course of the eight-hour vigil liturgy.) Visit www.arsnovasingers.com for more information.