Academy Chamber Choir of Uppsala, Sweden
Stefan Parkman, conductor
Christ Church Episcopal, 84 Broadway at Elm
The Academy Chamber Choir of Uppsala, Sweden, conducted by Stefan Parkman, will perform in New Haven on Sunday, February 19 at 4 pm at Christ Church Episcopal, 84 Broadway at Elm.
The Academy Chamber Choir of Uppsala is a mixed choir of 45 singers founded nearly 50 years ago; its first conductor was Eric Ericson. The choir’s extensive repertoire encompasses early music from the Renaissance as well as new music written for the choir. The choir has made a number of recordings, including a 3-cd set of Swedish a cappella music on the Chandos label. Its conductor, Stefan Parkman, has served as principal conductor of the Danish Radio Choir, returning to Sweden in 2002 to assume the post as principal conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir in Stockholm. He is professor of choral conducting at Uppsala University Choral Centre, and active as a choral and orchestral conductor throughout Scandinavia and Europe.
In New Haven, the group will perform the seldom-heard All-Night Vigil of Serge Rachmaninoff. Written in 1915 while Russia was wracked by inner turmoil and ravaged by World War I, the Vsenoshchnoye bdeniye (All-Night Vigil) is widely regarded as the composer’s finest unaccompanied choral work.
The free concert is presented by Yale Institute of Sacred Music.