Our parish was treated to the rich sounds of a fine choir this past Sunday afternoon. Twenty members of the Ekumen Chorale from Pennsylvania gave a one hour plus concert of sacred choral masterworks from Ukraine and Russia. Featured were baroque and romantic pieces by Ukrainian composers such as Bortnyansky as well as choral pieces by the famous composers Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.

An unusual arrangement was found in the Lenten piece in which the choir and a single bell droned a note behind a bass solo. The rousing renditions of Mnohaya Lita at the end were

  special and earned the chorale two standing ovations.

The Ekumen Chorale authentically performs sacred works by Eastern European composers in their original language. Before it is performed, each piece is introduced to offer background on both the composer and the era in which the music was composed.

Thank you to Director Patrick Marcinko, and to the Ekumen Chorale that he founded, for keeping this rare and beautiful sacred music alive!