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French Premieres of Arvo Pärt's Alleluia-Tropus and Prayer | after the Kanon

Mar. 01, 2020

On March 3, Ensemble Utopik and Chœur de chambre Aria Voce (Étienne Ferchaud, director), under the direction of Michael Bourcier, performed the French premieres of Arvo Pärt's Alleluia-Tropus and Prayer | after the Kanon. Arvo Pärt has occupied himself with the life and work of St. Nicholas of Myra for many years, repeatedly discovering references to him during his own work. Pärt’s first expression of this interest was his 1998 choral work Triodion. Encouraged by the festival Le Voci dell’Anima in Bari, where Nicholas’ relics lie, Pärt wrote Alleluia-Tropus for choir and eight violoncellos and later (in 2010) arranged it for SATB choir and string orchestra.

Nicholas retains a special position amongst the saints, significant not only in Christianity but in many other religions. Arvo Pärt uses a text from the Christian liturgy dedicated to St Nicholas. The text is sung in Church Slavonic. 

Listen to Arvo Pärt's Fratres (1980):
(Fratres/Arvo Pärt/Anne Akiko Meyers, violin and Akira Eguchi, piano)

To learn more about Arvo Pärt, please visit universaledition.com.

Arvo Pärt
Alleluia-Tropos (2008/2010)
for vocal ensemble (or chamber choir SATB) and string orchestra
3'

Prayer | after the Kanon 
from ‘Kanon Pokajanen’ (1997)
for mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
11-13'

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