FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 24, 2020 [South Canaan, PA] — The Saint Tikhon Choir is honored to announce that their landmark recording of Alexander Kastalsky’s Requiem for Fallen Brothers has been nominated for a GRAMMY® Award in the Best Choral Performance Category.
Released in August of 2020 on the Naxos label, this remarkable recording debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical charts. It is a collaboration between The Saint Tikhon Choir, The Kansas City Chorale, The Clarion Choir, the Cathedral Choral Society, soloists Anna Dennis and Joseph Beutel, and the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s under the leadership of conductor Leonard Slatkin.
Kastalsky’s monumental work was composed in honor of the Allied soldiers who fell in battle during the First World War. Weaving together melodies from the religious traditions of all the Allied nations—England, France, Russia, Serbia, Japan, India, the United States, and others—the Requiem for Fallen Brothers presents a rich musical tapestry that is a testament to the universal values of faith, justice, self-sacrifice, and peace. This recording, undertaken with the guidance of leading musicologist Vladimir Morosan, is the first complete and definitive recording of Kastalsky’s moving Requiem. The album was recorded live in 2018 at the Washington National Cathedral during a performance commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armistice.
Founded with a mission to foster and build up the American Orthodox choral tradition at the highest artistic level, The Saint Tikhon Choir has been steadily breaking new ground since its inception in 2015. It is the professional choir of Saint Tikhon’s Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, America’s oldest Orthodox monastery, and is the first professional vocal ensemble connected with an Orthodox monastery in America. Its most recent album, the world premiere recording of Benedict Sheehan’s newly-composed Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, was released in October of 2020 on Cappella Records. The album debuted at #2 on Billboard Classical and has been hailed in early reviews as “exquisite” (HRAudio, France), “music to touch the soul” (Cinemusical), and “an addition of rare grace and refinement” (ConcertoNet). Learn more at sainttikhonchoir.org