South Canaan, Pennsylvania, November 25, 2020
Photo: sainttikhonchoir.org Nominations for the 62nd Grammy Awards were announced yesterday, and among the 2021 hopefuls is the Saint Tikhon Choir, founded as the professional choir of St. Tikhon’s Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania in 2015.
The Saint Tikhon Choir, together with several other ensembles, were nominated in the Best Choral Performance category for their live recording of Alexander Kastalsky’s “Requiem for Fallen Brothers,” reports the choir’s website.
The album was recorded live in 2018 at the Washington National Cathedral by 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, with the guidance of leading musicologist Vladimir Morosan.
Released on the Naxos label in August of this year, the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical charts. It has also been nominated in the Producer of the Year, Classical category.
Kastalsky’s piece, composed in honor of the Allied soldiers who laid down their lives in battle during the First World War, blends together melodies from the religious traditions of all the Allied nations, presenting “a rich musical tapestry that is a testament to the universal values of faith, justice, self-sacrifice, and peace.”
The Saint Tikhon Choir is under the direction of Benedict Sheehan, whom OrthoChristian interviewed in 2015.
That same year, the Choir released its “Till Morn Eternal Breaks: Sacred Choral Music of Benedict Sheehan,” and this year it released “Benedict Sheehan: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom” to international acclaim, debuting at #2 on the Billboard Classical charts.
Sheehan is also a co-founder of the Patriarch Tikhon Russian-American Music Institute, which was nominated for Grammys in 2019 and 2020.
See the Choir’s website to preview and purchase its albums.
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