SARANAC LAKE – The First United Methodist Church of Saranac Lake will once again host the Men’s Ensemble from St. Petersburg, Russia.

The concert will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23 at the church.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, St. Petersburg Men’s Ensemble presents exclusive adaptation of 10 fragments of “All-Night Vigil, Op. 37” by Sergei Rachmaninoff for men’s choir.

This adaptation is created by Alexander Govorov (Men’s Choir “Soglasie”) and Kirill Sokolov (St. Petersburg Men’s Ensemble).

For the first time, “All-Night Vigil, Op. 37” is presented outside of Russia performed by men’s choir.

The “All-Night Vigil, Op. 37,” is an a cappella choral composition written by Sergei Rachmaninoff and premiered in 1915. The piece is made up of settings taken from the Russian Orthodox All-night vigil ceremony.

Hailed as Rachmaninoff’s finest achievement and “the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church,” the “All-Night Vigil” was composed in less than two weeks in January and February 1915. Even though, at this time, Rachmaninoff had stop attending church services, he based 10 of the 15 sections of the All Night-Vigil on traditional Russian Orthodox Chant, as required by the church.

Rachmaninoff’s work is a culmination of the preceding two decades of interest in Russian Orthodox sacred Music, as initiated by Tchaikovsky’s setting of the same piece.

Sergei Rachmaninoff died in Beverly Hills, California on March 28, 1943. At his request, the fifth movement of his All-Night Vigil was sung at his funeral.

Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door or in advance at Ampersound at 52 Main St.

All are welcome.