Featuring Morten Lauridsen's stunning Madrigali: Six Firesongs on Italian Renaissance Poetry and pieces by Italian Renaissance composers Claudio Monteverdi and Carlo Gesualdo. The works of Monteverdi and Gesualdo inspired Lauridsen to write his Madrigali. Also includes Arvo Part's beautiful Magnificat and Karen P. Thomas' Medieval Lyrics, as well as works by Hildegard von Bingen, Frank Ferko and Guillaume Dufay.

From 1880 to 1917 was a renaissance in Russian choral music, a great outpouring of sacred compositions by major composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Chesnokov and Kastalsky. While Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) only wrote a few choral works, they are among the crowning achievements of Russian choral music. 'Vsenoshchnoye Bdeniye Op. 37 (Vespers)' encompasses a wealth of moods and emotion, ranging from meditative introspection to praise and proclamation. The 76-strong, award-winning Seattle Pro Musica is the perfect ensemble for this material, dramatically powerful on a piece like 'Priidite, poklonimsya,' (Come Let Us Worship), sweetly meditative on songs like 'Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Gospoda' and 'Shestopsalmiye: Slava v vyshnikh bogu' (The Six Psalms: Glory Be to God in the Highest), filled with wonder on 'Tropar: Dnes spasneniye' (The Troparion: Thou didst Rise from the Tomb), and joyfully triumphant on 'Vzbrannoy voyevode' (To Thee, the Victorious Leader). Truly wonderful, rarely-heard sacred music from one of great composers of all time.

This large (76 mixed voices) award-winning (ASCAP Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music) brings us a sumptuous collection of sacred Christmas music by composers from the 16th century (Praetorius, Philipp Nicolai, Heinrich Schutz), to the 19th century (Brahms, Mendelssohn, Bruckner, Franz Gruber's 'Stille Nacht') to the 20th century (the seven movements of Hugo Distler's 'Chorale Motets from Die Weihnachtsgeschichte,' Franz Biebl's 'Ave Maria'). Biebl's 'Ave Maria.' A timeless piece like Praetorius' 'In dulci jubilo,' with its beautiful, ringing harmonies, soars and amazes as it did when first performed four hundred years ago!