During BCE’s 5th season, the Ensemble performed Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil, Op. 37, also known as his Vespers. This setting of the Orthodox liturgy for evening services is a landmark in the Russian choral tradition, even though it was written when Rachmaninoff was already living in the US.
Stephanie McGuire, mezzosoprano
In the performance, BCE was lucky to be joined by soloist Stephanie McGuire. McGuire, then already an accomplished local talent, has gone on to sing with the New York City Opera, the Martina Arroyo Foundation, and the Key West Symphony orchestra.
In addition to her profoundly beautiful and spiritually-moving performance, McGuire is a constant reminder of the unpredictable ways that music comes into our lives. After earning an undergrad degree in biology at MIT, McGuire went on to he University of Oxford, where she earned a master’s in neuroscience in 1997 and then a PhD in psychoacoustics in 2003. Then, feeling a stronger call to music, she enrolled at the Longy School in Cambridge, and earned a masters in music.
We’re thrilled to see an old friend find such success and so is her local alma mater, MIT, who recently offered this alumni profile of her.
Here’s a sample of that performance from March 2006:
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Visit the concert’s webpage or download a PDF of the concert program.
Visit Stephanie’s own webpage.
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