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On Tuesday, April 28, 2015, St. Raphael Orthodox Church (722 E. College St., Iowa City) will host the choral group Lyra, for a 7:30 p.m. concert. Lyra hails from St. Petersburg, Russia, and is composed of professional singers, most of whom have been trained at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire. During their current North American tour, Lyra is performing the sublime and soaring melodies of Russian Orthodox sacred music along with some spirited Russian folk tunes, complete with traditional costumes. St. Raphael Church's beautiful acoustics will support and enhance what is sure to be an excellent performance. A free-will offering will be taken, with a suggested donation of $20-35 per adult and $10-15 per student. A reception with refreshments, will follow. All proceeds will benefit St. Raphael Orthodox Church.
From a Washington Post Review
"...Lyra produced a pure a cappella sound that could both fill the intimate space and drop to an edge-of-your-seat whisper, and the ensemble coordination remained impeccable through even the most complex polyphony.
The group's clear harmonies gave a sense of how the unique flavor of Orthodox music persists in both the clean, bright music of 17th-century Dmitri Bortniansky and the aching chromatics of turn-of-the-last-century Pavel Tchesnokov. Dobri Khristov's "Praise the name of the Lord" made the greatest impression of all, though, because it featured a solo by Vladimir Feliauer, one of those force-of-nature Russian basses, whose tone was rock-solid and velvet-smooth no matter how low he went.
After the sampling of intense, elevated Orthodox music, the singers' post-intermission entrance in traditional dress and singing a jaunty folk tune brought everything back to earth. The simpler music offered showcase solos for most of the singers, and lots of broad acting, like Ekaterina Isatchenko's charmingly coquettish posing in "Black-browed, black-eyed fellow", partially made up for the lack of texts and translations. Yet it was the Russian Orthodox music, especially in Lyra's fine performances, that left one wanting more."
–Andrew Lindemann Malone
