Te Deum in performance Dec. 16, 2025 at Village Presbyterian Church (photo by Brian Rice Creative)
Alexander Gretchaninoff’s Passion Week marks the first collaboration of the two treasured Kansas City ensembles
Art relies on collaboration, but finding the right collaborator is an art in itself.
The Kansas City Chorale and Te Deum are combining forces — and their majestic voices — for a performance of Alexander Gretchaninoff’s Passion Week this fall, the first collaboration for these two treasured Kansas City ensembles.
“It just feels really special, that these two ensembles are coming together to do something greater than we could do on our own,” said Matthew Christopher Shepard, founder, executive and artistic director, and conductor of Te Deum.
According to scholar Vladimir Morosan, the double choir is “an aural manifestation of the angelic choirs described in the Prophet Isaiah’s heavenly vision.”
Passion Week was originally written for the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church’s Easter commemorations, premiering in 1912. The 13-part work follows the events of the last week in the life of Jesus Christ, his torment, crucifixion, and rise from the dead. While considered one of the finest examples of the New Russian Choral School from the beginning of the 20th century, it is not often performed, due to its difficulty.
Nearly a century later, the Kansas City Chorale received five Grammy Award nominations for their rendition of the work, including Best Choral Performance and Best Classical Album, and the album was ultimately named the Best Engineered Album of 2008, nabbing the Chorale their first of many Grammy Awards.
To Shepard, that Grammy Award felt like it was bigger than just one ensemble, a boon for the whole performing arts scene. “That our Kansas City Chorale earned a Grammy for this city, you know, was a special thing,” he said.
The Kansas City Chorale, conducted by Charles Bruffy, performed on the album with the Phoenix Bach Chorale (now Phoenix Chorale), of Arizona (which Bruffy also conducted), but for this performance they turned closer to home, inviting Te Deum to share the spotlight for this monumental work.
The Kansas City Chorale, founded in 1982, has long been a leader in the arts scene, but Te Deum has steadily grown in artistry and stature since its founding as a volunteer choir in 2008.
Bruffy, who is also artistic director of the Chorale, reached out to Shepard last spring. “I have such great respect for Matthew and Te Deum. They are singing really well, and I thought it would be fun to partner with them,” said Bruffy.
“I grew up in Kansas City listening to and admiring the Chorale,” said Shepard. “Charles is someone I’ve admired since I was in high school… I have a strong positive memory of experiencing Charles back in my junior or senior year of high school as a clinician and have always looked up to him.”
“So, to have started my own ensemble and built something that then the Kansas City Chorale would reach out and ask to collaborate on is a humbling honor,” he said.
The admiration is two-sided. “I always love it when people succeed and when they follow their dreams and when they combine that with brain power and talent,” Bruffy said. “Then you have the success story that Matthew Shepherd is.”
Though not as well known in the United States as Sergei Rachmaninoff or Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Alexander Gretchaninoff (or Gretchaninov) was a well-respected composer of both instrumental and choral work in pre-Revolution Russia. He was a student of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and even earned an annual pension from
Tsar Nicholas II.
He stayed in Russia after the 1917 Revolution until 1925, moving first to France, then to the United States, where he became a citizen and lived the rest of his life.
Bruffy was introduced to Russian liturgical work by UMKC Conservatory professor emerita Olga Dolskaya-Ackerly, who taught at the university for decades. Her inspiration and mindset has influenced Bruffy for many years, particularly her disdain for the typical American “big finish.”
“I’ve tried to be like that, you know, just do what you do and then it’s done,” said Bruffy.
The work is written in Church Slavonic, the sacred and traditional vernacular of the Orthodox Church. Most sacred Russian music uses Church Slavonic, such as Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil. (The Chorale’s recording won the Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance in 2016.)
Te Deum is also familiar with Church Slavonic, though this is the largest work they’ve tackled in that language. (When they performed Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil, Shepard chose to present the English translation.)
It is for unaccompanied double choir, running approximately one hour and 15 minutes. The music is based on traditional chants and what Morosan called “chant motifs,” woven through the piece to distinguish different moments and individuals.
“It’s a piece of such magnitude and thickness of textures, that it works a lot better with double the forces,” said Shepard.
Recordings are an important part of a performing organization’s footprint, documenting artistic vision, musical ability and cultural inheritance.
“I always like to do the song and then do the song again, so (the recording engineers) have two choices. And then I always say, is that what you got? Let’s do it one more time and lay it on the line,” Bruffy said. “And that one frequently turns out to be the best.”
The Kansas City Chorale has released 13 albums since 1994. They recorded their upcoming album last year, for Decca, featuring music by Christopher Tin and Hans Bridger Heruth, and that is in the works for future release. (Read the review of their performance from May 2025.)
This season, Te Deum will record their third album, featuring music by their current composer-in-residence, Keane Southard.
Individually, each group excels at presenting a variety of chorale work at the highest level. Together, they’ll soar.
Gretchaninoff: Passion Week will be performed at 2 p.m. Oct. 4, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6 at Village Presbyterian Church.
Editor’s note: In the wake of Bruffy’s recent departure, Matthew Shepard will conduct the concert.
