On April 8, 2023, a concert in memory of Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, timed to his 150th anniversary, was held in the parish hall of St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York.
The event was part of the initiative of the Russian American Cultural Heritage Center (RACSI), following which in 2012 the New York State Senate established April as Russian and Russian-Speaking Americans History Month. Since then, RACSI has coordinated and organized History Month events every year.
During the concert, those gathered heard about the life of the composer and were shown many photographs of him. All this was accompanied by a musical program opened by the cathedral Sunday School choir, which performed S.V. Rachmaninoff’s “The Angel.” The “Nikodim Trio” choir of the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Brooklyn of the Russian Church Outside of Russia sang the hymn “Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos” written by the great composer. The cathedral choir director Alexander Chaplinsky delighted listeners by performing the composer’s “Élégie” and five Preludes on the piano. The concert concluded with Deacon Alexis Golubov of St. Nicholas Cathedral performing Rachmaninoff’s romances on spiritual themes.