Austin choral group Conspirare won a Grammy last night for Best Choral Performance for its recording The Sacred Spirit of Russia. The group, which formed in 1991, has been nominated five times in previous years, but last night marked its first win.
Congrats Best Choral Performance 'The Sacred Spirit Of Russia' - #CraigHellaJohnson, conductor (Conspirare) #GRAMMYs
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) February 8, 2015
The winning record includes the group covering Russian composers such as Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Gretchaninov. The album was recorded in Austin in 2013 at St. Martin's Lutheran Church.
It was the first Grammy win for the group and for Conspirare artistic director Craig Hella Johnson, who was named Texas State Musician in 2013.
Below, watch a nature-themed video featuring Conspirare's version of Vladimir Martynov's The Beatitudes, one of the songs from the Grammy-winning album, and then see the group perform EricWhitacre's What If live in 2008 at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
http://youtu.be/aYqRtCPKvwM
http://youtu.be/zRC3KUPAMp8
