On Nov. 24, the Recording Academy announced the nominees for the 63rd Grammy Awards. The Kansas City Chorale’s world-premiere recording of Alexander Kastalsky’s “Requiem” has been nominated for Best Choral Performance and the album’s producer, Blanton Alspaugh, has been nominated for Producer of the Year, Classical.

Great Bend native Bryan Pinkall, associate professor of music at Kansas State University, performed on the recording as a member of the Kansas City Chorale and was the marketing director for the album’s international release. 

Pinkall, an Emmy and Grammy award-winning musician, has performed as a soloist and chorister with the chorale for nearly a decade.

The album was recorded live at Washington National Cathedral during a performance commemorating the 100th anniversary of the WW I Armistice. It was released by Naxos Records on Aug. 28 and debuted atop the Traditional Classical Billboard Chart in September.

“Requiem” was envisioned as a memorial to the allied soldiers who died during the First World War. The composer, Alexander Kastalsky (1856-1926), dedicated each movement to the various countries who fought alongside Russia including the United States. Because performances of sacred music in Russia were prohibited after the rise of Communism, Kastalsky’s monumental piece was never fully performed until the creation of this album.

Listen to the album today at kcchorale.org.