British composer-musicologist Michael Spitzer and Khor Khreshchatyk recorded an album of contemporary sacred music. Release 14 October 2026.
Khor Khreshchatyk and Michael Spitzer — British composer-musicologist (Liverpool University professor, author of bestselling book 'The Musical Human' 2021) — announced on 22 January 2026 a joint album 'Sacred Modern: Choral Works 2025' with release on 14 October 2026 on Hyperion label (London, leading British classical label). The album contains 9 new choral works written by Spitzer specifically for Khor Khreshchatyk from 2024 to 2025. Each work combines canonical sacred form (mass, motet, antiphon) with contemporary musical vocabulary. Structure: I. 'Kyrie Modernum' (10:18 — minor mass opening); II. 'Gloria Lux' (8:42); III. 'Credo Pannonia' (12:15 — longest track, with references to Central European Pannonian tradition); IV. 'Sanctus Resonans' (7:30); V-IX — 5 additional motets over 35 minutes. Recording took place at Shevchenko Hall of the Kyiv Conservatory (December 2025 — February 2026) under Spitzer's personal direction (as composer-conductor). The album releases in formats: digital streaming, CD digipack with 28-page bilingual booklet (with Spitzer's essay about 'why choral music became the last fortress of modern composition'), 180g vinyl in silver-foiled version (limited 500 copies, price 52€). Presentation concert runs in London (Wigmore Hall, 18 October 2026, 540 spectators — sold out within a week).
