Requiem by Stevan Hristić; Serbian Orthodox Music

Directed by composer, conductor & Orthodox priest  REV. DR. IVAN MOODY

"Listeners--many with eyes closed--were taken on a shimmering meditative journey"
--The Georgia Straight (Vancouver, BC, August 2009)

Perhaps the most famous Serbian composer of the first half of the 20th century, Stevan Hristić brought a cosmopolitan view to Serbian cultural life, both as founder of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and director of the Belgrade Opera after completing his education abroad in central Europe. His music taps his Serbian roots, especially in his moving choral masterpiece Opelo, or Requiem. This program features two North American premieres: the Te Deum by Rajko Maksimović, whose Ja na Tvoj poziv touched Cappella Romana audiences so profoundly in 2006, and Seven Hymns for Saint Sava by Ivan Moody.

REV. DR. IVAN MOODY (full biography here) is a Briton living in Portugal, composer, conductor, scholar and musicologist, polyglot, expert in Orthodox music, and, as of 2007, a priest of the Orthodox Church. Moody is best known among Cappella Romana audiences for his largest work to date, The Akáthistos Hymn, written for the ensemble in 1998/9 and subsequently released on CD, a US tour of his Passion and Resurrection (2002), and recently a program of music from the Balkans (2006), and of Finnish Orthodox Music (2008) pending release as a new CD. Recordings of Moody's works sung by the Norwegian ensemble Trio Mediaeval, and as well as the Ravenna Sanctus for the San Franciso-based ensemble Chanticleerremained on the Billboard Top 10 list for weeks. He recently gave a lecture/seminar with Arvo Pärt as part of the RTÉ Living Music Festival in Dublin, Ireland and was re-elected as chairman of the International Society for Orthodox Church music attached to the University of Joensuu, Finland.

PORTLAND: Fri, Feb. 12, 2010, 8pm, St. Mary's Cathedral, 1739 NW Couch St (at 18th) 
SEATTLE: Sat, Feb. 13, 2010, 8pm, St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 2100 Boyer Ave E.

FOR BOTH CITIES:  Tickets at 503.205.0715 or 800.494.8497 
Free pre-concert talk at 7pm in both cities on the Legacy of St. Sava
Tickets start at $22, discounts for seniors and students www.cappellaromana.org

Cappella Romana's name (lit. "Roman Chapel") refers to the Medieval Greek concept of the Roman oikoumene (inhabited world), which embraced Rome and Western Europe, as well as the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople ("New Rome") and its Slavic commonwealth. Each program in some way reflects the musical, cultural and spiritual heritage of this ecumenical vision. A variety of photos, sound samples, and video clips available upon request. 

ABOUT GUEST ARTIST IVAN MOODY

Short biography above. Full biography here

ABOUT CAPPELLA ROMANA

Its performances "like jeweled light flooding the space" (Los Angeles Times), Cappella Romana is a vocal chamber ensemble dedicated to combining passion with scholarship in its exploration of the musical traditions of the Christian East and West, with emphasis on early and contemporary music. Its name is derived from the medieval Greek concept of the Roman oikoumene (inhabited world), which included not only "Old Rome" and Western Europe but also "New Rome" (Constantinople) and its commonwealth of Slavic countries.

            Flexible in size according to the demands of the repertory, Cappella Romana is one of the Pacific Northwest's few professional chamber vocal ensembles. It has a special commitment to mastering the Slavic and Byzantine repertories in their original languages, thereby making accessible to the general public two great musical traditions that are little known in the West. Leading scholars have supplied the group with their latest discoveries, while its music director has prepared a number of the ensemble's performing editions from original sources. In the field of contemporary music, Cappella Romana has taken a leading role performing the works of such European composers as Michael Adamis, Ivan Moody, Arvo Pärt, and John Tavener, as well as the work of North Americans.

            The ensemble presents annual concert series in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Critics have consistently praised these for their unusual and innovative programming, including numerous world and American premieres. The group has also frequently collaborated with such artists as conductor Paul Hillier, chant specialist Ioannis Arvanitis, and composer Ivan Moody.

            Cappella Romana tours regularly and made its European début in March 2004 at the Byzantine Festival in London with concerts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia, followed by 2005 appearances at the Byzantine Studies Symposium of Queen's University, Belfast (N. Ireland) and the University of Limerick (Rep. of Ireland).  The Metropolitan Museum of Art presented the ensemble in its New York début for the exhibit "Byzantium: Faith and Power 1261-1557" in April 2004, which included the release of a CD by Cappella Romana, Music of Byzantium, to accompany the exhibit.  The ensemble has also appeared in Festival Vancouver (B.C.) the Bloomington Early Music Festival, the Indiana Early Music Festival (Indianapolis) and at the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles), and the Early Music Society of the Islands (Victoria, BC).  Future engagements include the J. Paul Getty Museum again in December 2006, the Smithsonian Institution, and regional touring in the Pacific Northwest.

            Cappella Romana has released twelve compact disc recordings to date: Tikey Zes Choral Works and When Augustus Reigned (Gagliano),The Akáthistos Hymn by Ivan Moody and Epiphany: Medieval Byzantine Chant (Gothic), Music of Byzantium (Metropolitan Museum of Art), and Lay Aside All Earthly Cares: Orthodox Choral Music in English, The Fall of Constantinople, Byzantium in Rome: Medieval Byzantine Chant from Grottaferrata, The Divine Liturgy in English in Byzantine Chant, Richard Toensing: The Kontakion on the Nativity of Christ, Peter Michaelides: The Divine Liturgy (CR Records), and the compilation CD Byzantium: 330-1453 published by the Royal Academy of Arts in London.  Forthcoming recordings include a disc Mt. Sinai: Frontier of Byzantium, Robert Kyr: A Time for Life, The Divine Liturgy by Tikey Zes, and music from Cyprus.

ALEXANDER LINGAS

Alexander Lingas, Cappella Romana's founder and artistic director, is a Senior Lecturer in Music at City University in London and a Fellow of the University of Oxford's European Humanities Research Centre. He was formerly Assistant Professor of Music History at Arizona State University's School of Music and a British Academy Junior Research Fellow at St. Peter's College, Oxford. He also serves as a lecturer for the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies at the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Lingas has received a number of academic awards, including the British Academy's Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship for 2009-2010. He has previously been awarded fellowships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (for theological study under Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia), Dumbarton Oaks (Harvard University), the Institute for Advanced Study, and the American Council of Learned Societies (NEH Areas Studies Fellowship). His musical studies in Greece with noted cantor Lycourgos Angelopoulos were supported by the Fulbright and the Alexander S. Onassis foundations. Dr Lingas has written articles for the The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Einaudi's Enciclopedia della musica, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, The Oxford Companion to Music and The Orthodox Encyclopedia published by the Research Center of the Moscow Patriarchate. He is currently working on a study of Sunday Matins in the Rite of Hagia Sophia for Ashgate Publishing and a general introduction to Byzantine Chant for the Yale University Press.