The Task Fears the Maestro; Reflections on a Choral Master Class with Vladimir Gorbik
There is a Russian adage which translates as “the task fears the master craftsman,”[*] meaning work goes well when one knows one’s business. In the case of the recent master class in choral singing and conducting, entitled The Performance and Interpretation of Russian Sacred Choral Music, one could easily change this adage to “the task…
Continue reading »Imagination, Expression, Icon: Reclaiming the Internal Prototype
Editor’s Note: This article is a revised and expanded version of the talk with the same title given at the symposium, Living Tradition: Painting Sacred Icons in the 21st Century, organized by the Orthodox Arts Journal and which took place on May 23, 2015, at Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, Mt. Pleasant, SC. This post is…
Continue reading »Pentecost For The Zombie Apocalypse
(This talk on the meaning of the Zombie and on the place of monsters in the world was given at the OCA Diocese of the South Annual conference in Chattanooga, on July 27, 2017) We live in a time of monsters. I announce this to you but I think you already know that. We only need…
Continue reading »The Typika Psalms and Beatitudes: A Liturgical Opportunity
Editor’s note: This article addresses the Typika Psalms and Beatitudes in the Divine Liturgy, and describes the differences in usage among contemporary North American Orthodox jurisdictions. In particular, the author considers opportunities in which choirs in the Greek and Antiochian Archdioceses might expand their use of these liturgical texts. It is frequently observed that the Psalter is the chief source…
Continue reading »From Cubism To The Romanesque (To The Orthodox Icon?)
In a comment on my article ‘The Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Council of Frankfurt & the Practice of Painting’, Baker Galloway asks if ‘to develop towards a contemporary indigenous iconography in western cultures’ we need to revisit ‘these medieval (I use the term loosely) periods in our western history, or do we start from where…
Continue reading »A New Musical Setting of the Divine Liturgy
Editor’s note: On Tuesday, September 12, 2017 at 9:30 am the PaTRAM Institute singers Choir, conducted by Maestro Peter Jermihov, will sing an original all-English Liturgy based on the Russian style, commissioned by the PaTRAM Institute and composed by Dr. Kurt Sander, at St. Alexander Nevsky Diocesan Cathedral in Howell, NJ. We have asked Dr.…
Continue reading »Good Music Lifts Us Up Towards God
(This interview with Russian conductor Vladimir Gorbik was first published in Pravoslavie i sovremennost, the official journal of the Diocese of Saratov, Russia) As previously reported in the Orthodox Arts Journal, a new symphony orchestra has been established in Moscow under the direction of Vladimir Gorbik—chief choirmaster of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Representation (Podvorye) in…
Continue reading »Release of Becoming Truly Human Film
Aspiration Studios Announces 2017 Premiere Date for Documentary BECOMING TRULY HUMAN Aspiration Studios has announced the newest title they will bring exclusively to churches and various non-theatrical venues late this summer. BECOMING TRULY HUMAN, the first feature film about America’s religiously unaffiliated, will be programmed in venues beginning August 22, 2017. BECOMING TRULY HUMAN is…
Continue reading »A Double Standard? Some Clarifications on Icon Painting Theory
Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old. ‒Matt. 13:52 It is the irrational impulses that yearn for innovation. …
Continue reading »The Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Council of Frankfurt & the Practice of Painting
Editorial Preface: This article was written by Dr. Peter Brooke, an Orthodox Christian painter and writer living in Brecon, Wales. He is the author of “Albert Gleizes: For and Against the Twentieth Century,” a major biography of one of the most important pioneers of Cubism. Dr. Brooke studied painting in France with the distinguished potter…
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