The following article was written by my wife, Maria Sheehan. There was great anticipation in the choir from St. Tikhon’s as the day for Maestro Gorbik’s arrival approached. The seminarians were already carrying their normal course load, many caring for their families in addition to maintaining their duties as clergy or altar servers. Yet in […]
This is post 4 of 6 in the series “Notes from The Psalterion” Part one of this series outlined an argument as to why Orthodox liturgical singing needs to be treated as a privilege, a craft, and a discipline. I’ve spent some time on the craft end of the discussion; I’d like to now devote […]
(Editorial note: This article, regarding one of our contributors, Benedict Sheehan, was taken from the St-Tikhon Seminary website.) On December 27, 2012, St. Tikhon’s Seminary choir director, Benedict Sheehan, will travel to Moscow to work with the Male Choir of the Moscow Representation Church (Podvorye) of the Trinity–St. Sergius Lavra and its renowned choirmaster, Vladimir […]
This is post 3 of 6 in the series “Notes from The Psalterion” In part one of this series, I outlined the argument that Orthodox liturgical singing, given that it is above all else an offering to God, is a privilege, a craft, and a discipline. In part two, I tried to suggest, at least in […]
The mission of The Saint John of Damascus Society is “revealing Orthodox Christianity through its sacred music”, and one part of how we seek to do this to be a collaborative partner for existing arts organizations and entities on projects promoting Orthodox liturgical music. Our first collaboration to reach the public eye is a segment […]
Memory Eternal: an Orthodox Christian Requiem, my most recent recording with St. Tikhon’s Mission Choir, was just released this month. The CD is a recording of the entire Panikhida (Orthodox memorial service), plus two extra pieces—one at the beginning and one at the end—and is based completely on arrangements of Russian Chant melodies. Many of the […]
(Editorial note: George Skok, the choir director of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Toronto kindly sent us this summary of ROCOR’s recent Orthodox Church Musicians’ Conference which gathered an amazing array of musical experts from Russia and North America. Among these, our own Benedict Sheehan led a seminar for the group. The Article is by V.V. […]
This is post 2 of 6 in the series “Notes from The Psalterion” In the first installment, I discussed a set of ideals that essentially argue that Orthodox liturgical singing is, first and foremost, an offering to God and to be treated as such — in short, that it is a privilege, a craft, and […]
This is post 2 of 2 in the series “The Creation of a Christian Culture” In part one of this article, I tried to establish the importance (and difficulty) of introducing the liturgical art forms into a secular space, in order to help those outside the Church to have a genuine experience of that otherworldliness […]
This is post 2 of 2 in the series “A ‘Small Entrance’ into Orthodox Christian Sacred Music” The Fathers of the Church teach that, before the Fall, Adam was like an angel. In his being, Adam was to be the bridge between the visible and the invisible creations — containing elements of both within himself […]