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Living Tradition: Painting Sacred Icons in the 21st Century
I would like to announce an upcoming event sponsored by the Orthodox Arts Journal. Living Tradition: Painting Sacred Icons in the 21st Century, will take place in Charleston, SC on May 23rd, 2015. We have invited two prominent iconographers, both contributors to the OAJ, to come and share their perspectives as liturgical artists in our…
Continue reading »A New Landmark: Steinberg’s “Passion Week”
Every so often a record comes along that changes the landscape of choral music. Robert Shaw’s 1989 recording of the Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil comes to mind. It remains one of Shaw’s finest recordings, and, in my opinion, still the best overall recording of the piece to the date, minor flaws in interpretation and Slavonic diction…
Continue reading »Talks from 5th Annual Climacus Conference now Online
The 5th Annual Climacus Conference was held last weekend in Louisville, KY, organized around the theme of Beauty. I had the honor of giving two talks – one on Orthodox church architecture, and the other on liturgical art. All the talks are available as audio files on Ancient Faith Radio, and I highly recommend…
Continue reading »On History and Tradition: A Review of Cappella Romana’s “Good Friday in Jerusalem”
For makers of music, history, by its mere existence, presents challenges. A recent headline in the Onion ran, “Nation’s Historians Warn The Past Is Expanding At Alarming Rate.” While we can smile at the joke, there’s a way in which the specter of an “ever-enlarging past” does really keep musicians up at night. Every Western composer since Beethoven has…
Continue reading »Byzanfest, an Orthodox short-film festival.
Chris Vlahonasios is the founder and director of Byzanfest, the first online festival of Orthodox short films. He is also a blogger at Orthodox Filmmakers and Artists. I interviewed him about how all of this came about and about his view of the possible relationships between Orthodox arts and film. Along the way one…
Continue reading »Truth, Goodness, BEAUTY Will Save Us: 5th Annual Climacus Conference this February
The Climacus Conference is a classical Christian intellectual/spiritual event featuring scholars and voices across the fields of Theology, Philosophy, Classical Education, Literature, and History/Politics. It is unique in that it provides an opportunity for attendees to be enriched by thinking well across disciplines. In it’s fifth annual installment, the Climacus Conference will continue in its endeavor…
Continue reading »Byzantium – Celebrating The Icon in Ottawa
The first Ottawa International Byzantine Arts Symposium wrapping up at the beginning of this month surrounded the work of master iconographer George Kordis with an exhibition, 2 concerts and an icon painting workshop. I had no idea what to expect going in to this event. I had been contacted by the event organizer, Lesia Maruschak only…
Continue reading »Orthodox Arts Journal Participates in ‘OPEN Arts Expo’ in Charleston, SC
With the goal of presenting Orthodox liturgical arts to a wider audience, the Orthodox Arts Journal participated in a large public arts event in Charleston, SC, on September 21st. The event, the annual OPEN Arts Expo, is produced by the Charleston Regional Alliance for the Arts, which promotes non-profit arts organizations, and of which the…
Continue reading »Ottawa International Byzantine Arts Symposium
I am quite excited to have been invited to participate in the first Ottawa International Byzantine Arts Symposium. The Symposium is organized around the work of George Kordis and will also feature concerts, an iconography workshops and icons from other artists. This is a great chance to meet master iconographer George Kordis. I know I am…
Continue reading »Nūn, Jonah and The Sign of The Fish
As we watch Oriental Christians in Iraq and Syria being branded, massacred, chased out of the cities they have occupied for nearly 2000 years, we shudder and pray and grind our teeth. As we watch the burning of Churches, the defacing of icons, the destruction of shrines, even that of the Holy Prophet Jonah we…
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