Reviews
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 »The Two Russias : Leviathan and The Island
To anyone who thinks that the Lives of the Saints have little practical application to our everyday life, I humbly beg to differ. To prove my point, I would like to offer some personal reflections on the new Russian film Leviathan, a film that would seem to be almost irredeemably bleak. But if considered in…
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 »Book Review — Beauty-Spirit-Matter: Icons in the Modern World, by Aidan Hart
For the past 12 years or so, when perusing Aidan Hart’s essays and lectures, I often wondered if they would ever be published in book form. So it was a pleasant surprise to encounter some of them collected in Hart’s most recent book, Beauty-Spirit-Matter: Icons in the Modern World. It’s a long overdue book, bringing…
Continue reading »A Reflection on Arvo Pärt’s “Kanon Pokajanen”
On June 2, Saint Vladimir’s Seminary’s ambitious Arvo Pärt Project wrapped up with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir performing Arvo Pärt’s Kanon Pokajanen (1997) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur. The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, under the direction of Maestro Tõnu Kaljuste, is one of the world’s premier choirs, and their performance that night…
Continue reading »What is missing from Aronofsky’s Noah
In many of my past articles I have explored the symbolism of death and how it is related in the Bible and by our Tradition to the arts and technology, to hybridity and the foreigner, the serpent, to the cave, to Cain, to animality and to periphery in general. Aranofsky’s recent Noah movie deals intently with many…
Continue reading »The Reader’s Guide to Orthodox Icons
One of the best websites/blogs devoted to iconology on the internet is a blog called The Reader’s Guide to Orthodox Icons. This blog is done anonymously and is truly a wonderful storehouse of information on icons, their typology, symbolism and spiritual significance. The tone of the blog is extremely warm and non-polemical, addressing most of the…
Continue reading »The Gorbik Master Class — An Auditor’s Reflection
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…
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