Thursday 29 August 2013

James MacMillan on Musica Sacra Scotland

Byzantine Music Concert in Leeds

If you're in or near Leeds on the weekend of 13/14th September and not involved with our own Solemn High Mass up at Brinkburn that day (which I shall write about separately nearer the time) then this is a unique opportunity to hear some fabulous music. It's very frustrating, because I'd love to go! However, despite that, I'm more than happy to give the event publicity here.

The concert is linked to the Consecration of the Romanian Orthodox church in Leeds, details of which follow:

The Concert of the Choir Saint Demetrius
The Choir, set up 14 years ago by a group of students at Theology from Craiova, Romania, aims at discovering the ancient Romanian traditions and hymns, especially those of Byzantine tradition. It is currently led by Victor Sapca, PhD student at the University of Music in Bucharest and music teacher at “St. Gregory the Theologian” Orthodox Seminary in Craiova. The Choir members performed in numerous concerts in Romania and at the San Marco Cathedral in Venice. They recorded nine compact discs with a selection of the most beautiful and expressive Byzantine chants from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.


This concert, organized with the generous support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in London in partnership with our Parish, will feature the following musical pieces:

 The world has found you to be a great defense…, Troparion of St. Demetrius the Great Martyr, traditional melody in tone III - performed in Romanian, Greek and English.
2.   On this day Saint Constantine and blessed Helen…, Kontakion of Sts Constantine and Helen, tone III - performed in English.
3.     Our Father…, tone VIII, recent composion of Hieromonk Ghelasie Ivan from Crasna Monastery, Romania - performed in English.
4.       Let every breath praise the Lord…, Sticheraric Praises in tone III by Iakovos Protopsaltis - performed in English.
5.       Holy God…, Tone I Sticheraric,  by Parthenios of Meteora - performed in both Romanian and English.
6.       The Servants of the Lord… , Polyeleos in tone V  by Peter the Lampadar - performed in Romanian.
7.       It is meet and right…, Axion in tone VIII - performed in Romanian.
8.       Good Word…, Polyeleos on Feasts of the Theotokos in tone VIII by Nectarie the Protopsaltis - performed in Romanian.

Consecration Programme

 Friday, 13th September

19:00 - 20:00 – A Concert of the Byzantine Music performed by the choir of Saint Demetrius, Craiova, Romania (held in the Church)
20:00 - 21:00 – Common meal (Agape) inthe  Church Hall
21:00 - 23:00 –Vigil Service (Vespers, Artoklasia and Matins)

Saturday, 14th September

09:00 - 13:30 – Service of Consecration with Hierarchical Divine Liturgy
14:00 – 16:30 Common meal (Agape) in the Church Hall.

Fr. Constantin Popescu
_______________________________________
Romanian Orthodox Parish of Saint Makarios the Great
Saint Michael and All Angels Church
Lawns Lane, Farnley, Leeds, LS12 5ET
West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Tel: 01785 212247; Mobile: 07514 524 544

Compline tomorrow

This may be of interest to any of you in or near the York area. We'll be singing Compline tomorrow evening after our break due to the fact that two of the regular singers were in Belgium last week. :-)

I've just finished editing & saving the photos - a massive task. Some will no doubt appear on Flickr and/or Facebook in the near future.

Back to the present. Tomorrow is:

Fri 30 S ROSE of LIMA V III Cl W
Ordinary Office


Therefore: Friday psalms, Te Lucis I & Simple Salve Regina.

For some reason I thought it was a Marian feast & Compline of Sunday, but both calendar & online ordo confirm it isn't. Nevertheless, everyone is welcome! No doubt we shall adjourn to the 'vestry' afterwards for 'refreshments'. ;-)


Sunday 11 August 2013

Musica Sacra Scotland Conference


This is a super initiative and promises to be a great day. I'd love to go to this, but it sadly clashes with my own birthday and there are events, both sung and social taking place in York that day. Do go if you have the opportunity, except those of you invited to my party of course! 

If you click on the poster image, it will expand to show all the details.

Saturday 10 August 2013

More About Compline - and introducing a service schedule

It's not gone unnoticed that we're attracting more people lately, especially now that we've more or less moved back to singing on a Friday evening, which is where we started out when we were given the opportunity to sing the Office in York's oldest church some years ago.

It would still be lovely to see more, so my intention is to (time permitting) publish details of our regular services here on a weekly basis.

So, next week we shall be singing Compline again in St. Mary's, the details of which follow:

Friday 16th August 8.45pm (in all honesty, it will be nearer 9 by the time we eventually start!)

S JOACHIM, FATHER of the BVM C II Cl 
Semifestal Office

Compline will therefore be that of Sunday, concluding with the Solemn Salve Regina..

All welcome!


There are other potential developments regarding liturgical choral music & chant in York which may begin to take effect later this year. Stay tuned. If/when it happens you'll hear about it here...!



Thursday 1 August 2013

Watch this...

"The Chant Café: Propers of the Mass Channel" http://feedly.com/k/15ySjTP

I've subscribed to the channel