In memoriam Archontos Protopsaltis Lykourgos Angelopoulos,
honorary MCB member
Beloved fans of Byzantine music,
The organisers of the 7th edition of the Masterclass of Byzantine Chant have prepared for this year another intensive programme of practical and theoretic courses at academic level, that will be delivered by some of the most prestigious personalities in the fields of Byzantine chant interpretation and Byzantine musicology.
The main focus of this edition is the heirmologic genre, in a practical, theoretical and historical approach. The complexity of this topic that cannot be exhausted in only one edition has prompted us to invite to Iași some of the greatest specialists in the field. The 2014 edition will tackle, from a practical perspective, issues ranging from the problem of prosomoia and of Romanian translations to the art of kalophony, from the Romanian terminology to the genre’s historical evolution, from the secrets of the interpretation of kalophonic heirmoi to the ”ethos” of the canon as an hymnographic species.
Main MCB ’14 courses: the guests of this edition are interpreters and musicologists from the Romanian and Greek speaking area.
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Maria Alexandru (Aristotelis University, Thessaloniki, and collaborator of the University of Arts in Iasi) will give an interactive presentation on the diachronic development of the heirmologic genre.
Prof.Dr. Georgios Konstantinou (Athens, and collaborator of the University of Arts in Iasi) will be the lead teacher of the heirmologic genre in its three hypostases: syntomon, argosyntomon and argon dromoi. His lectures will include audio exemplifications by established interpreters as well as live exemplifications.
Monk Filotheu Bălan will present the basic coordinates for the Romanian terminology used in all aspects of the heirmologic genre as well as the historical evolution of the orthodox services and typikon.
The Large Ensemble will act as the practical course in which all attendants will experiment the process to intepret some heirmologic pieces in argosyntomon dromos. From aspects such as scales, ornamentics, attractions up to a mode’s ethos, homogenisation, interpretation, participation in the Large Ensemble supposes the thorough preparation of the musical scores suggested to be studied.
The female ensemble, a practical course that was extremely successful in 2013, will be held this year as well, and it will bring into discussion new and challenging elements of feminine interpretation both from Romanian and Greek perspectives.
The special guest at MCB ’14, for ”ars subtilissima”, as we may call the art of kalophony: an exceptional voice and a vocal phenomenon, Prof. Dimitrios Galanis will initiate us in the mysteries of the high art of kalophonic heirmoi. Therefore, we shall all attend a practical and original course in the vocal training of a few selected chanters. His long experience as a protopsaltis in the Cathedral in Patras (Greece), his career as a teacher in the Metropolitan School in Patras, as well as his vocation as an interpreter in numerous concerts of byzantine and traditional Greek music recommend Dimitrios Galanis as the special guest of this edition.
Romanian automela and prosomoia: a challenging and topical subject, that raises many issues and begs many solutions, prosomoia, which we tackled in previous years as well, could not be left out from this edition dedicated to the heirmologic genre. Therefore, we have re-invited the musicologist that is the most passionate about this subject, deacon Cornel Constantin Coman (București), from whom we shall find out new things about Byzantine metrical-musical patterns.
The musical texture of a kalophonic heirmos and its chronological evolution from the oldest documents up to our present days will constitute the fascinating journey to which we shall be invited by the Paleography team from Thessaloniki (”Aristotelis” University), together with BA and MA students from the University of Arts from Iași, under the supervision of Prof.Dr. Maria Alexandru.
The final concert will constitute the event’s gala moment, which will bring together, in the Metropolitan Cathedral of the most memorable Veniamin Costachi, Dimitrie Suceveanu and others, all guests and students of the 7th edition of the Masterclass of Byzantine Chant. With the blessing of His Holiness, Metropolitan Teofan, who will be attending the event, the choir of the participants and Byzantion choir, will bring a musical homage to the one who will remain for us, into eternity, ”Master Lykourgos Angelopoulos”, together with the special guests if this Byzantine evening: Dimitrios Galanis, Georgios Konstantinou and Antonios Aetopoulos.
We are expecting you with much joy!
