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Sailing to Byzantium:
CAPPELLA ROMANA to Make Its Greek Debut
Sacred Music Festival of Patmos, at the Cave of the Apocalypse
and the 6th-century Church of 100 Doors, Paros
PORTLAND, Ore. -- For the first time in its 20-year history, Cappella Romana will travel to Greece for performances at two prestigious venues in the Aegean Sea this September 1-7: the 11th Annual Sacred Music Festival of Patmos, Greece, and the 6th-century Church of 100 Doors, Paros. Founding Artistic Director Alexander Lingas will direct a 10-member ensemble in the program "The Byzantine Tradition: From Constantinople to California."
The concerts of the Patmos Sacred Music Festival "A Revelation of Music" are held near the Monastery of St. John by the Cave of the Apocalypse. The island of Patmos is the traditional site where St. John received the Revelation, the last book in the New Testament canon.
On the island of Paros, the Metropolitan Bishop of Paronaxias, His Eminence Kallinikos, has invited Cappella Romana to give a performance in the 6th-century Church of 100 Doors (Naó Ekatontapilianí), built during the reign of the Emperor Justinian (r. 527-565). Multiple Grammy-award winning producer Steve Barnett and our regular recording engineer Bill Levey are scheduled to travel to Paros to produce the recording of the program in this famous church.
"These invitations represent a profound endorsement of our work, as we begin our 20th-Anniversary Season," says Mark Powell, Executive Director. "This tour gives us a chance to share the important historical music of the Byzantine tradition as well as contemporary sacred music of Greek America, both of which are largely unknown in Greece except among specialists. We are also thrilled that the concert in Patmos is slated to be broadcast on Greece's Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation."
The tour program features music ranging from ancient Medieval Byzantine chants to Renaissance polyphony by Cretan Frangiskos Leontaritis to modern choral works by Californian Greek composers: Frank Desby, Tikey Zes, Theodore Bogdonos and Steve Cardiasmenos. The program will conclude with rhapsodic works by modern Greek composer Michael Adamis.
The substantial travel costs of this tour are being underwritten by private contributions from individual donors and family foundations. Sponsorship options are also available.
Cappella Romana was founded in 1991 by Dr. Alexander Lingas, who is a Senior Lecturer in Music at City University in London, England, and one of the world's leading scholar-performers of Byzantine and Orthodox music. Among his current projects is a general introduction to Byzantine Chant for Yale University Press. Dr. Lingas and the ensemble have also begun work with Stanford University on a new research project on the acoustics of Byzantine churches. He is the 2010 recipient of the Saint Romanos the Melodist Medallion, awarded for exemplary national contributions to church music in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
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