Product Description
Fedoseyev/Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra.
Review
STANDING OVATION GREETS THE PASSION ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
Last evening s concert at the St. Cecilia Auditorium in Rome, The Passion According to Matthew, composed by Orthodox Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Vienna and Austria, received a standing ovation at the end of the two-hour performance. The 41-year old, multi-lingual Orthodox prelate joined the 145 musicians on stage after the concert, acknowledging the work he had written in late summer.
It was indeed a stunning evening with the beautiful and moving music framed by the presence of so many Church and civil dignitaries. Only once in my life have I had such superb theater seats third row center. I was seated, in fact, right in front of Cardinals Paul Poupard, Roger Etchegaray and Walter Kasper as well as the composer of the opus, Bishop Alfeyev. I spoke briefly to him at the intermission, and he was pleased to meet an EWTN representative as he well knew that we d be televising the show around the world.
I asked the bishop where his inspiration had come from for this work and he told me Just that, inspiration. This summer, on a trip back to Vienna from Budapest where I presided a service dedicated to St. Stephen of Hungary, the melodies and words just began coming to me. He said he continued working on and off as inspiration came for several weeks. I had been involved in music when I was young, he told me, but had been away from it for about 20 years, and only last year did I return to it, with a passion. This is my first big work since then, said the composer of musical pieces as well as publications in several languages on the liturgy, music and theology.
The evening was opened by remarks from Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture which had helped to organize and sponsor the event. The cardinal was one of many ranking prelates from the Roman Curia at the concert, in addition to students from many countries attending Rome universities (some of whom had been at Pope Benedict s penitential service), ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, priests and seminarians from a number of seminaries, including the North American College, politicians and representatives of art and culture. There were also a number of prelates from the Orthodox Church. --Ewtn
Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev given standing ovation at first performance of his St. Matthew Passion in Rome
Brussels, March 30, Interfax - The State Tretyakov Gallery choir and Tchaikovsky Large Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Fedoseyev performed Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Vienna and Austria s composition St. Matthew Passion Thursday night in Rome.
As at the Moscow concert of March 27, which was attended by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, the audience stood up to applaud the composer and musicians, a spokesperson for Bishop Hilarion said.
The concert in Rome was supervised by the Pontifical Council for Culture and supported by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, and Russian Embassy to the Holy See.
Among the concert trustees there were chair of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, president of Pontifical Councils for Interreligious Dialogue and for Culture Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity Cardinal Walter Kasper, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, Russian Ambassador to the Holy See Nikolay Sadchikov, composer Arvo Part.
A welcome of Cardinal Poupard preceded the concert that was also attended by Cardinal Kasper, Cardinal Etchegaray, Cardinal Spidlik, ambassadors to the Holy See, heads of Departments of the Roman Curia, Italian and Roman politicians, people of art and culture.
Bishop Hilarion s Roman premiere was widely covered by the leading European media, the spokesperson said. The concert was broadcasted by Eternal World Television Network cable TV. The EWTN subscribers number 123 million families or 200 million people in 140 countries. A TV version of the concert will be re-shown by the EWTN during the Holy Week, which fells on the same week for both Orthodox and Catholics this year. --Interfax
Canada holds the first performance The Passion According to St. Matthew in English
Toronto, October 27, Interfax - Premier of the English version of The Passion According to St. Matthew composed by the Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Institutions Bishop Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Vienna and Austria was held in St. Paul Basilica in Toronto.
"I've got the idea to translate Passion in English after the piece was performed in Melbourne. Then the Gospel was read out in English, while all musical pieces were in Church Slavonic. For the first time the entire composition was presented in English in Toronto," Bishop Hilarion told an Interfax-Religion correspondent on Monday.
He confessed it was "rather a difficult task" to prepare an English version.
"When the music uses symmetrical rhythm, the text had to be adapted to music," he said.
The concert was given a standing ovation when the whole audience rose to applaud the author and performers of The Passion According to St. Matthew. The applause and shouts "Bravo!" lasted for a long time.
The performers included the choir of St. Michael's Cathedral, Toronto, consisting of 140 boys seven to fifteen years old, and a string orchestra. The bass role of St. Matthew was sung by the soloist of the Queen's Opera House of Toronto Robert Pomakov. --Interfax
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