NEW YORK: May 3, 2010
A concert focused on the works of composers of the Soviet period will be held on May 8
Nicholas Reeves Presents
Deliverance Through Devotion: the Triumph of Orthodox Music Over Oppression
With the Canticum Novum Singers under the direction of Harold Rosenbaum
 On May 8, 2010 at 7:30 pm, composer Nicholas Reeves presents Deliverance Through Devotion: The Triumph of Orthodox Music Over Oppression, an evening of music and lectures at St Vartan Armenian Cathedral, 630 Second Avenue, New York, NY. The Canticum Novum under the direction of Harold Rosenbaum will perform works by Andriasov, Part, Murov, Popovici and Schnittke. The evening honors the work of artists from ?ve different ethnic backgrounds: Armenian, Estonian, Russian, Romanian, and Jewish, whose works were banned or controversial due to their connection with or in?uence by the Orthodox Church.
In the shadow of oppressive atheistic ideology such sources as Matthew the Evangelist or the Armenian Saint Gregory of Narek were employed by Murov and Schnittke at the price of of?cial ridicule or censure. Other composers' careers were sti?ed for their overtly Christian themes (Part) or were forced to remove the sacred text altogether (Popovici). In the case of Andriasov, the fame for his ethical writings among dissident circles and accolades from the Catholicos of Armenia, coupled with his audacity to refuse the Lenin Prize for music composition, incensed the Soviet authorities to wreak academic sabotage on his wife and impel exile. Yet, these artists responded to the inhumanity of an impersonal regime not with anger or violence, but with beauty and truth.
A new work by Reeves honors the most misrepresented composers of the Soviet era, Dmitri Shostakovich. In Memoriam Dmitri Shostakovich is a sacred a cappella choral piece on a composer who did not write Church music, but one in whose music Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk has said to ?nd “his longing for the Absolute and God and his thirst for the truth.”
In between the musical selections, noted lecturers Natalie Zelensky and Katya Ermolaev Ossorgin will re?ect on the past and future of post-Communist cultures and the challenges they provide for the Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike.
His Grace Bishop Jerome of Manhattan is expected to attend, as will bishops of other Orthodox Churches.
Tickets may be obtained by calling 646-450-4077 or via e-mail at info@nicholasreevesmusic.com. Tickets are $30 for adults, $15 for students and seniors. www.nicholasreevesmusic.com
About the Performers:
NICHOLAS REEVES
Composer Nicholas Reeves brings together sacred, classical and popular influences in well-crafted music that is gaining attention in New York City and beyond. His work has been performed by The Canticum Novum Singers under the direction of Harold Rosenbaum, the Winds of L?so Art Festival in Denmark, at Merkin Hall and the famous Riverside Church. In February 2009, Reeves's work was featured in a four-day concert engagement, The Four Stop Tour. This versatile series of performances in Manhattan encompassed four aspects of American musical culture: film, theater, sacred hymns and concert works. Of special interest was an historic performance of selections from Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil, in which the Vespers portion was sung as an actual Orthodox Service with Propers composed by Reeves. The first stop of the tour encompassed Reeves's multifaceted artistry in which the Oscar winning film No Country for Old Men, famous for having a minimal musical score, was viewed with a live orchestra performing his composition to accompany the film. The son of an Orthodox priest, Reeves is the Director of Music at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in East Meadow, New York, in addition to maintaining a private composition, conducting and voice studio. He has studied at the Brevard Music Center and holds degrees in composition from Westminster Choir College and Manhattan School of Music, where he is currently pursuing a DMA in classical composition as a student of Richard Danielpour. Presently, Reeves is composing his much anticipated first opera Vicious.
THE CANTICUM NOVUM SINGERS
Hailed by critics and audiences alike, The Canticum Novum Singers is now in its 36th exciting season under the direction of its founder, Harold Rosenbaum. During the past 35 years, this chamber choir has achieved both national and international recognition for its stylistic versatility, vocal blend, and expressive range. The ensemble has presented dozens of world, American, and New York premieres by composers ranging from Handel, JC Bach, Faure, and Bruckner, to Harbison, Berio, Schnittke, Rorem, Schickele and George Benjamin. The Canticum Novum Singers has performed in all of New York's major concert halls and has collaborated with The Orchestra of St Luke's, The American Symphony Orchestra, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Riverside Symphony, The Madeira Bach Festival Orchestra in Portugal, l'Orchestre Philharmonique d’Europe in Paris, and The Symphony Orchestra of Budapest in Spain and Andorra. The group has been heard in more than 50 radio broadcasts on WNCN, WQXR, WNYC, WBAI, and NPR. Its “St John Passion” performance at the prestigious Madeira Bach Festival was broadcast throughout Europe, and its annual recital on WNCN was for years a holiday tradition. The chorus has performed in the PDQ Bach concerts at Carnegie Hall, has appeared with Peter Schickele on WQXR's “The Listening Room,” and has performed the music of Mr Schickele on the Great Performers series produced by Lincoln Center and later broadcast on NPR’s program “Schickele Mix.” The Canticum Novum Singers and the Canticum Novum Youth Choir were featured in a nationally broadcast episode of CBS Television’s 48 Hours entitled The Mysteries of the Nativity. The Canticum Novum Singers is a recent recipient of a Lincoln Center Community Arts Project award. During the summer of 1996, the group participated in the Siracusa International Music Festival in Sicily, and in July of 1997, it participated in festivals throughout Great Britain. The Canticum Novum Singers has performed over 450 concerts worldwide. It allows elite amateur singers from many different professions the opportunity to perform great choral music at a highly-professional level. Admission is by rigorous audition. In this way, the chorus maintains the high standards for which it is so well known. In fact, many listeners are unaware that The Canticum Novum Singers is a volunteer, rather than professional chorus. The Canticum Novum Singers is Chorus-in-Residence at St Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church in New York City.
Natalie Zelensky holds a PhD in Music Studies from Northwestern University. Her dissertation, entitled "Music in Exile: Constructing the Russian Diaspora in New York Through Russian Popular and Sacred Music," examines the role of music in creating and negotiating social boundaries and ethnic identity among Russians in the diaspora from the 1920’s until the present day. She has presented papers on Russian Orthodox music at national conferences of the Society for Ethnomusicology and at the 2008 conference in Moscow, entitled, Russkoe Zarubezh'e: Muzyka i Pravoslavie [Russia Abroad: Music and Orthodoxy]. Her article, "By the Waters of the Hudson: The Struggle for Authentic Church Music in the Russian Diaspora of New York," will be published in the forthcoming edition of Music and World Christianity, edited by Suzel Reily and Jonathan Dueck. Zelensky currently teaches at Georgetown University.
Katya Ermolaev Ossorgin is a PhD candidate in Musicology at Princeton University. She is writing her dissertation on Prokofiev’s film score to Eisenstein’s “Ivan the Terrible” (1945-46). Based on original archival research conducted in Moscow, her dissertation will include the first in-depth discussion of the use of Orthodox liturgical music in “Ivan the Terrible.” Born to Russian parents, Ms Ossorgin grew up in New Jersey and conducted her parish church choir in high school and throughout college.
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