Cappella Romana is a

vocal ensemble A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

founded in 1991 in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Its name, meaning "Roman Chapel", refers to the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Greek concept of the Roman

oikoumene The ecumene ( US spelling) or oecumene ( UK spelling; grc-gre, οἰκουμένη, oikouménē, inhabited) is an ancient Greek term for the known, the inhabited, or the habitable world. In Greek antiquity, it referred to the portions of the worl ...

(inhabited world), which embraced

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and Western Europe, as well as the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

("New Rome") and its Slavic commonwealth centered at

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. It has become especially known for its exploration of

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

vocal music. It has collaborated with notable museum exhibitions at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York and the

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood, Los Angeles, Brentwood neighborhood ...

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. The ensemble's 2002 performance of Ivan Moody's ''Passion and Resurrection'' was acclaimed by ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' music critic Chris Pasles as "sung gorgeously" and "like jeweled light flooding the space". In 2010 it became a participant in the research project 'Icons of Sound: Aesthetics and Acoustics of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul', a collaboration between Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) and Department of Art & Art History. Cappella Romana completed a residency at Stanford again in 2013, which included further experiments with CCRMA, lecture demonstrations, and a live performance in Stanford's new Bing Hall, featuring a medieval Byzantine chant sung in the virtual acoustic of

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

before a sold-out audience. For their 2019 album of music in the medieval Byzantine tradition, ''Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia'', advanced digital sound-sampling techniques were employed to capture the acoustics of the immense

. The ensemble's singing of Byzantine chants thus recreates the ambiance as the music would have been heard there a millennium ago. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said the album "... brings to life the stately mystery of Byzantine cathedral liturgy, bathed in the glittering acoustics of the space for which it was written — even though it was recorded in a studio in California". The ensemble is directed by

Alexander Lingas Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, a musicologist of

Byzantine music Byzantine music (Greek: Βυζαντινή μουσική) is the music of the Byzantine Empire. Originally it consisted of songs and hymns composed to Greek texts used for courtly ceremonials, during festivals, or as paraliturgical and liturgical ...

City University, London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

. Guest artists with similar interests regularly appear with the ensemble, including Ioannis Arvanitis, Stelios Kontakiotis,

Ivan Moody Ivan L. Moody (born Ivan Lewis Greening on January 7, 1980) is an American singer and songwriter who is the lead vocalist of heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch (FFDP). He performed for several other bands including Motograter and Ghost ...

, and Vladimir Morosan. ''Passion Week'',

Maximilian Steinberg Maximilian Osseyevich Steinberg (Russian Максимилиан Осеевич Штейнберг; – 6 December 1946) was a Russian composer of classical music. Though once considered the hope of Russian music, Steinberg is far less well known ...

's 1923 choral work based on

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

liturgical texts for Holy Week in

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with Standard language, standardizing the lan ...

, was given its world premiere in 2014 by Cappella Romana in Portland, Oregon. In preparation for the premiere, Cappella Romana's music director,

, had traveled to St. Petersburg in order to examine Steinberg's manuscripts. His research resulted in a new edition of the previously lost work, published by

Musica Russica Musica (Latin), or La Musica (Italian) or Música (Portuguese and Spanish) may refer to: Music Albums * ''Musica è'', a mini album by Italian funk singer Eros Ramazzotti 1988 * ''Musica'', an album by Ghaleb 2005 * ), a German album by Giova ...

. This edition was also used for the first ever recording of the work by Cappella Romana and in performances of the work by other choirs throughout the world.

Discography

* 2019 — ''Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia'' * 2012 — ''Angelic Light: Music from Eastern Cathedrals'' (

Valley Entertainment Valley Entertainment is an American independent record label and music distributor based in New York City, United States. The company was founded in 1994 by Barney Cohen and Jon Birge. In 2001, it acquired the prestigious back catalogue of space, ...

) * 2011 — ''Mt. Sinai: Frontier of Byzantium'' * 2011 — ''Choral Settings of Kassiani'' * 2009 — ''Peter Michaelides: The Divine Liturgy'' * 2009 — ''Byzantium in Rome: Medieval Byzantine Chant from Grottaferrata'' * 2009 — ''Byzantium: 330-1453'' (

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

) * 2008 — ''Kontakion on the Nativity of Christ'' * 2008 — ''The Divine Liturgy in English in Byzantine Chant'' * 2006 — ''The Fall of Constantinople'' * 2005 — ''Epiphany: Medieval Byzantine Chant'' * 2005 — ''Lay Aside All Earthly Cares: Orthodox Choral Works in English'' * 2004 — ''Music of Byzantium'' (

) * 2003 — ''The Akáthistos Hymn by Ivan Moody'' * 2000 — ''When Augustus Reigned: Christmas Music from the Byzantine Tradition'' * 2000 — ''Tikey Zes Choral Works''

References

External links

Cappella Romana homepage
{{Authority control Performers of Byzantine music Choirs in Oregon Byzantine music Musical groups from Portland, Oregon Musical groups established in 1991 1991 establishments in Oregon

Discography

See also

References

External links