The performance, entitled “Psalms & Hymns,” will feature Russian Orthodox sacred music in English that highlights the biblical foundations of Orthodox Christian liturgy.  An ensemble made up of select singers from the St. Tikhon's Seminary choir and a group of professional vocalists from the Chamber Choir of Saint Tikhon’s Monastery will perform the program under the direction of Benedict Sheehan.  The performance is the third public concert featuring the highly regarded Chamber Choir of St. Tikhon’s Monastery, which celebrated the release of its inaugural CD with a concert in New York City last year.

“While the liturgical life of the Orthodox Church has certainly evolved and deepened over the course of two millennia, spanning as it has a multitude of cultures and languages, it continues to, as it were, breathe the air of Holy Scripture,” says Sheehan, who teaches liturgical music at St. Tikhon’s Seminary in addition to directing the choirs. “The Psalms remain the core of Orthodox services, and likewise the rich body of hymnography that we now possess in Orthodoxy grows entirely out of an original foundation of psalmody. Psalms and hymns interact seamlessly within our services, and the language of psalms, and of Scripture in general, is vividly mirrored in the words of the hymns.”

The music in the program will draw on the thousand-year-old tradition of monastic singing in Russia, as still practiced today at St. Tikhon’s Monastery. Znamenny Chant from medieval Russia will be featured alongside more recent arrangements by composers from the Moscow Synodal School and the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. Also included on the program will be arrangements by the late Deacon Sergei Trubachev (1919-1995), as well as an original work by Benedict Sheehan, based on medieval znamenny chant. All selections will be sung in English.

Joining the choir as canonarch—a liturgical soloist in Orthodox monastic practice—will be Hierodeacon Herman (Majkrzak) of St. Tikhon’s Monastery brotherhood and teacher of liturgics at St. Tikhon’s Seminary. 

McInnis Auditorium is located on the main campus of Eastern University at 1300 Eagle Road Saint Davids, PA 19087. A campus map is available for download.  Seating is limited, so please write to orthodox@agorainstitute.org to express interest and reserve tickets for pick up at the event.   You can click here to access a flyer to post for the event as well.

Proceeds from the event will benefit St. Tikhon's Theological Seminary and the Orthodox Center at Eastern University. Tickets will be available at the door and are $20.00 for adults and $10.00 for students. Direct donations above that level are most welcome.