Difference between revisions of "Spirit of Orthodoxy Choir"

Revision as of 15:33, March 10, 2012

The Spirit of Orthodoxy Choir is a choir composed of Orthodox Christian singers in the New York - New Jersey - Pennsylvania area of the United States. It is committed to singing in the English language the great works of Orthodox music that glorifies God and expresses the Orthodox faith, thus opening the treasury of Orthodox music to the community.

History

The Spirit Of Orthodoxy Choir was established in 1997 under the direction of Aleksei Shipovalnikov. The choir consists of singers from various parishes and jurisdictions who are dedicated to church singing and who desire to be witnesses to the faith through music.

These music selections represent three schools of Russian Church music and have been sufficiently translated into English. Some of the choir's repertoire has been unheard in the West. The Choir sings chiefly in English but also performs music in Church Slavonic. Their repertoire witnesses to the range and quality of the liturgical life of the Orthodox Church. Their singing is a capella, without instrumentation. This is typical of the Orthodox Church, where the human voice and soul are invaluable in worship.

Director

Aleksei V. Shipovalnikov was born in Rostov on the Don and studied composition, polyphony and conducting at the Gnesin Sate Conservatory and the Moscow Institute of Culture. His post-graduate studies included a master class with Leonard Bernstein in 1988. He served as Artistic Director and Manager of the Moscow State University Symphony Orchestra and Academic Choir and has conducted in the Soviet Union, West Germany and Poland. He established a reputation during the Communist era for innovative programming in spite of the political risks involved. In 1990 he moved to the United States, where he has served as Choir Director of Christ the Savior Church, San Francisco and Music Director of Slavyanka Men's Slavic Chorus. He was Professor of Liturgical Music at St. Tikhon's Seminary, South Canaan, Pennsylvania. He is currently Music Director at Ss. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, Jersey City, New Jersey.

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-This is the '''OrthodoxWiki Sandbox'''!  Feel free to edit here to your heart's content!
+The '''Spirit of Orthodoxy Choir''' is a choir composed of Orthodox Christian singers in the New York - New Jersey - Pennsylvania area of the United States. It is committed to singing in the English language the great works of Orthodox music that glorifies God and expresses the Orthodox faith, thus opening the treasury of Orthodox music to the community.
-'''Optina Pustyn''' is a male [[monastery]] near Kozelsk which was the most important spiritual center of the [[Church of Russia]] in the nineteenth century. The monastery was famous for the [[monasticism|monastic]] renewal movement in Russia based on the [[hesychasticism|hesychastic]] tradition that had been largely lost in the Russian monastic experience in the eighteenth century.
 ==History==
-It is not clear when the [[hermitage]] was established. Optina as a monastery had existed since at least the sixteenth century. The monastery is located about 80 miles from Moscow. It had fallen in disrepair in the eighteenth century under the anti-monastic policies of Peter I and Catherine II. In 1790, Metr. Platon of Moscow undertook the restoration of the monastery.
+The Spirit Of Orthodoxy Choir was established in 1997 under the direction of Aleksei Shipovalnikov. The choir consists of singers from various [[parish]]es and [[jurisdiction]]s who are dedicated to church singing and who desire to be witnesses to the faith through music.
-During the late eighteenth century monasticism in Russia enjoyed a revival, significantly influenced by the works and spirituality of the [[Elder]] [[Schema]]-[[monk]] [[Paisius Velichkovsky]], which was spread by his many monastic disciples. At Optina his works found a ‘headquarters’ from which his spirituality expressed in the hesychastic tradition spread throughout Russia. A visible manifestation this spirituality at Optina was conveyed by the lineage of divinely enlightened spiritual fathers, ''startsy'', plural of starets, who served as spiritual guides for the many people who came to the monastery for holy counsel during the nineteenth century.
-In addition to counseling, the monastery, through the initiative of Elder Macarius, began publishing patristic texts, an activity in the Church that had been seriously curtailed by Peter I’s reforms. Hieroschema monk Macarius also began editing manuscripts of the translations by Paisius Velichkovsky and his followers of Greek versions of patristic works. Thus, began an effort by the monks of Optina that resulted in production of some 125 books with over 225,000 copies of works by St. [[Isaac the Syrian]], St. [[Symeon the New Theologian]], St. [[Nils of Sora]], and others that were distributed throughout Russia and was a counter to the secular press that was publishing translations of mystical-philosophical works from the West.
-Most of the buildings on the monastery were built in the nineteenth century. A heritage was built for the startsy near the monastery in 1821. Large crowds of devout Christians were attracted to Optina Pustyn, including many notables such as Nikolai Gogal, Ivan Turgenev, Feodor Dostoyevsky, Vasily Zhukovsky, and Vasily Rozanov.
-The Bolshevik revolution of 1917 halted the works of the monks. The monastery was closed and the startsy were forced to leave. Some of the Fathers were able to maintain a life at the monastery as an ’agricultural legion’, but in the end the monastic Fathers were dispersed, to die in exile, in prison and labor camps, or to be executed. The buildings of the monastery went into disrepair and some of the structures were demolished.
-With Perestroika and the thaw in the atheistic policies of the Soviet government concerning the Church of Russia, Optina Monastery was re-established in 1987. It was one of the first monasteries returned to the Church. This event was followed by the glorification of the Optina startsy in 1990 by the Synod of the Russian Church abroad and in 1996 by the Moscow Patriarchate.
-==The Elders==
-*:Moses: Elder Moses reposed in 1862.
-*:Anthony: Elder Anthony reposed in 1865.
-*:Leonid(Lev or Leo): Elder Leo reposed in 1841.
-*:Macarius: Elder Macarius reposed in 1860.
-*:Hilarion: Elder Hilarion reposed in 1873.
-*:Ambrose: Elder Ambrose was said to have been the prototype for Father Zosima in Dostoyevsky’s novel ‘‘The Brothers Karamazov’‘. He reposed in 1891.
-*:Anatolius: Elder Anatolius reposed in 1894.
-*:Isaac: Elder Isaac reposed in 1894.
-*:Joseph: Elder Joseph reposed in 1911.
-*:Barsanuphius: Elder Barsanuphius reposed in 1913.
-*:Anatolius the Younger: Elder Anatolius the Younger reposed in 1922.
-*:Nectarius: Elder Nectarius reposed in 1928.
-*:Nikon the Confessor: Elder Nikon the Confessor reposed in 1931.
-*:Hieromonk Isaac the Younger: Hieromartyr Isaac was executed by the Bolsheviks on [[December 26]], 1937 in Tula.
-The [[Synaxis]] of these [[Saint]]s of Optina is commemorated on [[October 11]].
-==External links==
+These music selections represent three schools of Russian Church music and have been sufficiently translated into English. Some of the choir's repertoire has been unheard in the West. The Choir sings chiefly in English but also performs music in [[Church Slavonic]]. Their repertoire witnesses to the range and quality of the liturgical life of the Orthodox Church. Their singing is a capella, without instrumentation. This is typical of the Orthodox Church, where the human voice and soul are invaluable in worship.
-*[http://www.orthodoxworld.ru/english/sviatyeXX/2/index.htm Optina Fathers]
-*[http://www.stherman.com/catalog/Introductions/catalog_chapter_six_intro.htm Optina Fathers]
-*[http://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/los/October/11-SaintsofOptina.htm Saints of Optina]
-*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optina Monastery   Wikipedia: Optina Monastery]
+==Director==
+Aleksei V. Shipovalnikov was born in Rostov on the Don and studied composition, polyphony and conducting at the Gnesin Sate Conservatory and the Moscow Institute of Culture. His post-graduate studies included a master class with Leonard Bernstein in 1988. He served as Artistic Director and Manager of the Moscow State University Symphony Orchestra and Academic Choir and has conducted in the Soviet Union, West Germany and Poland. He established a reputation during the Communist era for innovative programming in spite of the political risks involved. In 1990 he moved to the United States, where he has served as Choir Director of Christ the Savior Church, San Francisco and Music Director of Slavyanka Men's Slavic Chorus. He was Professor of Liturgical Music at [[St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary (South Canaan, Pennsylvania)|St. Tikhon's Seminary]], South Canaan, Pennsylvania. He is currently Music Director at Ss. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, Jersey City, New Jersey.
-[[Category: Monasteries]]
+[[Category:Church Music]]
-[[Category: Russian Monasteries]]
+[[Category:Organizations]]

Difference between revisions of "Spirit of Orthodoxy Choir"

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