Between 9th and 13th of June this year, the Bulgarian Black-sea town of Pomorie became the host of the seventh edition of the International Festival of Orthodox Music. The festival has already established itself as a renowned venue for Christian Orthodox choirs from many countries, welcoming this year more than 30 choirs from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, and Bulgaria, whose concerts in church and on the open-air stage brought delight to the large audience of locals and tourists.
One of the highlights in this year’s edition of the festival was the participation of professor Ivan Moody, a renowned British composer, conductor, musicologist and Christian Orthodox priest, who was invited to give a lecture and take part in the round table discussions focused on the contemporary problems of Orthodox music and choral singing around the world.
Ivan Moody studied music and Orthodox theology at the universities in London, Joensuu (Finland) and York (England), and gradually his path led him to accepting Orthodoxy. Many people would wonder why a Westerner would decide to compose Orthodox music and convert to Orthodoxy. Here is what Ivan Moody says:
“It was a gradual process which it would take too long to explain but the time when it happened was when I had particular contact with Russian people and that’s why I started in the Russian church. I can say that it was the result of a spiritual search and I was fortunate in living in London that it helped me experience different churches and different religious expressions.“
Born in London in 1964, he has been living in Portugal since 1990. One of his major interests is the encounter between Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic and Protestant Christianity and church music, and in his papers, he has been trying to reconcile the two traditions.
“There is a lot of interest in Western Europe in Orthodox music, which has been increased in recent years by immigration from Orthodox countries to the West. I also think there is a real interest in the richness of the Orthodox liturgical tradition, Orthodox arts, including the iconography and music in general. And it is very interesting that many Catholics and Protestants have tried to use Orthodox art in their own worship traditions. I also have to say that I think that Orthodox traditions are part of the Western heritage, and being a Westerner myself, I was born in England, I do not find any contradiction in these two things.“
Before his ordination to priesthood in 2007, Ivan Moody served as cantor in both the Greek and Bulgarian parishes in Lisbon, which enriched his perception of the specific expression of Christian Orthodoxy each church possesses. What are his impressions of Bulgarian Orthodoxy?
“I was actually a cantor in the Greek Orthodox Parish and when there was not a cantor at the Bulgarian parish, I would sing in both places. But when I became Orthodox in London, I began singing in the choir of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in London. I feel comfortable with all different kinds of traditions. And because of that, I was delighted to discover the Bulgarian expression of Orthodoxy it was something both familiar and different to me. I found connections both with the Greek expression of Orthodoxy, which is familiar and is similar to what I call “a Balkan spirit” and also something familiar with the Russian expression of Orthodoxy. And I think the Bulgarian nation should be very proud of its own unique expression of Orthodoxy which I see in its music and its icons. I think your iconography is unique, it doesn’t look like anything else.”
Ivan Moody is a versatile personality of many artistic, religious and social activities, one of which is being the chairman of the International Society for Orthodox Church Music.
“The Society was founded in 2005 in Finland, in the University of Yoensuu, Finland, and it includes composers, conductors, musicologists, and anyone interested in Orthodox Church music. The conference we organize includes musicological papers as well as concerts, and liturgical cycles, so we have vespers and liturgical services all week. The objective of the society is to bring people from all different Orthodox traditions together to learn from each other, and learn from different musical traditions. The last conference we had 14 different nationalities. It has proved to be a very fruitful meeting for people from different traditions, and one way in which this is demonstrated for example is when we have vespers during the week, and the choir and the congregation of people attending the conference, so we have many different musical traditions represented. “
This has been Ivan Moody’s first visit to the International Festival of Orthodox Music in Pomorie where he both attended the concerts and participated in the round table discussions.
“It reminds me in some ways of my experience with the International Society for Church music because it is a way of people to hear different musical traditions and different ways of performing the same music. It is also a social occasion, a way for people to meet and realize they are not working on their own. Also, it is an amazing way to enrich the spiritual life of a town. Pomorie is a small town and it is host to this incredibly rich and diverse selection of choirs of many countries. And one other thing I should say is that I like very much the inclusion of the lectures in the festival, which makes it much more than an occasion of choirs just singing. And I judge from the questions that followed my lecture. There is a real interest in people to learn outside their own specific traditions and ways of performing music.”
Ivan Moody is very popular worldwide as a composer, with eastern liturgical chant having a profound influence on his music, as has the spirituality and liturgy of the Orthodox Church. He tells us more about the tendencies in contemporary Orthodox liturgical music, and in particular, about clash between polyphony (two or more melodic lines) and monody (one melodic line or voice) in Orthodox music, which was also the topic of his lecture in Pomorie.
“One tendency is going back to unaccompanied chant, monophonic chant. Another tendency is to try and somehow change the kind of harmony that we use, so it’s not any longer basically 19th century style. I see both these tendencies as being connected. Orthodoxy is s very open thing, it’s like an umbrella, it covers many different possibilities of artistic expression. So, for example, as a composer, if I have the opportunity, I write quite complex polyphonic music, I write what is asked of me. If I have to write a simple piece for the parish, I do it. And on the other hand, usually when I celebrate the vespers in my town, I am on my own so I sing a simple monadic chant.”
In his talk in Pomorie, Ivan Moody made a historical overview of how polyphony has penetrated the national Orthodox churches of the Balkan countries, and his main conclusion was that in the Balkans, we witness an amazing mixture between both traditions where neither tradition is viewed as a threat to the other, and both co-exist in liturgical services and in the works of local composers of sacred music.
The festival in Pomorie is the perfect venue for every person interested in Orthodox music, both monadic and polyphonic, to hear examples of both traditions in the rendition of Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian, and many other choirs.
“I would love to come back to Bulgaria. I find new things every time I come. I am very glad to have had this opportunity to speak to your listeners on this program. So, many years, Mnogaya Leta and until next time!”
On Radio Bulgaria, this has been Keyword Bulgaria, bringing you today a special interview with prominent British composer and conductor Ivan Moody talking about Orthodox music and traditions. At the end of today’s program, we offer you a live recording made during the 7th International Festival for Orthodox Music in Pomorie, Bulgaria.
Photos provided by: www.orthodoxvoices.org
