17 May 2023
On 27 April 2023, the schola of Benedictine monks of Sant’Anselmo, led by maestro P. David Foster OSB, and the Byzantine choir “Psalterion” from Greece, under the direction of maestro Mr. Christos Vattis, performed hymns of the Resurrection of the Lord and of the Divine Liturgy.
The audience, among them more than 30 ambassadors to the Holy See, enjoyed a true Easter program. As in the Bible every apparition of the Risen Lord is told as an encounter, so one could enjoy the encounter of two different musical traditions: the Gregorian and the Byzantine, the Western and the Eastern. It was an attempt to make audible the idea that these traditions, as different as they are, speak of the same mystery. It is the same God they glorify. And yet, its expressions are very different: polyphonic/monophonic, in different tonalities, with different kinds of voices. It seemed almost as if one needed different ears in each case.
The high point of the evening was the “Hagios ho Theos, Sanctus Deus,” in which both scholas sang their own parts in their respective languages in one and the same piece of liturgical music.
The program was sponsored by Sant’Anselmo Abbey and its Prior, Mauritius Wilde OSB, and the Greek Embassy to the Holy See, with her Excellency, Mrs. Aikaterini Katia Georgiou.
Altre Notizie
On the evening of 28 March, Armenian monks Kevork Sarkisyan, Hovhannes Manukyan, and Mashdoz Ohanian of the Mekhitarist monastery in Venice-Lido gave a presentation to the residents of Sant'Anselmo. Story and photos here.
On 21 March, The Feast of our patron Saint Benedict, the Sant'Anselmo community was treated to limoncello, a traditional Italian "digestivo", made by Head Chef Antonio Giovinazzo and Monk-Refectorian Antoine Sossa.
Father Kevork Sarkisyan made a short video of our early-morning Candlemas. Story, links and video here.
