The program opens with Holy Week-celebration music composed in and around Jerusalem from the seventh to the ninth centuries by the city’s great church fathers: Patriarch Sophronios, Kosmas the Melodist, and Saint John Damascene. It continues with excerpts of the hauntingly beautiful hymns and psalms for Pentecost that reflect the practice of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople before the Latin conquest of 1204.
The melodies are drawn from manuscripts held at the Abbey of Grottaferrata near Rome, whose library possesses one of the most important collections of medieval Byzantine chant manuscripts in the world. Founder and artistic director Dr. Alexander Lingas (City University London) will lead an international ensemble of Byzantine cantors including Stelios Kontakiotis, principal cantor (protopsaltis) of the Shrine to the Mother of God on Tinos, Greece.
On May 31, 2014, a daylong program, inspired by the exhibition Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections and LA Opera’s production of Massenet’s Thaïs, explores the art and culture of the Byzantine empire. The program includes talks, tours of the exhibition, and musical performances by LA Opera artists. The fee is $60 and includes morning coffee and pastries, lunch, and complimentary parking.
Cappella Romana
Saturday, May 17, 2014, 7pm
Sunday, May 18, 2014, 3pm
Getty Villa, Auditorium
Tickets: $20; students/seniors $15. Purchase tickets online or by calling (310) 440-7300.
Byzantium in Art and Music
Saturday, May 31, 2014, 9am–3:30pm
Getty Villa, Auditorium
Program fee $60 (includes coffee, pastries, and lunch). Complimentary parking. Purchase tickets online or by calling (310) 440-7300.