The first pan-European Russian Orthodox liturgical music conference took place in London (UK) from January 23 to 26, 2020, based at the cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God and the Holy Royal Martyrs.
This event was blessed by Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad and Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe. The conference was organised under the auspices of Synodal Liturgical Music Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
The event was open to all choir directors, singers, readers and all people interested in Russian Orthodox liturgical music. As a result there were 50 participants. Choir conductors and singers were from the UK, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the USA, Ukraine and Russia. Among the participants there were the representatives of the Russian Church Abroad, Moscow Patriarchate, French Archdiocese and some parishes which are currently still under the Konstantinopol.
The conference featured lectures by renowned international specialists in the field of choral singing and church-musicianship. The focus was made on the history and contemporary issues of liturgical singing in the Orthodox European diaspora of the Russian tradition and on possible solutions to common problems.
The participants joined together in a choir to sing two hierarchical services over the weekend (Vigil and Liturgy), under the direction of highly qualified conductors.
Some of the lectures texts* could be found here:
*When using website's materials the reference to the original source is required
The First Pan-European Orthodox Liturgical Music Conference
"The Russian Church-Musical Diaspora:
Its Past, Present, and Future"
Protodeacon Alexandre (Kedroff) Liturgical singing practice in Paris in the XX century
Peter Fekula
ROCOR liturgical music activity
in North America
Nikolay Myshkin
Experience in working with amateur choir groups
Pavel Komarov
History of the choir of Kiev Theological Academy
Svetlana Zvereva
Liturgical music conferences in Imperial Russia
