Department for External Church Relations
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Oratorio “Andrej Rublev” by Monsignor Marco Frisina performed for the first time in Moscow
On November 24, 2019, the Russian premiere of an oratorio composed by Monsignor Marco Frisina, a renowned Catholic musician, took place at the Zaryadie concert hall as part of cultural cooperation between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Roman Catholic Church. The oratorio is devoted to St. Andrej Rublev.
It was performed by the Moscow Synodal Choir, the Youth Synodal Choir, the choir of the Moscow Cathedral of the Epiphany-in-Yelokhovo, and the Voce Anima orchestra. The performance was conducted by the author himself. The solo parts were performed by Mikhail Turkin, Ivan. Lyubimov, Varvara Fedotova,Yevgenia Kuznetsova and Constantin Fedotov. The organ part was played by the titular organist of the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Moscow, Mrs Anna Vetlugina. The concert became possible thanks to the support of the Russian Federation Ministry of Culture.
Especially for the Russian audience, the Italian text of the oratorio, composed for the 30th anniversary of the canonization of Andrej Rublev, was translated into Russian by Rev. Alexey Dikarev of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, who has preserved the structure of the narration and its musical form.
‘For me, Andrej Rublev is one of the most attractive Christian artists’, Msgr. Frisina admitted, ‘This icon-painter combines beauty and spirituality experienced through art. He has given us a special vision of the Divine mystery, opening a window for us to see the heavenly beauty’.
The story of the oratorio is based on the tradition about the appearance of St. Andrej Rublev to his disciple icon-painter Daniel Cherny. Andrej Rublev lives at a difficult time, that of the Tatar invasion, and feels a temptation of depict the grave reality as it is in real life. But he is prevented by his profound inner awareness of real beauty, the understanding that the true reality lies in the Creator’s love of his creation, which cannot be shaken by any cruelty of the sinful world.
‘The Russian side saw as important the idea of performing the contemporary Italian music devoted to the great Russian icon-painter Andrej Rublev’, said the artistic director of the Moscow Synod Choir, Russia’s Honoured Artist Alexey Puzakov’, ‘in Andrej Rublev’s creative work we see guidelines of the traditional Christian values of love and mutual understanding’.
The premiere of the oratorio took place on January 20, 2019, at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist with the participation of the Moscow Synodal Choir, the choir of the diocese of Rome and the Fideles et Amati symphonic orchestra.
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24.01.2021
06.11.2020