Search - Cappella Romana :: Peter Michaelides: The Divine Liturgy

Cappella Romana announces the release of its 13th recording, THE DIVINE LITURGY BY PETER MICHAELIDES. Completed in 1960, this outstanding choral setting of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy is also one of the first to have been written in English. Greek-American composer Peter Michaelides perceptively combines elements of Byzantine chant with modern neo-classicism to create unaccompanied music of uncommon elegance and spiritual depth.The CD comes with a deluxe 20-page booklet with extensive essays and full color photography of the stunning St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in Santa Barbara, California, for whose choir Dr. Michaelides wrote several liturgical works, including the hymn in honor of St. Barbara included on this present recording. Sung primarily in English, the recording features selections in Greek and in Arabic.The ensemble's first museum exhibition CD, Music of Byzantium, commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2004, sold 12,000 copies. Cappella Romana regularly appears on XM VOX (6.8 million listeners), Millennium of Music (national XM/NPR syndication), Harmonia (NPR national syndication), and on local Portland and Seattle classical and NPR radio, as well as overseas on GREECE RADIO 4 and UK BBC RADIO 3 and 4. Some of the Pacific Northwest's finest professional singers make up Cappella Romana, including Blake Applegate, Stephanie Kramer, LeaAnne DenBeste, and David Stutz. Directed by Alexander Lingas, Cappella Romana made its European debut in March 2004 at the Byzantine Festival in London to over 2,000 in St. Paul's Cathedral; its New York debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They host regular series in Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash., and tour throughout the US and Europe.