Apostichon

Premiere performance: March 12, 2022, Our Lady of Peace Chapel, Notre Dame Jerusalem Center, Jerusalem, Israel. March 13, 2022. The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, Palestine. Mariusz Monczak, violin; Norbert Palej, organ; Iwona Kowalkoawska, (obbligato) soprano.

Program Note

(For information about Aposticha Mystica / Απόστιχα Μυστικά please visit the page of the parent composition.)

Since January 2022, my University of Toronto colleague Norbert Palej, his family and I moved to my birth town of Volos, Greece, for a half-year sabbatical leave. Part of our plan was to repeat an earlier, pre-pandemic, pilgrimage to Israel, but by March, I was becoming worried that, several unexpected creative projects and concert commitments that suddenly entered the picture might make such a trip impossible during that sabbatical leave. One such unexpected project was Aposticha Mystika / Απόστιχα Μυστικά for Byzantine cantor and choral drones. Even though I had finished a complete draft of that composition, initially I was not able to secure permission for the use of the poem, and I was in a despondent state of mind. I was mostly mad at myself for not securing the rights to poetry which was still under copyright before I embarked on the setting.

No sooner than I came to the conclusion that Aposticha Mystika / Απόστιχα Μυστικά might never see the light of day, Norbert's phone rang, and he received two urgent requests from Polish violinist/producer Mariusz Monczak, (1) "Could you travel to Israel with us and play organ for three concerts in Jerusalem and Bethlehem?", and (2) "could Christos compose a piece for violin, organ and obbligato soprano and possibly join us?" The tour was to take place less than ten days later and two of the venues were Our Lady of Peace Chapel in the Notre Dame Jerusalem Center and the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. Intriguing and inspiring as the possibility was, both Norbert and I thought that this was a crazy idea. Although a very good pianist, Norbert had never played the organ and I was not able to compose a new work on such short notice, not to mention my already existing and pressing composing commitments. We were both ready to decline the offer when it hit me: I had a vocal work for cantor and drones which could conceivably be quickly translated into a work for violin and organ and in its new form, the organ part would be mostly drones which meant that Norbert could learn it with very little effort. Norbert and I decided that this would be the only way for us to make this pilgrimage to Israel and be blessed with performances in some of the most meaningful shrines of Christianity. We travelled cheaply to Israel and performed gratis in these magnificent venues. Our seemingly impossible adventure turned out to be a highlight of our composing careers.

Mobile phone recording of the "performance" of Apostichon on March 13, 2022,at the Catholic Cathedral of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestine, as the congregation was assembling for a Catholic Mass in Arabic soon after. Mariusz Monczak violin, Norbert Palej, organ and Iwona Kowalkowska (obbligato) soprano. "Apostichon" in Bethlehem