Venue

University of Eastern Finland,

School of Theology,

Agora, Auditorium AT100 (Entrance B, Yliopistokatu 4, Joensuu)

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Organizers
The International Society for Orthodox Church Music 

School of Theology, Philosophical Faculty, University of Eastern Finland

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Conference Programme

 

Last updated 15 April 2025

 

Time zone: EEST (UTC+3)

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Monday 9th June 

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Arrivals

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15.00–17.00 Piano Masterclass (open for registration)

Paul Barnes, Marguerite Scribante Professor of Music, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
Small Concert Hall of Joensuu Conservatory, Yliopistokatu 2

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Dinner (self-funded)

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Tuesday 10th June 

 

10.00 Opening session

Associate Professor Maria Takala-Roszczenko, Chair of the ISOCM

HE Elia, Archbishop of the Orthodox Church of Finland

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10.30 Session 1: The liturgical tradition of commemorative prayers

 

Aleksandr Andreev, Commemorative Prayers in the Daily Office of the Studite Horologion 

Gregory Craveiro, Commemorating Founders: The Monastery of the Evergetis Theotokos, A Case Study 

Girolamo Garofalo, November 2, Day of the Deaths, in Piana degli Albanesi (Sicily): a Byzantine tradition set in the Roman-Catholic liturgical calendar 

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12.00 Lunch, restaurant Aura

 

13.00 Session 2: Contemporary Orthodox Music

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Serafim Seppälä, Eternity and Creativity: Arvo Pärt, Ivan Moody, and Gregory of Nyssa

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Taíssa Marchese, The Trezvon Bell Ring as a Symbol of Resurrection in Works by Ivan Moody, Vuk Kulenovič, Maka Virsaladze and Georgy Sviridov (performance-communication)  

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Onni Joutsenvirta, Religious Change and Musical Expression: The Influence of Sir John Tavener’s Conversion to Orthodox Christianity on His Compositional Work 

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14.30 Opening of the Poster Exhibition 

 

Olga Zosim, Songs about Death and Eternal Life in the Pochaiv Bohohlasnyk

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Coffee

 

15.15 Keynote

Another Paradise, Fairer than the Old: Adam’s Lament through Silouan, Sophrony, and Pärt

Peter Bouteneff, Professor of Systematic Theology, Kulik Professor of Sacred Arts, St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, USA​

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16.30 Memorial service (Panikhida)

Ecumenical chapel of the School of Theology (AT101)

 

18.00 Concert, Sounds of Eternity
Latvian Radio Choir, conductor Kaspars Putniņš

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Joensuu, Papinkatu 1

Tickets available here (included in the conference registration fee)​

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Reception

Hosted by the Orthodox Church of Finland

Orthodox parish of Joensuu, Kirkkokatu 32

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Wednesday 11th June 

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10.00 Session 3: Church Music in the Carpathians

Simon Marinčák, Carpathian Plainchant in the context of the cultural history of Central European Slavs

Samuel Škoviera, Octoechos Melodies for Stichera in Ruthenian Chant: A Case of Musical Grammar Fossilisation

Anna Utkin, The Hungarian Greek Catholic Oktoechos chants in Miskolc area (northern Hungary) before 1950

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11.30 Lunch

 

12.30 Session 4: Local music traditions I 

 

Senkoris Ayalew Kassa, The Rite and the Liturgical Music of the Ethiopian Orthodox  

 

Giuseppe Sanfratello, Entering into Eternity: the Strange Case of the Municipal Band Playing a Piece by Bortniansky in the Church of St Dionysios of Zakynthos (Greece) 

 

13.30 Coffee

 

14.00 Workshop, We Are Drops of the Ocean, Witnesses to the Divine Play

Composer Tetiana Yashvili

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16.30 Vespers

Church of St John the Theologian, Torikatu 41

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18.00 Piano Concert, In Memoriam: Ivan Moody – Music Inspired by Byzantine Chant

Paul Barnes, Marguerite Scribante Professor of Music, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA

Taiga Quartet, Joensuu, Finland

Concert Hall of Joensuu Conservatory, Yliopistokatu 2

Tickets available here (included in the conference registration fee)​

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Reception

Orthodox Seminary, Torikatu 41

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Thursday 12th June 

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8.00 Divine Liturgy

Church of St John the Theologian

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10.00 Session 5: Theological aspects of death, afterlife, and eternity  

 

Harri Huovinen, Eschatology and Its Liturgical Realization in John Chrysostom

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Riikka Patrikainen, How Does the Orthodox Funeral Service Communicate Eternity Through Time? – An Analysis of Cantor's Experience of Singing the Funeral Service with van Gennep's Theory of Rites of Passage

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Grigorije Pavlović, Eternity in the Chanting of the Orthodox Church: Theological Reflections Through Liturgical Hymnography and Sacred Rites

 

11.30 Lunch

13.00 Session 6: Hymnography I 

 

Konstantinos Karagounis, Instead of Myrrh, Let Us Offer a Hymn to the Overlord  

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Svetlana Poliakova, On the Variants of the Division of Triodion and Pentecostarion in Greek and Slavic Codices of the 10th-14th Centuries  

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Bishop Damaskinos of Haapsalu, The Funeral Troparia of St John Damascene Reconsidered

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14.30 Coffee

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15.00 Session 7: Byzantine chant 

 

Athanasios Delios, Leading on Cadence: seeking an Aspect of Eternity in the Byzantine Kalophonic Melos of the First Authentic Mode

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Vassileios Varelas, Semiotic Aspects of Vocables in Musical Rhetoric in Byzantium

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16.15 Keynote

Death, the Afterlife, and Eternity in the Life of Saint Nephon of Constantiane (BHG 1371z)

Vasileios Marinis, Professor of Christian Art and Architecture, Yale Divinity School, USA 

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17.30 Annual Meeting of ISOCM

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Friday 13th June 

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10.00 Session 8: Spatial Expressions of Eternity 

 

Andrew Mellas, Between Mortality and Eternity: Songs of Sorrow and Hope at Chora Monastery

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Vasilija Pavlović, Gračanica – Woven Eternity in Stone and Light

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Maria Rizzuto, United by Eternity: Liturgical-Musical Practices of Christians of East and Intercultural Dynamics in Contemporary Palermo

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11.30 Lunch

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12.30 Session 9: Georgian chant and theology 

 

Zurab Tskrialashvili, Songs Related to Death in Georgian Tradition: Mourning Songs  

 

Abb. Sidonia (Freedman), Persons at Prayer in Paradise: Light from Georgian Sources on the Reality of Paradise in the Church and in Every Human Heart

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13.30 Poster exhibition

 

Gvantsa Maisuradze & Ana Tandilashvili, Christmas Rituals and the Tradition of Alilo in Georgia 

 

14.15 Session 10: Local music traditions II 

 

Viktoras Miniotas, On the 20th Anniversary of the Beginning of Orthodox Liturgy in the Native Language in Lithuania. Some Participant Observations on the Process with Examples from the Chants 

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Ionut-Gabriel Nastasa, Funeral Musical Compositions in Romanian Culture and Spirituality  

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15.15 Coffee

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15.30 Session 11: Hymnography II 

 

Victoria Legkikh, The Image of the East Slavic Princes through Hymnography: The Way to Eternity  

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Krista Berglund, About the Affinity of Some Orthodox Christian and Judaic Liturgical and Hymnographical Practices

 

17.00 Vespers

Church of St John the Theologian

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18.00 Dinner

Restaurant Usva, Kauppakatu 44

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Saturday 14th June 

 

Excursion to Ilomantsi

Lunch at the Karelian restaurant Parppeinpirtti

Tour in the Rune Singer's Village, Parppeinvaara

Karelian death rites, Ilomantsi Orthodox parish, Kokonniemi cemetery

Folk singers and lamenters Liisa Matveinen and Emmi Kuittinen

Vespers, Church of Prophet Elijah

Wine Tower

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Sunday 15th June 

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10.00 Divine Liturgy

Church of St Nicholas, Orthodox parish of Joensuu, Kirkkokatu 32

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Departures

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