The concert will present ancient and mystical chants of the Vigils of Mount Athos, featuring works by renowned Athonite monks such as Ioasaf Dionysiatis, masterpieces of Byzantine music by composers including Petros Bereketis, and traditional Athonite chants authentically interpreted by the distinguished Greek protopsaltis Christos Chalkias. The programme also presents contemporary arrangements of Byzantine music performed by the Philokallia Ensemble.
The Archaion Kallos International Festival of Orthodox Music offers a beautiful spiritual and musical experience. In its literal sense, the Greek expression “archaion kallos” means “ancient beauty,” but in the vocabulary of the Holy Fathers of the Eastern Christian Church, “archaion kallos” speaks of a certain archetype, an “original beauty;” that is to say, the beauty which man beheld in Paradise and which he experienced after Creation. The Philokallia Association (philokallia, a word of Greek origin meaning “love of the beautiful”) gave this name to the first and only festival of Orthodox music in Prague because they perceive every act in sacred music, whether of composition or interpretation, as a kind of conscious or unconscious search for this pristine beauty, the Archaion Kallos.
The festival is held under the auspices of
The Minister of Culture, Mgr. Martin Baxa,
The Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic, H.E. Mr. Dinos Konstantinou,
The Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia, H.E. Ms. Jana Vanaveski,
The Municipal District of Prague 2
and with the blessings of
His Eminence Michal, Archbishop of Prague and the Czech Lands.
