The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson

Can an aging voice lose its wobble? Voice scientist Dr. Stephen Austin says yes, and explains the exercises that brought a 70-year-old soprano's voice back to how she sounded in her forties.If you lead a church choir, sing in one, or teach voice, this conversation will change how you rehearse. Dr. Stephen F. Austin, Professor Emeritus of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy at the University of North Texas, trained in voice science under Ingo Titze at the University of Iowa. He spent more than three decades teaching singers at LSU and UNT. He is also one of the leading historians of voice teaching, and brings both worlds to the questions church musicians actually face.We start with myths still taught in choir rooms everywhere: that breath support is the cure for every vocal problem, that you can "place" the voice, that you should "sing in the mask," and that the sinuses make the sound. Steve explains why each one falls short, and what actually builds a voice. The answer is targeted exercises that strengthen the small muscles of the larynx and even change the shape of the vocal folds themselves.From there we get practical. Steve explains why teenagers at a 30-hour all-state choir weekend can go home with vocal nodules, how five-minute silent breaks protect your singers, and why a long rehearsal right before a concert leaves the best singing in the rehearsal room. He tells the story of a soprano in her seventies whom every choir in town had turned away because of her wobble, and the 18 months of daily exercises that gave her voice back.We also cover laryngeal position in opera, pop, and Southern gospel singing; how sopranos can extend their high range ("drop to the top"); the controversy over glottal onset, explained with a cello bow; vocal registers and falsetto; how to learn a trill; why singers' careers burn out; boy choirs; posture and the choir folder; when not to sing at all; and how to blend a choir without wearing out your trained singers.What you'll learn:- Why "just support more" doesn't fix high notes or volume- Why the voice can't be "placed," and what's really happening when you feel it in your face- How to rehearse a choir without wearing out their voices- Why chest voice exercise matters, especially for women- What causes the "wobble" in older voices, and the exercises that fix it- How larynx position separates operatic, pop, and Southern gospel sound- "Drop to the top": how sopranos can sing higher with less effort- Glottal onset: what it is, why it's controversial, and how much is too much- How to sing straight tone in a choir without strain- Warm-ups for volunteer choirs: why to stay low, and which vowels to use- Why you should never sing on a hoarse voice🎧 THE EXTENDED VERSIONPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MatthewWilkinsonMusicSubstack: https://substack.com/@matthewwilkinsonmusicYouTube Memberships: https://www.youtube.com/@matthewwilkinsonmusic/membership📖 DR. STEPHEN AUSTINhttps://www.thepracticalpedagogue.com/Provenance: Historic Voice Pedagogy Viewed through a Contemporary Lens: http://insideviewpress.comCHAPTERS3:11 Welcome5:46 From opera singer to voice scientist13:07 Is vocal imagery useless?16:20 Are choirs singing too much?20:30 Rehearsing smarter: descants and rest breaks26:12 The support and placement myths30:00 "Sing in the mask" and the sinuses32:25 Building the instrument: chest voice35:30 Fixing the wobble in older voices42:13 Learning to trill46:22 Support: flooding the engine51:27 The historical exercise sequence57:28 Larynx height: opera vs. pop1:05:37 A Southern gospel tenor1:10:08 Registers: chest, head, and falsetto1:19:51 Extending the top: "drop to the top"1:30:42 Onset: rosin on the bow1:41:23 When onset goes too far1:45:58 Why singers burn out1:50:05 Young voices and boy choirs1:53:41 Posture and the choir folder1:57:50 Don't sing hoarse2:00:31 Choir vs. bel canto: blend and straight tone2:11:51 Advice for volunteer choir members

Love songs that are secretly prayers. A dawn song that started in a monastery. A troubadour who became a bishop and persecuted heretics. Medieval singer Evgeny Skurat and instrumentalist Danil Ryabchikov join me from Montenegro to explore the hidden sacred side of troubadour music, and to perform it.We usually think of the troubadours as poets of courtly love, endlessly pining after women they couldn't have. But of the roughly 260 troubadour songs that survive with their melodies, some are outright prayers, and many more are soaked in monastic and liturgical imagery. Yevgeny and Daniil have spent over fifteen years performing this repertoire, and their latest program takes a radically different approach: soft, intimate, and sung in church acoustics, closer to how the noble and monastic world that produced this music might have heard it.We talk about who the troubadours actually were (and why they weren't wandering bards), why medieval jongleurs were told they had no hope of salvation, troubadour "rap battles" and female troubadours (the trobairitz), crusade songs, and the enueg, the medieval "annoyance song." We get into how troubadour music was notated, how you reconstruct rhythm from poetry, Pythagorean tuning, and how you accompany a melody when the manuscript gives you nothing but the tune, using the citole, chifonie, and guitarra latina.Then we turn to the bigger picture: monasteries as medieval hotels, the conductus and Unicornis captivatur, the Goliards and the 12th-century renaissance, why Kotor in Montenegro sits on the fault line between East and West, Beneventan chant and its Byzantine borrowings, whether the troubadours were secret Cathars, and how songs like Reis glorios use quotations of chant to give a love song a sacred meaning.CHAPTERS00:00 Cold open: Welcome to the Medieval World01:47 Welcome, Evgeny Skurat & Danil Ryabchikov02:03 sacred troubadour music?02:31 Who were the troubadours?04:46 Troubadours vs. trouvères05:24 Not wandering bards: troubadours vs. jongleurs06:54 Can medieval musicians be saved?08:21 Were troubadour songs all about unattainable women?09:04 Pastourelles, trobairitz & troubadour "rap battles"12:27 Crusade songs & Bertran de Born13:59 The enueg: 13th-century country music14:39 The sacred troubadour project15:37 The alba, an anti-war song & troubadour prayers17:50 How troubadour music was notated19:11 Reconstructing rhythm from the poetry20:27 Modes & Byzantine parallels22:10 Pythagorean tuning23:08 How do you accompany a melody with no accompaniment?26:54 Drones & "doodles in the margins"29:55 Where do you get medieval instruments?32:18 Vielle, harp & the jongleur's instrument list34:29 Ornamentation & melodic formulas36:03 Was the hurdy-gurdy a monastic instrument?38:08 Monasteries as medieval hotels39:43 A soft, intimate approach in church acoustics41:26 Unicornis captivatur & the conductus43:43 Goliards, Abelard & the 12th-century renaissance45:43 Why Montenegro? Kotor between East & West49:02 Beneventan, Old Roman & the chant traditions52:28 Byzantine melodies in Beneventan chant59:55 Were the troubadours secret Cathars?1:03:59 Marcabru & songs against Rome1:05:54 How text and music fit together1:06:46 Reis glorios & hidden sacred meanings1:09:58 What is an alba? Phebi claro1:12:41 Script vs. performance: music and text as one1:14:45 Performing melismas & proportion1:18:23 Historically informed vs. "folk medieval"1:19:15 How audiences have received it1:20:20 The Tollite Portas festival & Kotor's Venetian wind bands1:23:17 How Yevgeny & Daniil met1:24:07 What's next: Slavonic chant in Freiberg1:25:11 The legend of the vanishing organ1:27:09 ClosingEVGENY SKURAT: https://chronosart.bandcamp.com/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrWFuo-zMbVXGronlsjuaQDANIIL RABCHIKOV: https://www.danilryabchikov.com/enTOLLITE PORTAS – KOTOR EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL: https://www.tolliteportas.me/

Three years ago they were listening to Sam Harris. Now they're kissing relics. Reformed pastor Paul Vander Klay joins me to talk about the Orthodox moment, why liturgy is having a renaissance, and what screens have to do with it.Paul has spent years at the center of the conversation around Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Pageau, and John Vervaeke, and he's the co-founder of Estuary, a network of small conversation groups meeting all over the world. We talk about how Estuary gets atheists and Christians talking without the polemics, why Paul thinks "attentional weaponry" is pushing people toward liturgical worship, why Coptic churches have TV screens, and his first experiences of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy.We also get into relics and the "religious con," the myrrh-streaming icon that ended my panic attacks, what Paul still holds as a Christian Reformed minister (including why icons don't work for him), what Protestants are missing that the Orthodox have, Kuyper, Bavinck & Barth, the Heidelberg Catechism vs. Westminster, Vervaeke's "religion that's not a religion," and why you can't live off the religious buffet: fans are not a home.This is The Pursuit of Beauty, conversations on sacred music, iconography, architecture, and the theology of beauty across Christian traditions.CHAPTERS00:00 Cold open00:50 Welcome, Paul Vander Klay02:09 The Pursuit of Beauty & moving beyond polemics05:55 What is Estuary?13:35 How Estuary avoids polemics15:31 Evangelism without the bait-and-switch17:18 The future of Estuary18:56 Bible studies vs. real conversation20:18 What modernity took from us: feasting, the Supra21:25 "Attentional weaponry" & the liturgical renaissance25:13 Why Coptic churches have screens26:36 Is liturgy really in the vernacular?28:25 Paul's first Orthodox liturgies31:18 From the emerging church to Orthodoxy33:22 The "Orthobros" & a diverse Orthodox landscape35:29 Relics, universal history & the "religious con"37:29 A myrrh-streaming icon & the end of my panic attacks38:21 The Eucharist, relics & Luther's elector40:59 What Paul still holds as a Protestant42:34 Icons: looking at vs. looking through46:38 What Protestants lack: confession, the hours, fasting & the saints49:47 A son of the Reformation51:02 Kuyper, Bavinck & Barth56:07 Westminster vs. Heidelberg58:34 How Paul met Vervaeke & Pageau1:04:05 Bishop Maximus & the earliest Byzantine chant1:05:06 Vervaeke's project & the "religious buffet" problem1:12:29 Why you need a home: the difficult neighbor in the pew1:14:23 Commitment, marriage & "fans are not a home"1:16:01 Peterson's providential timing1:17:10 ClosingPAUL VANDER KLAYYouTube: [link]Estuary: [link]SUPPORT THE PURSUIT OF BEAUTYPatreon: [link]Substack: [link]Shop: [link]#Orthodoxy #Liturgy #PaulVanderKlay

In the mountains of Lebanon, monks still chant the liturgy in Syriac, a form of Aramaic, the language Christ spoke. Fr. Toufic Maatouk, a monk of the Antonine Maronite Order, conductor, and scholar of Maronite chant, joins me to explore one of the least-known chant traditions in the Christian world.Why is Holy Week a season of joy rather than lament for the Maronites? How can about 125 melodies carry an entire liturgical year? And what is the "neutral third," the note that sits between major and minor and can be heard as either Western or Arabic? Fr. Toufic explains the roots of Maronite chant in the Christian Levant, the legacy of St. Ephrem the Syrian and St. Maron, shuhlofo (the transformation of melodies in Holy Week), centonization, the arrival of the organ, oud, and qanun, the history of Maronite notation from Dom Jean Parisot to Fr. Boulos el-Achkar and Fr. Louis Hage, the shift from Syriac to Arabic, the Maronite anaphoras, and what it means to keep this tradition alive in Lebanon today. Along the way, he sings.This conversation is part of my ongoing series of long-form conversations with someone from every major Christian chant tradition: Gregorian, Byzantine, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Georgian, Malankara, and now Maronite.All Maronite chant recordings in this episode are from "The Syriac Hymnal of the Antonine Maronite Order" (2023), used with the kind permission of Fr. Toufic Maatouk.Transcription and notation: Fr. Toufic Maatouk, OAMVocals: Elias Shamata, OAMRecording: Studio Ralph Sleiman© 2023 Toufic Maatouk. All rights reserved.Listen to all 125 recordings (Vol. I – Ordinary Time, Vol. II – Passion):https://www.touficmaatouk.com/syriac-hymnal-audio-recordings/Scores shown are from Fr. Toufic Maatouk's forthcoming notated edition of the Syriac Hymnal (Antonine University Editions). Notation © Toufic Maatouk.Hymns featured include Enono Nuhro Shariro (Ordinary Time and Passion), Shubho Lhao Roio, Setoro Tobo, Hoyen Lhatoyé, and 'Adlo Nizoun.Fr. Toufic Maatouk: https://www.touficmaatouk.com/FURTHER READING━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Sebastian Brock, "The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of St Ephrem"St. Ephrem the Syrian, "Hymns on Paradise," trans. Sebastian Brock (St Vladimir's Seminary Press)Sebastian Brock, "Treasure-House of Mysteries: Explorations of the Sacred Text through Poetry in the Syriac Tradition"━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━CHAPTERS━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━0:00 Holy Week in the Maronite Church is joyful2:24 Welcome4:08 Who are the Maronites? Saint Maron and the Maronite Church6:15 Praying in Syriac, a form of Aramaic7:04 The origins of Christian worship in the Levant11:30 Acculturation: shared singing traditions in Lebanon13:34 Saint Ephrem and the Syriac hymnal14:45 Modes, temperament, and the maqam question17:15 Why aren't Ephrem's great hymns in the hymnal?23:31 Saint Maron and Saint Ephrem24:55 125 melodies, changing texts, and shuhlofo32:07 How Latinization brought lament to Holy Week32:48 Holy Week melodies and Syriac rhythm35:45 One melody, three names: centonization39:01 One book for every monastery41:09 Is there a Maronite Oktoechos?42:23 The neutral third and the Zalzalian modes47:22 Organs, oud, qanun, and percussion50:42 Preserving tradition vs. organs and polyphony54:34 How far back can Maronite chant be traced?56:41 From Dom Parisot to Boulos el-Achkar and Louis Hage1:00:35 A new notation of the Syriac Hymnal1:03:09 Hear the neutral third sung two ways1:04:07 Ornamentation and the two choirs1:06:05 Arabic, Syriac, and the congregation1:08:01 Maronite vs. Syriac Orthodox melodies1:09:15 Maronites, Melkites, and the many anaphoras1:13:16 Married priests and celibate bishops1:14:32 Music, land, and the Maronite diaspora1:15:42 Life in Lebanon today1:19:51 The Qadisha Valley

Sacred Harp: A Living Tradition, with Thomas A. IveyWhat is Sacred Harp, and why are thousands of people still singing it every weekend? In this episode of Pursuit of Beauty, I talk with Tom Ivey, a shape-note singer for more than thirty years, a longtime member of the Charleston Sacred Harp singing (begun in 2008), and a composer whose tune "Blessed Road" appears in the new 2025 edition of The Sacred Harp.— RESOURCES MENTIONED —Sacred Harp Publishing Co.: http://sacredharp.comShenandoah Harmony: http://www.shenandoahharmony.comSacred Harp Bremen (part-by-part practice tracks): https://www.sacredharpbremen.orgSingings calendar & indexes: https://fasola.org— RECORDINGS USED —Excerpts are used for commentary and education, with thanks to the singers and those who recorded and shared them. If you're a creator and would like a clip removed or credited differently, please contact me and I'll take care of it right away.Stratfield142 (Texas Sacred Harp Singers)- 410t The Dying Californian – Young People's Convention, Austin TX, 2014 – https://youtu.be/DNDgfS8CBPw- What Wondrous Love – Henderson TX, 2012 – https://youtu.be/aRpV9H9ZpB0- 45t New Britain – Southwest Convention, McMahan TX, 2011 – https://youtu.be/uPOo4dOuPbQ- Bound for Canaan – Bethel Primitive Baptist Church, McMahan TX, 2012 – https://youtu.be/5FTVuNqEBh8- 501 That Beautiful Land – Bethel Primitive Baptist Church, McMahan TX, 2012 – https://youtu.be/xTbJ5axaUnA- 254 Rose of Sharon – Coker UMC, San Antonio TX, 2011 – https://youtu.be/u_afgYrZe9g- 178 Africa – Coker UMC, San Antonio TX – https://youtu.be/YZrO3P7AQOQ- 457 Wayfaring Stranger – https://youtu.be/-S-Mb8K6cE8PLBrayfield- 110 Mount Vernon – Missouri State Convention, 2014 – https://youtu.be/9LxmTypxn50- Jordan (Billings) – Missouri State Convention, 2018 – https://youtu.be/uK7u0loWB00- 236 Easter Anthem – Kalamazoo All-Day Singing, 2009 – https://youtu.be/_TgfhYsmGEQ- 284 Garden Hymn – Southern Wisconsin Singing, Dodgeville, 2011 – https://youtu.be/TKQb8PM0Au8RI Sacred Harp- 160b Turn, Sinner, Turn – Rhode Island All-Day Singing, 2019 – https://youtu.be/-BG4MkqzQlo- 163t Morning – Rhode Island All-Day Singing, 2017 – https://youtu.be/pCd1ShMg3tI- 414 Parting Friend – Rhode Island All-Day Singing, 2018 – https://youtu.be/AwUgBjRYGX0Secondmdus – Lloyd's Hymnbook, Mars Hill Primitive Baptist Church, Hoboken GA, 2007- O How Happy Are They – https://youtu.be/BCPsSnn07Hc- I Walked Abroad One Morning Fair – https://youtu.be/emb-xLtcSkUSacred Harp Museum- 493 Blessed Road (Thomas A. Ivey, 2010; © 2025 Sacred Harp Publishing Company) – 2025 Edition Debut Singing, Atlanta, 2025 – https://youtu.be/eEA9zZewSOkOther channels- 346 The American Star – Camp Fasola, 2024 – Esther Morgan-Ellis – https://youtu.be/DJ_4LQ98gzY- 155 Northfield – Henagar Union Convention, 2012 – Mrkyess1 – https://youtu.be/IjMLGGGwzaI- Angel's Hymn – Northern Shenandoah Valley Singing, 2014 – SuperDonkeyEars – https://youtu.be/B2pygw2_JJg- 326t We've No Abiding City Here (Shenandoah Harmony) – Lehigh Valley All-Day, 2016 – Rachel Hall – https://youtu.be/wnQ4heCBc60- Jacob's Vision – Germany Sacred Harp Convention, 2018, led by Georges Boboé – Sacred Harp Bremen – https://youtu.be/o2N095OV33w- Hail Smiling Morn (Spofforth) – The Marsh Warblers, West Gallery choir – bothybats1 – https://youtu.be/pcJz_oZfVVs- Gaelic Psalm singing, Psalm 122 – Rev. Jack Morrison, 1992 – Don Aldmor Rison – https://youtu.be/XXnqemuXVOc- Bill of Rights: First Amendment (Neely Bruce) – Rebecca Nurse Homestead, Danvers MA, 2016, dir. Tom Carmody – https://youtu.be/msJs4zvG8OwBostonSing Shapenote Resources- Piccolo Spoleto 2010 (Charleston) – https://www.bostonsing.org/recordings/piccolo-spoleto/- Vintage recordings – https://www.bostonsing.org/recordings/vintage-recordings/

Barry Rose OBE is one of the towering figures of Anglican church music. At ninety-two he looks back over sixty years at the heart of the English choral tradition, with warmth, humour and disarming candour. He built the choir of Guildford Cathedral from nothing at twenty-six, rebuilt the choir of St Paul's Cathedral as Sub-Organist and then Master of the Choir, trained the choristers who sang at the 1981 royal wedding, served as Master of the Music at St Albans Abbey, and produced BBC Radio's Choral Evensong for nearly twenty years. He studied organ with C. H. Trevor at the Royal Academy of Music, orchestrated Stainer's Crucifixion, and worked with Paul McCartney and Elton John along the way. This is a long, candid conversation about English cathedral choirs, boy choristers, church organ playing, Anglican chant, sacred music and what is happening to the tradition he helped build. We begin with the most pressing question in English church music: what is happening to the cathedral boy choir. Rose speaks plainly about mixed treble lines at St John's Cambridge, St George's Windsor, Hereford and Chichester, the case for separate boys' and girls' choirs on the Salisbury and Truro models, and what he believes is being lost. From there, how he actually trained choristers: why he never chased a manufactured "choral sound," letting each child sing with the voice they were given; probationers, humming, an hour on a single hymn; soft consonants and stopping the sound a millisecond before the D in "God." For Rose the words got there first and the music came later — the music is only a handmaid to bring the words alive. We discuss Anglican chant, Coverdale and the Book of Common Prayer, why the Creed should be said and not sung, and his definition of a descant: a decoration, never an annihilation. He takes us inside the choral establishment — Guildford's absorbent-plaster vault, relearning tempo for the echo of St Paul's, recording straight to stereo with no chance of repair, and why AI will give you a four-part choir but it won't have any soul. Then the stories: persuading McCartney to ring the choir school headmaster, clashing with Sir David Willcocks over descants at the royal wedding, and C. H. Trevor telling him he would never be a good organist — but would always be a good musician. Near the end he says, simply: "I'm at the end of my life, so I can say what I'd like really now."━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━CHAPTERS00:00 "The words got there first, the music came later"02:46 "That tradition is being killed off in the name of equality"13:06 The 20% tax closing England's choir schools15:33 Training boys versus girls — and the bus16:57 "You call a spade a shovel": rehearsing children honestly22:17 The silences between the notes — Laurence Olivier23:58 Founding the Guildford choir on chant and hymns alone27:39 Why the Creed should be said and not sung28:47 Guildford's absorbent plaster and the St Paul's echo37:37 Can AI make music? "It won't have any soul"45:00 Messiah: tempo, Jennens, and divine inspiration49:56 C. H. Trevor: "You'll never be a good organist"53:51 Paul McCartney, Elton John, and the choristers56:39 The royal wedding, Willcocks, and the descant58:31 How it ended at St Paul's1:03:10 The "holpen" story, and bright eyes in a voice trial1:07:17 The Responses everyone wrongly attributes to him1:14:51 "My favourite organ is the one I'm playing now"1:21:47 "A descant is a decoration, not an annihilation"1:32:33 Howells, Charles Wood, neglected composers1:44:48 The Road Home━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━#SacredMusic #ChoralMusic #AnglicanChurchMusic

Why does the same ancient chant melody sound completely different depending on which corner of Georgia you're standing in?

Musicologist John A. Graham returns for Part 2 of our exploration of **Georgian Orthodox chant**, this time going deep into the three great transcribed monastery schools: **Gelati, Shemokmedi, and Svetitskhoveli**. At the heart of Graham's research is a fascinating argument: the schools inherited essentially the same model melodies, but each region learned to harmonize and ornament them through the sound-world of its own **Georgian folk polyphony**. The chanters who sang in church were often the same master singers who performed at the feast table afterward, and the two traditions shaped one another over generations.

We explore the east–west divide created by the Likhi Range, the nearly lost chant tradition of Svaneti, whether Georgian congregations historically sang, the ninth chords of Gurian polyphony, voice crossing, the three levels of ornamentation, the ornamented middle voice of Vasil Karbelashvili, the musical "signatures" that let scholars identify individual chanters in manuscripts, and the controversy over whether Trio Mandili represents authentic Georgian folklore.

⏱ **CHAPTERS**

00:00 — Cold open: voice crossing, village singers, and Petritsi

03:46 — Welcome back

05:59 — Why the same chant sounds different across Georgia

08:29 — The published Georgian chant volumes

09:16 — Svaneti: a chant tradition almost lost forever

10:06 — Svetitskhoveli, Davit Gareja, and Bodbe

12:23 — The Likhi Range and Georgia's east–west divide

14:22 — Svaneti: slower, simpler, chordal chant

17:37 — Open fifths and the Svan sound

20:41 — Gelati: the "nest" of Georgian chant

26:01 — Melody, harmony, ornamentation: what actually differs?

28:53 — How master chanters ornamented a melody

31:03 — Did ordinary people sing in church?

34:05 — The Lord's Prayer and unornamented recitative

37:06 — Why great singers were village VIPs

46:13 — Ioane Petritsi, the Trinity, and three voices becoming one

47:06 — The east–west argument summarized

49:10 — Why Gelati harmony sounds different

50:40 — Shemokmedi and the ninth

54:09 — Gurian polyphony and the ninth chord

58:57 — Why Georgian singers deliberately seek dissonance

1:02:01 — Georgian tuning: 170 cents, not 200

1:04:58 — Georgian harmony works from the melody downward

1:08:28 — Octaves in eastern and western Georgian music

1:15:22 — Cadences across the three monastery schools

1:21:12 — How Vasil Karbelashvili built and ornamented a chant

1:24:06 — The individual style of master chanters

1:26:52 — Musical signatures: identifying a chanter by his hand

1:33:07 — Arakishvili and the ornaments notation left out

1:34:35 — How much should modern ensembles improvise?

1:38:34 — The Sakhioba Ensemble and the CD era

1:39:40 — Is Trio Mandili really Georgian folklore?

1:41:38 — The St. George troparion: my favorite chant

1:48:10 — Can the lost art of improvisation be revived?

🎼 **GUEST — JOHN A. GRAHAM**

Website: https://www.johnagraham.com

Georgian tours & chant resources: https://www.johngrahamtours.com

Georgian Chant: https://www.georgianchant.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV0vT4n6QKcbk6lAS1CSO9Q

📖 **DISSERTATION**

*The Transcription and Transmission of Georgian Liturgical Chant*

John A. Graham, Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 2015

🎵 **MUSIC & FOOTAGE**

Chant recordings and video used by permission of John A. Graham. Filmed at Bana Monastery, Kintsvisi Monastery, and Ubisa.

Troparion to St. George performed by the Sakhioba Ensemble. Additional chant performed by the Anchiskhati Church Choir, directed by Malkhaz Erkvanidze.

Historical recordings include the Apolon Tsamtsishvili Choir (Tbilisi, 1903), Gigo Erkomaishvili Choir (Kutaisi, 1907), Samuel Chavleishvili Trio (Kutaisi, 1909), and Erkomaishvili brothers (1965).

Notation and photographs from Graham's dissertation, reproduced by permission.

#GeorgianChant #OrthodoxChant #SacredMusic

Is Coptic chant really 3,000 years old? Dr. Michael Henein set out to prove it — and his own experiment said no.Coptic Orthodox chant is often described as the last living echo of ancient Egyptian music, sung continuously since the time of the Pharaohs. Dr. Michael Henein decided to test that claim. With permission from the Cairo Museum, he had replicas made of ancient Egyptian flutes and asked a musician to play the responses of the Liturgy of St. Basil on them. The oldest flute produced exactly the scale the liturgy uses. It looked like proof — until he added a control group.In this conversation we go deep into how Coptic chant actually works: the maqam system underneath it, why the melodies function as icons rather than compositions, the century-long effort to notate an oral tradition that had never been written down, and what happened when thirteen shared Greek-texted responses were sung side by side by Coptic and Greek Orthodox cantors.Dr. Michael Henein is Professor of Cardiology at Imperial College London, the University of Siena, and the University of Nicosia; a sub-deacon at St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church, London; founder and director of the St. Kiril Coptic European Choir; and Executive Vice-Chancellor of the European Academy of Coptic Heritage.0:00 Every flute gave the same answer2:02 Meet Dr. Michael Henein2:39 From Handel's Messiah to a Coptic choir9:43 Greek words, Coptic melodies13:42 Why the whole congregation sings18:58 Instruments, the takht, and the liturgy20:39 Polyphony, Komitas, and hymns vs. songs28:41 Melody as icon: why nothing may change32:32 Inside the maqam: Huzam, Nahawand, and the ajnas40:45 Notating an oral tradition: Newlandsmith, Moftah, Tóth52:50 How old is Coptic chant, really?1:00:25 The flute experiment1:06:47 Which layers of the liturgy are oldest?1:10:46 Coptic and Greek: thirteen responses compared1:15:14 Ethiopian and Syriac parallels1:16:35 Cymbals, triangle, and rhythm1:20:12 What makes Coptic music unique1:27:04 Osama Fathi and the cadences that break the rules

Notre Dame architecture professor Duncan Stroik on why modern churches fail — and how to build sacred ones again.Stroik is the designer of Christ Chapel at Hillsdale College and the chapel at Thomas Aquinas College. In this interview he traces Catholic church architecture from the earliest basilicas to the traditional parish churches going up across America right now. If you've ever walked into a church that felt like an airplane hangar and wondered how we got here, this conversation is the answer.We start with what Catholic and Orthodox churches once shared: the rood screen and the iconostasis. Before the Renaissance, both East and West screened the altar — and Stroik walks through Torcello, San Marco in Venice, the stone screens of Naumburg Cathedral, and the screen still standing inside the Sistine Chapel to show how the West tore its screens out while the East made its own solid. Along the way: the ciborium and its curtains, the veil of the temple, and why recovering mystery may be the future of church design.Then the old fight: Gothic vs. classical architecture. Stroik has little patience for Pugin's claim that Gothic is the only Christian style — "somehow for 1,000, 1,200 years we didn't build in a Christian style, but suddenly they did" — and argues a Catholic architect must inherit all of it: Romanesque, Byzantine, Renaissance, Baroque. On modernist church architecture he is blunter: essentially iconoclastic, with no place in Catholic building. He also weighs in on the repainting of Chartres, the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris, and Sacré-Cœur as Byzantine architecture in the West.On church restoration, his advice is concrete: spend the money on the sanctuary first — altar, tabernacle, flooring, altar rail — because the building teaches whether you meant it to or not. He describes the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Sioux Falls, the paint schemes that turned over every 25 years, and the 1975 low point when whole interiors went beige.And because a church is more than a building, we talk sacred music: Anglican Evensong and the Daily Office, why Germany fills organ recitals while America doesn't, French vs. German organ improvisation, and Stroik's own work designing organ cases. The interview closes with the Raffaella Ballet, commissioned in memory of his daughter, and her motto from Dostoevsky: beauty will save the world.Gothic or classical — where do you land? Say why in the comments. And subscribe for more long-form conversations on sacred architecture, liturgy, and church music.#SacredArchitecture #ChurchArchitecture #CatholicChurch #DuncanStroikCHAPTERS0:00 Hook2:42 Introduction3:14 Anglican Evensong and the Daily Office7:30 Columns, arches, and domes: Andrew Gould's question10:26 Rood screens and iconostasis: what East and West shared (Torcello)11:21 Sistine Chapel's forgotten screen — and the screens of Venice12:51 The veil of the temple: thresholds and the Holy of Holies16:54 Altar curtains, the ciborium, and the schola cantorum19:55 St. Francis at Greccio: the Franciscan paradox22:11 Sacrament houses: Nuremberg's giant tabernacle24:35 Why the choir moved behind29:43 Naumburg Cathedral's surviving stone screens32:14 Stained glass in America 38:24 Gothic vs. classical: Pugin, Ruskin, and Baltimore Cathedral42:35 Notre Dame's classical architecture47:20 Church paint schemes 51:13 Gothic darkness vs. Renaissance light53:14 The Chartres Cathedral repainting54:41 What Gothic architecture gave the Renaissance59:55 The confessional: a Borromeo invention1:01:39 Sacré-Cœur1:02:51 Church restoration1:07:31 Does traditional architecture cost more?1:09:29 America leads — Latin America and Africa 1:11:31 A Nigerian bishop, and churches that don't survive1:14:28 Organ culture: why Germany fills recitals1:17:15 French vs. German organ improvisation1:23:44 Organ case design1:27:22 New churches that give him hope1:30:05 The Raffaella Ballet1:33:45 "Beauty will save the world"

Herman Middleton joins me to discuss Orthodox Christianity, C.S. Lewis, the modern crisis of what it means to be human, Artificial Intelligcen, and the strange ways technology reshapes our souls, our communities, and even our understanding of salvation. Herman is the founder of The Protecting Veil and Gadfly Academy, and his work brings together Orthodox theology, patristic wisdom, media ecology, and a deep critique of the modern machine-shaped world.We explore Herman’s own conversion from high-church Anglicanism and evangelical circles into the Orthodox Church. He shares how Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, the beauty of Orthodox worship, Byzantine chant, and the early Church Fathers helped him realize that the Christian faith cannot be separated from the Church that preserved the Scriptures, the councils, the saints, and the living tradition of Christian worship.Herman discusses his doctoral dissertation on the theological anthropology and cosmology of C.S. Lewis, including Lewis’s vision of the human person, the importance of the Incarnation, the prophetic power of The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength, and why so many Orthodox converts have found Lewis to be a gateway into deeper Christian tradition.We also talk about the question at the heart of the modern world: Are human beings special, or are we merely biological machines to be upgraded, optimized, and eventually replaced? This leads into a discussion of transhumanism, artificial intelligence, technology, efficiency, the image of God, and the difference between human values and machine values. Herman argues that much of our cultural confusion comes from the fact that we no longer know what a human being is.Finally, Herman explains the mission behind Gadfly Academy, his interest in writers like Wendell Berry, Neil Postman, Marshall McLuhan, Walter Ong, Jacques Ellul, Ivan Illich, Philip Sherrard, Fr. Seraphim Rose, Paul Kingsnorth, Christopher Alexander, Jane Jacobs, and others who have critiqued the modern technological world. We discuss media ecology, television, the printing press, the telegraph, the internet, anti-machine thinking, and how modern technology changes not only what we do, but what we are.Chapters02:30 Introducing Herman Middleton02:39 Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit06:50 How Orthodox language differs from Protestant language09:42 Herman’s journey from Anglicanism to Orthodoxy11:18 Dostoevsky, Elder Zosima, and encountering true Christianity12:45 Beauty, Byzantine chant, and Orthodox worship15:30 Studying theology in Thessaloniki16:39 Herman’s doctoral work on C.S. Lewis17:46 C.S. Lewis, anthropology, cosmology, and Orthodoxy20:27 Human values versus machine values21:00 Community, beauty, goodness, truth, love, and trust22:16 What C.S. Lewis gets right from an Orthodox perspective24:17 The Incarnation, salvation, and Narnia25:22 C.S. Lewis and St. Athanasius’ On the Incarnation27:56 That Hideous Strength and Lewis’s prophetic vision30:05 C.S. Lewis and Dostoevsky as “gateway drugs” to Orthodoxy30:52 Wendell Berry as America’s answer to C.S. Lewis34:28 Interviewing Vladimir Pleshakov36:40 What is The Protecting Veil?37:00 The miracle of the Theotokos’ protecting veil40:42 Fr. Thomas Hopko, Fr. Stephen Freeman, and early YouTube interviews43:25 Ancient Faith, monasteries, St. Vladimir’s, and Orthodox voices44:35 Interviewing Orthodox poets, bishops, and theologians47:36 The difficulty of making a living as a creator48:19 Why Herman started Gadfly Academy50:05 Technology, society, and the Orthodox spiritual life53:20 Media ecology, Neil Postman, and Marshall McLuhan54:25 How technology creates a new world56:00 The telegraph, the internet, and the speed of information59:13 Gadfly Academy’s “How Did We Get Here?” reading list59:38 Wendell Berry, Jacques Ellul, Ivan Illich, and anti-machine writers1:00:20 Recovering a human and spiritual life in the modern world

Armenian chant, Armenian church music, and the ancient sacred music of the Armenian Apostolic Church are at the center of this conversation with master singer and musicologist, Aram Kerovpyan, one of the world’s leading voices on Armenian liturgical chant. Recommended to me by Tigran Hamasyan, Aram speaks with rare honesty about the survival, decline, and possible renewal of Armenian sacred music, from the modal chant tradition to the impact of genocide, Westernization, the organ, polyphonic choirs, Komitas, and the disappearing role of the master singer.This is a conversation about much more than music. It is about memory, worship, trauma, transmission, and whether a sacred tradition can survive once the living chain of singers has been broken. Aram explains why Armenian chant cannot be reduced to notes on a page, why equal temperament changes the spiritual and musical character of chant, and why true modal music must be felt in the body before it can be understood intellectually.We discuss the controversial place of the organ in Armenian church music, and Aram does not soften his opinion. For him, the organ does not merely accompany Armenian chant. It changes the nature of the music itself. This leads into a larger discussion of Orientalism, Westernization, and the assumption that ancient modal traditions need to be “improved” through harmony, polyphony, or European musical categories.Aram also reflects on the tragedy of Armenian history and the devastating cultural consequences of the Armenian Genocide. When monasteries, churches, communities, singers, manuscripts, and oral traditions are destroyed, the question is no longer simply “what did Armenian chant sound like?” but whether the world that produced that sound can ever fully be recovered.We also talk about Komitas, one of the most important and beloved figures in Armenian music. Aram offers a nuanced view of Komitas as a collector, composer, musicologist, and cultural icon, while also asking difficult questions about harmonization, Europeanization, trauma, and myth. Did Komitas save Armenian music? Did he transform it? Can both things be true?Other topics include Armenian modal music, the Armenian Octoechos, drones, natural intervals, Limonjian notation, khaz notation, the difference between oral and written transmission, the role of the master singer, the decline of traditional chant education, regional variants in Armenian chant, Gregory of Narek, the Book of Lamentations, and what it would actually take to preserve this sacred tradition for future generations.This is one of the most profound conversations I have had about Christian sacred music, not because it gives easy answers, but because it forces us to ask what we are willing to lose in the name of progress, beauty, convenience, or “civilization.” Armenian chant is not simply an old musical style. It is a way of praying, remembering, listening, and inhabiting a Christian tradition that has survived almost unimaginable suffering.

In this conversation, I speak with artist Daniel Mitsui about sacred art, medieval manuscripts, Gothic symbolism, calligraphy, typography, Japanese woodblock prints, relics, pilgrimage, and the lost visual imagination of Christian civilization. Mitsui is a professional artist known for extraordinarily detailed religious ink drawings that continue the traditions of medieval Gothic art while also drawing from Celtic, Persian, and Japanese influences.Daniel's website: https://www.danielmitsui.com/ We discuss what makes Gothic art different from modern religious art, why illuminated manuscripts and Books of Hours became such powerful devotional objects, and how medieval artists filled the world with symbolic order. Daniel explains his use of calfskin, goatskin, ink, calligraphy, ornament, and traditional materials, as well as the way his work attempts to recover a visual language rooted in the Christian imagination.The conversation also moves into the strange and fascinating history of printmaking. Daniel tells the story of pilgrim mirrors, medieval relics, and the surprising connection between pilgrimage, sacred images, and Gutenberg’s printing press. He explains how the printing press can be understood as conceptually related to the medieval desire to carry home contact with a holy original. We also talk about typography, blackletter, Lombardic capitals, Hildegard of Bingen’s unknown language, Tolkien, Coptic letters, Spencerian handwriting, and Daniel’s own typefaces. Along the way, we explore why letters are not merely functional marks on a page, but can become works of beauty, symbolism, and devotion.Later in the conversation, Daniel explains the Japanese influence in his work, especially ukiyo-e woodblock prints, samurai imagery, St. Michael, Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, Yoshitoshi, and the way Japanese art taught him new ways to compose figures without relying on shadows. This is a conversation about sacred art, but also about much more: the recovery of beauty, the meaning of symbolism, the relationship between tradition and originality, and whether modern people can learn to see again.📩 Subscribe to the Pursuit of Beauty Substack: https://substack.com/@UCPo3842Pl_Z3Xqo9GYACUzw 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss new episodesmy website: https://matthewwilkinson.net/my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MatthewWilkinsonMusic00:00 Pilgrim Mirrors, Relics, and the Origins of Printing03:11 Introducing Daniel Mitsui03:34 Medieval Art, Sacred Detail, and Gothic Tradition06:38 Why 15th-Century Manuscripts Matter08:41 Ink, Gold Leaf, Tempera, and Medieval Materials11:08 Calfskin, Goatskin, Bristol Board, and Vellum15:58 Calligraphy, Childhood, and Learning Letterforms17:31 The Paradexion Tree18:13 Drawing Letters Instead of Writing Them19:16 Altar Cards, Latin Mass, and Designing a Typeface23:14 Benedict: Daniel Mitsui’s First Typeface26:34 Lombardic Capitals and Medieval Display Letters29:34 Tolkien, Bastarda Script, and Medieval Italics32:48 Millefleur, The Lady and the Unicorn, and Symbolic Ornament38:54 Becoming a Full-Time Artist39:58 Serif, Sans Serif, and the Meaning of Letterforms47:09 Coptic Letters and Ancient Scripts49:09 Hildegard of Bingen’s Unknown Language53:16 The Dream of a Daniel Mitsui Book of Hours57:19 Originals, Prints, Reproductions, and Sacred Art1:03:43 Gutenberg, Relics, and Pilgrim Mirrors1:08:48 Spencerian Penmanship and Fanciful Letters1:10:57 Japanese Art, Ukiyo-e, and St. Michael as Samurai1:15:33 How Japanese Art Changed His Christian Art1:18:28 Seeing Without Shadows1:22:37 Celtic Art, The Book of Kells, and Insular Manuscripts1:31:27 Celtic Influence in Daniel’s Work1:33:22 Christ in Majesty, Blood, and the Tetramorph1:36:36 King of Kings and Lord of Lords1:37:54 AI Art, Handmade Art, and the Future of Artists1:47:15 Persian Influence and Mixing Artistic Traditions1:49:03 Closing

What happens when a meal becomes something sacred?In this conversation, Matthew Wilkinson sits down with John Heers of First Things Foundation to explore the ancient Georgian tradition of the Supra: a feast built around wine, poetry, hospitality, storytelling, beauty, memory, and human communion. What begins as a discussion about Georgian culture slowly becomes something much deeper: a meditation on why modern people feel spiritually exhausted, emotionally isolated, and disconnected from one another.John Heers shares the story of how traveling to the country of Georgia transformed his life forever. Living among Georgians in the aftermath of civil war, he encountered a radically different vision of human life centered around hospitality, vulnerability, reverence, sacrifice, and shared meals. In the Georgian Supra tradition, the “Tamada” or toastmaster guides the table through hours of poetry, tears, remembrance, philosophy, celebration, and reflection. The words are for the wine, and the wine is for the words.Matthew and John discuss beauty, nihilism, materialism, masculinity, Christianity, and the modern crisis of meaning. They explore why the modern West struggles with loneliness and spiritual hunger despite unprecedented wealth and technology. Drawing from Orthodox Christianity, C.S. Lewis, symbolism, philosophy, liturgy, and lived experience, they ask whether modern life has forgotten something essential about being human.The conversation also explores martyrdom, suffering, and witness through the story of the 21 Coptic martyrs killed by ISIS in Libya. Rather than treating faith as ideology or argument alone, Matthew and John discuss how beauty, courage, sacrifice, and love draw people toward truth in ways that abstract apologetics often cannot. The discussion touches on tears, weddings, funerals, music, repentance, and why modern culture often fears vulnerability and sincerity.John Heers also explains the mission of First Things Foundation and its unusual approach to international aid and mission work. Instead of imposing Western systems onto foreign cultures, First Things Foundation emphasizes becoming good guests: learning local languages, honoring local traditions, living simply, and empowering local communities from within. Stories from Georgia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Guatemala, and Orthodox Christian history all become part of a larger conversation about hospitality, communion, and the search for meaning.This interview will resonate with viewers interested in Orthodox Christianity, Anglicanism, Jonathan Pageau, Symbolic World, David Bentley Hart, Christian philosophy, beauty and meaning, the meaning crisis, ancient Christianity, hospitality culture, traditional societies, liturgy, symbolism, Georgian culture, masculinity, modern loneliness, anti-materialism, and the spiritual problems of modern life.If you enjoyed this conversation, please like, subscribe, and share the video. Let us know in the comments: Has the modern world forgotten how to feast, how to commune, and how to truly live together?Feast image in thumbnail: Creator: Makho KipshidzeCopyright: Makho Kipshidze PhotographyPhoto by Irma Sharikadze. Owner by Levan Qoqiashvili

02:28 – “The Words Are for the Wine”
03:41 – The 21 Coptic Martyrs
05:12 – Beauty vs Nihilism
06:45 – Discovering Georgia
09:02 – What Is a Supra?
15:02 – Hyperbole and Poetry
18:20 – Cultural Appropriation, Love, and Beauty
25:15 – Masculinity, Vulnerability, and Tears
29:08 – The Structure
33:21 – The Tamada
38:02 – Americans Don’t Know How
41:17 – John Heers’ Conversion to Orthodoxy
45:06 – His Brother
50:12 – First Things Foundation
58:41 – Orthodox Mission Work vs Modern Aid
01:03:14 – The Story of the 21 Martyrs of Libya
01:07:03 – Why Beauty Converts People More Than Arguments
01:10:55 – Materialism, Meaning, and the Crisis of Modernity
01:15:02 – “The Only Thing You Can Do Alone Is Go to Hell”
01:18:40 – We Were Never Meant to Live Like This

Deacon Mihret Melaku is an Ethiopian Orthodox deacon, host of the Burning Bush Podcast, and author of Defending the Ancient Faith. In this conversation we explore the full breadth of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity — its theology, its extraordinary sacred music system, its deep roots in Second Temple Judaism, and its living traditions of liturgical poetry.Burning Bush podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCKL74lcBHGYh2Xwsz8X68Nw Dcn. Mihret's book: https://www.defendingancientfaith.com/We begin with theology: how Ethiopian Orthodoxy understands salvation as ontological transformation rather than forensic transaction, the church's relationship to the divine energies tradition, and what makes the Axumite school of exegesis its own distinct synthesis of Alexandrian allegory and Antiochian typology. Deacon Mihret explains the Andimta commentary tradition — Ethiopia's uniquely narrative approach to scripture, which draws on hagiographic oral traditions to build midrashic-style stories around biblical events, including the extraordinary story of the man with the withered hand.A major thread of the conversation is Ethiopian Orthodoxy's relationship to Judaism. Deacon Mihret makes the case that the Ethiopian church is the most faithful continuity of Second Temple Judaism in Christendom — preserving the books of Enoch and Jubilees, keeping Saturday as the first Sabbath, maintaining circumcision and kosher practice, and tracing its Levitical vestments to the priesthood of ancient Israel. We work through four competing theories of how Judaism entered Ethiopia, centered on the Kebra Nagast and the Queen of Sheba narrative.The second half focuses on the sacred music system — one of the most complex liturgical music traditions in the world. We cover the structure of Aqwaqwam, the three-hour Divine Liturgy and the pre-liturgical vigils that can last 12–15 hours, the three modes (Ge'ez, Izl, and Araray) and their tonal relationship to the pentatonic scale, and the Ge'ez poetry tradition with its "wax and gold" (sem ena worq) double-meaning structure and three schools of poetic composition (Washara, Wadla, and Gonj). Deacon Mihret explains what a full certification path looks like — roughly 14 years across Aqwaqwam, Digwa, and Zimmari — and why even a scholar in his 60s considers himself still a student.We close on the question of Eucharistic frequency — Deacon Mihret explains why the widespread practice of Ethiopian Orthodox laypeople not receiving communion is a historical aberration contradicted by Apostolic Canon 9, which is actually chanted at the opening of every Divine Liturgy as a rebuke to non-communicants, and what the canons actually require for worthy reception.

Matthew Wilkinson sits down with Bishop Maximus of Pelagonia and musicologist Evgeny Skurat to discuss one of the most extraordinary sacred music projects in recent memory: a full reconstruction and live recording of the medieval Byzantine Divine Liturgy, filmed at the Hermitage of St. Ignatius in Santa Cruz Naranjo, Guatemala. Drawing on years of manuscript research and decipherment of Middle Byzantine notation, Evgeny has worked to bring to life a musical tradition that has not been heard in its full liturgical context for over 700 years.Evgeny explains the difference between the cathedral and the monastic rite, why the cathedral rite is so much harder to reconstruct, and offers a provocative musicological critique of the caliphonic period associated with John Koukouzelis. Bishop Maximus reflects on the theological vision behind the project — not archaeology, not invention, but the living tradition of the Orthodox Church recovered with rigor and reverence. He also makes a compelling case for how the church should approach congregational participation: not by inventing new practices, but by looking at what the manuscripts themselves show was actually done.Evgeny Skurat is a musicologist, chanter, and director of the Chronos Ensemble, specializing in Znamenny chant, Strochnoy chant, and medieval Byzantine music. His youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@EvgenySkuratChronosChronos Ensemble's Bandcamp: https://chronosart.bandcamp.com/Bishop Maximus of Pelagonia is a bishop in the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece, a teacher at St. Photios Orthodox Theological Seminary in Etna, California, and is known for his dialogues with philosopher John Vervaeke on the Philosophical Silk Road project.Saint Photios Seminary's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCgEVlUNCkLecfOwOTDYE6jg The Pursuit of Beauty is a long-form interview podcast exploring sacred music, sacred architecture, iconography, and the theology of beauty across Christian traditions. Hosted by Matthew Wilkinson, Doctor of Music and Director of Music and Organist at St. Michael's Church, Charleston, SC — one of the oldest Anglican churches in America, founded 1751.🎵 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms📩 Subscribe to the Pursuit of Beauty Substack: https://substack.com/@UCPo3842Pl_Z3Xqo9GYACUzw 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss new episodesmy website: https://matthewwilkinson.net/my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MatthewWilkinsonMusicVideos referenced during the interview: https://youtu.be/D8rZNz47zoc?si=_dF7roIfSHj40wHShttps://youtu.be/LQWr7TrCaHw?si=EXvgBg-nYBS1-K0Uhttps://youtu.be/xtsAsMiFLvI?si=WLsSHNx9sbsG2nNp https://youtu.be/Qxue4_dDnq4?si=4X4pOUEP6DLX0qgYhttps://youtu.be/PDItXFs3RMY?si=as0ndQfSQGatRbUehttps://youtu.be/6Myosbtq4ek?si=7xy3NHDZcfc69H3M0:00 The Problem with a 6th-Century Liturgy2:21 Introductions4:28 how a Monastery Ended Up in Guatemala7:22 Falling in Love with Medieval Chant — and Finding Evgeny10:50 Evgeny's Background: From Kronos Ensemble to Middle Byzantine Notation15:41 Has Any of This Music Been Recorded Before?18:43 Cathedral Rite vs. Monastic Rite: What's the Difference?22:42 Ornamentation: Why Chanting Without It Would Be Historically Wrong30:25 The Three Goals Behind the Project33:12 Evgeny's Transcription System: Medieval and Western Notation Side by Side43:24 What Is the Caliphonic Period — and Why Is Evgeny Skeptical of Koukouzelis?52:27 Why They Were Forced Into the 13th Century59:36 Glossolalia in Byzantine Chant (Not What You Think)1:01:29 Reading the Sources vs. Reconstructing: An Important Distinction1:04:06 Rubrical Differences: 13th Century vs. Modern Liturgy1:17:15 Congregational, Choral, and Soloist Participation Through History1:22:03 Tradition vs. Invention: Bishop Maximus on Liturgical Reform1:26:53 Where to Find the Recording and Sheet Music

Armenian jazz piano legend @TigranHamasyan joins Matthew Wilkinson on Pursuit of Beauty for a rare, in-depth conversation at the intersection of jazz, Armenian sacred music, medieval polyphony, and the theology of musical beauty. This is not a typical jazz interview, it goes deep into the musical, spiritual, and cultural roots that have shaped one of the most original voices in contemporary music.Tigran shares how influences like Jan Garbarek and Keith Jarrett first led him back to his own Armenian musical heritage, and how that discovery forced him to abandon bebop entirely and rebuild his musical language from the ground up. He discusses the tetrachord-based modal system of Armenian folk and Church music, the eight-mode octoechos of Armenian sacred tradition, microtonal ornamentation, the polyphonic vocal music of Komitas, and the extraordinary 10th-century poet-composer Grigor Narekatsi, whose Book of Lamentations Tigran describes as life-changing. He also discusses Armenian chant scholar and performer Aram Kerovpyan, based in Paris, with whom Tigran studied — and whose work he considers the most authentic living transmission of the Armenian modal tradition.The conversation ranges widely: why Machaut and Pérotin sound more contemporary to Tigran than Mozart; the polyphonic voice-leading approach of medieval music and how it maps onto jazz composition; John Coltrane as a model for taking modal music into twelve-tone territory while keeping it beautiful; Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues as some of the greatest piano music ever written; Messiaen's modes of limited transposition; the difference between harmony derived from voice leading versus voice leading derived from harmony; McCoy Tyner, Brad Mehldau, and Chick Corea as foundational influences; and the rhythmic world of Indian classical music, Meshuggah, and odd-meter Armenian folk music as the foundation of Tigran's approach to groove.Tigran also reflects on his compositional process — how most ideas go to the trash because they're too complicated, how he sequences drums and bass to feel out a groove before finishing a composition, and where he sees his music heading: toward more outlandish harmonic territory, anchored by melody and folk roots.A genuinely rare conversation for anyone interested in jazz piano, Armenian music, sacred music, early music, or the creative process of one of the most distinctive musicians working today.Tigran Hamasyan is an Armenian jazz pianist, composer, and vocalist born in Gyumri, Armenia. Winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition in 2006, his albums include Mockroot, An Ancient Observer, The Call Within, and StandArt. His music integrates Armenian modal and folk traditions with jazz improvisation, complex odd-meter grooves, and a deeply polyphonic compositional approach. He is widely regarded as one of the most original voices in contemporary jazz.https://www.tigranhamasyan.com/The Pursuit of Beauty is a long-form interview podcast exploring sacred music, sacred architecture, iconography, and the theology of beauty across Christian traditions. Hosted by Matthew Wilkinson, Doctor of Music and Director of Music and Organist at St. Michael's Church, Charleston, SC — one of the oldest Anglican churches in America, founded 1751.🎵 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms📩 Subscribe to the Pursuit of Beauty Substack: https://substack.com/@UCPo3842Pl_Z3Xqo9GYACUzw 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss new episodesmy website: https://matthewwilkinson.net/my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MatthewWilkinsonMusic

Dr. Alexander Lingas — musicologist, conductor, and Founding Director of Capella Romana — joins Matthew Wilkinson for one of the most wide-ranging conversations in the history of the Pursuit of Beauty podcast. From reconstructing the lost sounds of Hagia Sophia to conducting Byzantine chant at King Charles III's coronation, Lingas has spent 35 years at the intersection of sacred music scholarship and performance. This is the definitive interview on the Byzantine chant tradition, its history, its revival, and its future.Lingas traces the full arc of his career: growing up in a Greek Orthodox parish in Portland, Oregon; doctoral studies in Byzantine chant at the University of British Columbia under Dimitri Konomos; a Fulbright year in Athens studying under the legendary Lykouros Angelopoulos; postdoctoral work in Oxford under Metropolitan Kallistos Ware; and nearly two decades teaching at City University of London. Along the way he founded Capella Romana — now in its 35th year — which has become the world's leading ensemble for Byzantine and medieval Orthodox sacred music, as well as the music of the Christian East more broadly.The conversation goes deep into the musicology. Lingas explains the difference between the "new method" notation introduced in the early 19th century and the medieval Byzantine notation it replaced, and what it means to take a "what you see is what you get" approach to manuscripts that haven't been performed in 500 years. He unpacks how Capella Romana's landmark recordings — Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia, the St. Catherine's Sinai Vespers, Cyprus and Venice in the East — were constructed from manuscript sources, and why this music rarely finds its way back into parish worship. He also gives an extraordinary account of the calophonic chant style of St. John Koukouzelis and the Byzantine ars nova of the 13th and 14th centuries — a sacred music tradition so sophisticated that it eventually transcended text altogether into abstract vocables, which Lingas connects directly to the Hesychast theology of divine energies and angelic liturgy.Other topics include: the full history of Lykouros Angelopoulos and the Greek Byzantine Choir and their foundational role in the modern chant revival; the Romanian, Serbian, and Transylvanian chant traditions and how they diverged from the Byzantine mainstream; the contested question of the organ in Orthodox worship and the difference between a cappella practice and a cappella doctrine; the music of Tikey Zes and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; the Appalachian music project and its theological and musicological problems; Arvo Pärt and the Odes of Repentance recording; collaborative work with composers Robert Kyr and Einojuhani Rautavaara; and the grants, publications, and institutional infrastructure that sustain this work.Near the end of the conversation, Lingas reflects on his recent retirement from Capella Romana after 35 years, his involvement with the Institute of Sacred Arts at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, and his experience at the coronation of King Charles III — where he served first as a liturgical consultant advising on how to represent the Orthodox traditions of Prince Philip, and then as the director of the Byzantine choir that performed at Westminster Abbey.This episode is essential listening for anyone serious about Orthodox sacred music, Byzantine chant, the theology of beauty, liturgical theology, or the history of Christian worship.

Neil's links: @dirtpoorrobins https://www.dirtpoorrobins.com/In this episode of The Pursuit of Beauty Podcast, Matthew Wilkinson speaks with musician and rock star Neil Basil DeGraide of Dirt Poor Robins about faith, music, culture, and the search for truth in the modern world.Neil shares the story of his journey from Catholicism through Protestant and charismatic churches and eventually into Eastern Orthodoxy. He reflects on growing up in New England during the Catholic scandals, searching for authentic Christianity, and discovering the importance of tradition and historical continuity in the Church.The conversation also explores the relationship between miracles, discernment, and the modern desire for spiritual experience. Matthew and Neil discuss the differences between charismatic spirituality and the Orthodox understanding of spiritual life.Later in the conversation, the discussion turns toward music, composition, and the philosophy of art. Neil explains how his musical upbringing shaped his career as a composer and producer. He describes how modern recording technology allows a single musician to simulate orchestral sound through layered samples and live performance techniques.Matthew and Neil also reflect on film music, modern composition, and the changing role of melody in contemporary culture. They discuss composers such as John Williams and Hans Zimmer, and consider how modern media shapes the way audiences hear and understand music.Finally, the conversation moves into a deeper discussion about rock music, cultural trauma, modern art, and the purpose of artistic expression in a technological age. What does modern music reveal about our civilization? Can art respond to cultural crisis? And how should Christians think about music that emerges from broken cultural conditions?This wide-ranging discussion explores faith, aesthetics, music theory, and cultural philosophy in a thoughtful and engaging way.

Dr. William Renwick joins the podcast to discuss Sarum chant, the medieval English plainchant tradition centered on Salisbury Cathedral that once dominated worship across most of England, Scotland, parts of Ireland, and even Northern France. William is a retired music theory professor from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, and has devoted the latter part of his career to transcribing, editing, and publishing the entire Sarum chant repertoire at his free website, sarum-chant.ca.

In this conversation, William explains the important distinction between the Western rite, the concept of "use," and the word "chant" itself. He walks through how Salisbury's scribes produced such detailed and thorough liturgical books in the 12th and 13th centuries that their system became the standard for roughly 80 percent of English churches. He also discusses the York and Hereford uses, how they compare to Sarum, and the practical reality that very few musical manuscripts survive from those traditions.

One of the highlights of this episode is William's live vocal demonstrations of the differences between Sarum chant and standard Gregorian chant. He sings the Sarum and Roman versions of the Orbis Factor Kyrie and an Agnus Dei to illustrate how the melodies share a common origin but diverge in specific intervals and melodic turns. He also demonstrates the Sarum psalm tones, the York gospel tone, and a fascinating St. Stephen's Day prose featuring extended melismatic singing on a single vowel.

William shares his perspective on performance practice, arguing that medieval liturgy was a full-time daily activity, not a polished concert performance. He draws an unexpected parallel between plainchant and jazz, noting that both traditions thrive on variation, personal interpretation, and a refusal to be pinned down to a single "correct" version. He also addresses the Abbey of Solesmes and the way their editorial choices may have smoothed over legitimate regional diversity across the Western chant tradition.

The conversation covers the sheer volume of medieval liturgical material that has been lost or abandoned since the Reformation. William demonstrates this by showing the seven volumes needed just for Sarum Matins throughout the year, compared to roughly half that for the Roman Tridentine tradition. He explains how both Protestant and Catholic reformations drastically simplified worship, and how the Franciscan preference for simpler liturgy influenced the Roman books that became standard after the Council of Trent.

William also explores the surprising connections between Sarum chant and Anglican chant, showing how Renaissance composers like Thomas Tallis based their harmonized psalm chants directly on Sarum psalm tones and their modal endings. He discusses fauxbourdon, the use of drones, the role of the organ in medieval worship, and the Neumae, which are modal melodic codas sung at the end of psalm groups during Matins, Lauds, and Vespers.

For anyone interested in starting Sarum chant at their own church, William offers practical advice. He suggests beginning with a simple communion chant in English accompanied on the organ, or introducing an English Kyrie or Agnus Dei from the Sarum repertoire. All of these materials are available for free download at sarum-chant.ca. He has also published printed books in two English styles, one following the Book of Common Prayer and King James Bible tradition, and one following the Douay-Rheims Bible for those with a Roman Catholic sensibility.

The episode wraps up with a discussion of organ music, including William's love of Tournemire's L'Orgue Mystique, his experience studying with Gerre Hancock, and Matthew's own background in organ performance in Charleston, South Carolina, at St. Michael's Church, which has a historical connection to Johann Pachelbel's son Carl Theodore.

Website: sarum-chant.ca

Why do some coptic icons look cartoonish? Makary argues that the loss of apprenticeship, the absence of formal art education, and the pressure of rapid church construction have weakened artistic formation. Iconography is not a matter of copying lines and colors, but of understanding composition, light, volume, and the relationship between the image, the viewer, and the liturgical space. Sacred art must be treated as art in its fullness, not as a mechanical formula.The conversation then moves into the deep historical roots of Coptic art in ancient Egypt. Themes such as resurrection, eternity, the field of reeds, the symbolism of wheat and the bread of life, and even the monotheistic experiment of Akhenaten reveal profound continuities between ancient Egyptian religious vision and early Christian theology. We also explore the development of encaustic painting in early Christian icons, including connections to the Fayoum mummy portraits and the Sinai Pantocrator, and how the material discipline of hot wax painting shaped both technique and spiritual intentionality.Islamic rule in Egypt under the Fatimid, Abbasid, Umayyad, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods also played a decisive role in shaping Coptic iconography. Workshops often produced art for churches, mosques, and palaces alike, and cross-cultural exchange influenced woodwork, pattern, clothing, and visual language. Armenian and Greek iconographers contributed to later revivals, while periods of persecution and rebuilding left visible layers in church architecture and decoration. The result is a tradition marked by resilience, adaptation, and artistic richness rather than isolation.We also discuss how churches are visually “programmed.” The Ascension in the apse, Eucharistic typologies in the sanctuary, saints and biblical cycles in the nave, and commissioning scenes in the narthex reveal that iconography is theological architecture. Coptic art historically integrated liturgy, theology, and space in a unified visual language. Recovering this coherence may be essential for the renewal of sacred art today, especially in diaspora contexts where architecture, music, and iconography must harmonize within new cultural environments.Finally, the episode engages modern art directly. From Cubism and Impressionism to Van Gogh, Degas, and the modern sacred arts movement in Paris, we examine how medieval and Romanesque principles reemerge in modern movements. Ethiopian iconography, with its bold abstraction and graphic intensity, anticipated many developments associated with twentieth-century art. Rather than rejecting modern artistic exploration, Makary suggests that the iconographer should engage the totality of art and offer it to Christ, revealing objective theological truth through line, color, and light.