Savvas Karantzias "Theophanes The Greek & Andrei Rubliov" concert in Moscow

The emblematic work "Andrei Rubliov" by the important Greek composer Savvas Karantzias premiered on Thursday, October 15, at the historic Zaryadye Concert Hall in Moscow in a magnificent concert, together with the work "Theophanes the Greek". A special tribute was made by the Russian state TV channel Tvkultura.

The Greek composer Savvas Karantzias, who has already presented his works in many major countries of the world, returned with an online live streaming concert (due to the conditions with the coronavirus) entitled "Music born from light" after the invitation of the Moscow Synodal Choir, in the context of the cultural events of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, with the support of the Russian Cultural Foundation and the Department of External Ecclesiastical Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The concert took place at Zaryadye Concert Hall, one of the most important and modern classical music concert halls in the world. Savvas Karantzias' new work "Andrei Rubliov" is a natural evolution through "Theophanes the Greek" and is written for string orchestra, mixed choir, piano, narrator, and solo soprano. It is the relationship between teacher and student and the transmission of the Russian agiography to our days. The texts have been written by the author Maro Vamvounaki exclusively for this work and they fit perfectly with the  compositional approach of Savvas Karantzias, who declared:

(In this new work I try to marry three worlds: the present of the late Byzantine, the post- medieval and modern writing, while I try to achieve a brilliant representation of the life of Andrei Rubliov, sometimes I move in the world of tropics and wind rhythm, sometimes in the world of historicity and today. The life of Andrei Rublyov through a minimalist approach)

Critics
Alexey Puzakov: chief conductor, Honored artist of Russia

The meeting with the music of Savvas Karantzias was a great creative joy for me and the Moscow Synod. In rehearsals and concerts, there was a sense of God's blessing and grace. How happy we are to understand that modern art may not be concerned with man's degeneration and fall, but with his higher spiritual nature and ability to communicate with God through prayer and Christian art. I believe that supporting and participating in the development of such a direction of modern creativity will help all of us to live on earth peacefully with ourselves and in good dialogue with all people, will help us to be closer to the Kingdom of Heaven. This spirituality is reflected in the works of Savvas Karantzias.

Michael Kotelnikov: Conductor and chief of the youth Synodal Choir

We experienced so much depth and connection of the two historical events, that during the concert we felt a great energy, thanks to the modern musical language of the compositions of Savvas Karantzias. Usually the conductor is forced to follow the notes written in the score, but in the case of music of Savvas was not difficult for me to understand the idea of ​​the great Greek Theophanes and Andrei Rubliov and to some extent become a co-creator.