Choral Settings of Kassiani

Featuring

Alexander Lingas
Guy Protheroe
Patricia Rozario
Ann Manly
Cappella Romana
English Chamber Choir

Kassia
Christos Hatzis
Mikis Theodorakis
Ivan Moody
Nikolaos Mantzaros

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Christos Hatzis, a Greek-Canadian composer, describes his setting of Kassiani's Troparion as a confessional by Mary Magdalen, bursting with emotion and feminine energy.

Performer Biography

Patricia Rozario, the soprano on this recording, has inspired leading composers like Arvo Pärt and Sir John Tavener to write numerous works specifically for her voice.

Composer Biography

Nikolaos Mantzaros, a composer from Corfu, wrote the music for the initial verse of Dionysios Solomos's 'Hymn to Liberty,' which became the Greek national anthem in 1865.

Composer Biography

Mikis Theodorakis, a Greek composer of Cretan descent, was a leader of a cultural-political movement in Greece and actively participated in the resistance against the military dictatorship (1967-74).

Compositional Technique

Christos Hatzis's setting of Kassiani's Troparion uses diverse musical styles, including Byzantine chant, Western European sacred music, dark tone-clusters, high Romanticism, and Western minimalism with Blues elements.

Composer Biography

Kassiani, an early ninth-century abbess, is the earliest woman composer whose works survive, having written sacred poems and hymns.

Cultural Impact

Kassiani became a legend in Byzantine folklore through her legendary meeting with Emperor Theophilus, a story recorded in the tenth century and later by Edward Gibbon.