The first edition of the festival will take place as a dialogue between two fundamental pillars of Christianity - Orthodox and Catholic. Special guests of the festival are world famous singers from the ensemble "Organum", France, conducted by music researcher, theorist and educator - Marcel Perez.
The festival will include three parts, the first being a lecture about the traditions of early Christian music, given by Marcel Perez at the National Music Academy "Prof. Pancho Vladigerov", Sofia on the 8th of May, 2015.
The second part will be a joint concert, named "Dialogue", between ensemble "Organum" and ensemble "In Sacris", held at the Sofia University Aula on the 9th of May, 2015.
The third, concluding part of the festival will be a participation in the Holy Mass at the "St. St. Cyrill and Methodius" church in Sofia.
About the guests of the festival:
Ensemble Organum was founded in 1982 at the Abbey of Sénanque, and etablished in the Royaumont foundation from 1984 to 2000 and later moved in the former Abbey of Moissac since 2001. Beyond simple acoustic enjoyment, the research programmes are devised in an interdisciplinary perspective so as to widen the fields of investigation and to make music the privileged implement for a reflexion on the history of mentalities. It is another approach to the past that the Organum Ensemble would like to instigate, by placing the rediscovery and reactualisation of ancient music at the heart of the great socio-cultural and spiritual currents of the contemporary world.
This Ensemble was one of the first in France to undertake most of the European repertories that have marked the evolution of music since the VIth century. The numerous concerts and spectacles - more than 1000 - in Europe, presented on the American continent and in the Middle East, the recording of forty or more discs - most of which have received the highest awards: Diapason d’or, Classical Awards, Choc de l’année du Monde de la Musique- and frequent performances on television and radio, have allowed the Organum Ensemble to play a decisive part in the revival of ancient music.
Marcel Peres – organist, composer, medieval music specialist, founder of Ensemble Organum. Creator of the CERIMM (European Medieval Music Research and Performance Centre) in 1984 and of the CIRMA (Itinerant Centre for Early Music Research) in 2001. Distinguished with: Leonardo da Vinci Prize from the French Ministry of Culture in 1996, Knight of Arts and Letters and since 2013 - Officer of Arts and Letters. He is the godfather of the bell «Marcel» which has been built in 2012 and consecrated on february 2nd 2013 for the feast of 850 years of the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris.
