A wonderful concert of Eastern Church music at St. Sophia's Cathedral in Bayswater - a breathtaking Greek Orthodox Church with magnificent paintings and architecture. The church itself is worth a visit just to see the interior.
The concert featured Canticum conducted by Mark Forkgen, with music by a wide variety of composers that are not always the first ones that come to mind when one thinks of Orthodox Church music, as they are so modern. Alexander Grechaninov, Sergei Rachmaninov, Henryk Gorecki, Sergei Prokofiev, and of course, John Taverner, whom everyone thinks of in connection with the Orthodox Church.
The church was fairly full when I arrived, but I was lucky enough to get a seat in the front row, so had the best possible view of the choir without having to worry about large heads or hats in front of me.
The choir, a mixed one of equal numbers of men and women, were very smart in black trousers and shirts - no long skirts anywhere to be seen, but perhaps that is the latest fashion for choirs, with "black trousers" replacing the former "black bottoms".
The music was beautiful, with some being quite folksy and other items very definitely liturgical. In the interval, everyone poured round the corner to the church hall, where drinks were available - I stuck to orange juice as I had not had a chance to have anything to eat before going.
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