Holy Synod awards Order of St. Romanos to noted liturgical musicians
During their Spring Session here March 29—April 1, 2016, the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops awarded the Order of Saint Romanos to Dr. Vladimir Morosan and Aleksei Shipovalnikov in recognition of their extraordinary contributions to the field of liturgical music in the Orthodox Church in America. The dates on which the awards will be presented has yet to be determined.
Established by the Holy Synod of Bishops in 2014, the Order is awarded to influential arrangers, composers, teachers and conductors. Past recipients include Archpriest Sergei Glagolev, Archpriest Igor Soroka, Prof. Dr. David Drillock, Mr. Walter Shymansky and Archimandrite Roman [Braga].
Dr. Vladimir Morosan is one of the leading experts outside Russia in the field of Orthodox liturgical music. He is Founder and President of Musica Russica, a publishing company specializing in the publication and dissemination of Orthodox choral music throughout the western world. As Founder and Artistic Director of Archangel Voices, a professional-level choral ensemble, he has recorded six CDs of Orthodox liturgical music in English. The composer and editor of numerous choral arrangements, he has coached numerous professional choirs, including two Grammy Award Winning ensembles performing Russian Orthodox music. He serves as consultant to the OCA Department of Liturgical Music and Translations and the Music Department of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. A tonsured Reader, he currently serves as Director of Liturgical Singing at Saint Katherine Mission, Carlsbad, CA.
A native of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Aleksei V. Shipovalnikov served as Artistic Director and Manager of the Moscow State University Symphony Orchestra and Academic Choir. His post-graduate studies included a master class with Leonard Bernstein in Moscow in 1988. He has also conducted in West Germany and Poland, where he established a reputation for innovative programming in spite of the political risks involved during the communist era. Such ventures included the presentation of the first Stockhausen Festival in the USSR and the establishment of the “Fellowship of Musical Evenings” in Moscow under the auspices of Moscow University and the Russian Musical Society in 1985. Mr. Shipovalnikov immigrated to the US in 1990 and has been a guest lecturer at Columbia, George Washington, Princeton, Stanford and Southern Methodist Universities and Professor of Liturgical Music at Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, South Canaan, PA. In 1991, he was appointed Music Director of Slavyanka Men’s Slavic Chorus. Two years later, he recorded the world premiere of Shvedov’s “Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom” for Harmonia Mundi. In 1994 he was named Artistic Director of the Concertino Chamber Orchestra in Moscow and, in the same year, he directed choral selections for the musical soundtrack of the film, Little Odessa, with Twentieth Century Fox. He is Founder and Director of the Spirit of Orthodoxy Choir and Music Director at Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, Jersey City, NJ.