The Moscow Synodal Choir performed in the Vatican the oratorio "Andrei Rublev"

On January 20, 2019, for the first time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, a concert was held in the Vatican in honor of the saint, canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. The musical event was held in the Cathedral of Rome - the main papal basilica of St. John the Baptist on Lateran Hill and was timed to the thirtieth anniversary of the glorification in the face of the saints of the great Russian icon painter Rev. Andrei Rublev. The Moscow Synodal Choir, together with the choir of the Roman Diocese and the Italian symphonic orchestra Fideles et Amati, performed the Andrei Rublev oratorio by the contemporary Italian composer Monsignor Marco Frizin, who was at the conductor's performance during the performance. The concert was opened by the Moscow Synodal Choir, which presented solo two works by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk “Cherubic Hymn” and “In Your Kingdom”. The artistic director of the Moscow Synodal Choir was conducted by Honored Artist of Russia Alexei Puzakov and artistic director of the Youth Synodal Choir Mikhail Kotelnikov. The idea to hold a joint Russian-Italian sacred music concert in the Vatican, dedicated to Andrei Rublev, belongs to the author of the oratorio. The project was supported by the Department of Culture of the City of Moscow, the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Embassy of Russia in the Vatican and the Pontifical Lateran University. “The Russian side seemed to have an important idea of ​​the joint performance of modern Italian music, dedicated to the Russian icon painter. In the work of Andrei Rublev, we see the benchmarks of traditional Christian values ​​of love and understanding, ”noted the artistic director of the Moscow Synodal Choir, Alexei Puzakov. The importance of the event for the Russian-Vatican and Orthodox-Catholic relations was emphasized in his speech by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Holy See A.A. Avdeev. The Moscow Synodal Choir performs in Rome for the fourth time. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, together with the most famous professional male choir of the Catholic Church - the Papal Sistine Chapel - the Synodal Choir performed music of Western and Eastern Christian tradition in the Sistine Chapel itself in the Vatican, in the Basilica of St. Peter, the Cathedral of St. John Lateran and the Holy Basilica Mary, Angels and Martyrs