Viennese Conference discusses “Theory and History of Monody”
Vienna, Austria - ISOCM members participated in the international conference on church monody “Theorie unde Geschichte der Monodie” - “Теория и история монодии” in Vienna, Austria, on 30 September - 2 October 2010.
At right: Conference participants included: (from the left) Galina Alexeeva, Father Vitaliy Golovatenko (Russia), Bozhidar Karastoyanov (Bulgaria), Jaakko Olkinuora (Finland), Natalia Mosjagina (Russia) and Inge Kreuz (Germany).
Ms Maria (Karastoyanova) Pischlöger and Dr Martin Czernin organized the conference, which was hosted by the Austrian Byzantine Society (Österreichische Byzantinische Gesellschaft) and located at the historical Benediktus-Haus, Schottenstift of Vienna.
The biannual conference is well-renown for featuring well-known scholars from around the world. The event also has an excellent reputation for encouraging the participation of scholars of all ages, but in particular, young scholars who are able to contribute their research findings. The conference in 2010 continued this tradition, and experienced fruitful discussion among participants from multiple generations.
Among the participants featured were several leading Russian scholars on church music, along with researchers from Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine, Germany, Austria, Finland, Slovakia, and Serbia who spoke on Eastern church monody. In addition, some papers dealt with the Gregorian chant.
At right: An excursion to the Schönbrunn castle: (from the left) Fr Pavel Korotkih, Dmitry Ponomarev (Russia), Jaakko Olkinuora (Finland), Zdravko Peno (Serbia), Alexander Vovk (Russia).
As the “father” of the conference, Dr Bozhidar Karastoyanov participated in each session and offered valuable insight and commentary on a variety of topics related to church monody.While the conference was presented in three primary languages – Russian, German, and English – arrangements were made for other languages.
The Vienna conference also became a joyful reunion of ISOCM members and friends. Among those from the ISOCM who participated were ISOCM board members Yulia Artamonova and Maria Takala-Roszczenko, and past ISOCM conference participants including: Vesna Sara Peno, Inge Kreuz, Father Sergey Macnev, Galina Alexeeva, and Jaakko Olkinuora.
At right: Maria Pischlöger (Austria) with Vesna Sara Peno (Serbia) discuss conference topics.
During the conference in Vienna, ISOCM members had opportunities to share information about its publications and conferences which was well-received by participants. The two Societies complement each other and members of each expressed interest in mutual assistance and the exchange of practical organizational matters in the future.
Organizers of the Vienna Conference, Ms Pischlöger and Dr Czernin are overseeing efforts to prepare the proceedings of the 2010 conference for publication and distribution in the future.