Maria Orientalis

The first weekend of Imago Dei is dedicated to the colourful musical world of Syrian Christians, where Eastern and Western musical traditions unite in different ways. In the first concert, Gregorian chants are contrasted with those from Syria. The music of Syrian Christians has for the most part been passed down orally to this day. Thanks to music researcher Nouri Iskandar from Aleppo, these oldest Christian chants in the world have been collected and recorded. The texts are written in Syro-Aramaic. Jesus Christ also spoke Aramaic.

As a result of the war waged in Syria since 2011, the centuries-long history of Syrian Christians now leads to Sweden. Given its large Syrian community, it is one of the most important countries where these chants are preserved. Our guests from up north, the ensemble Kolo Suryoyo, bring a musical heritage whose melodies date back to the third century AD. The vocal ensemble Graces & Voices, founded in 2011 by the two conductors Adrija Čepaitė and Antanina Kalechyts, will perform alongside them. The singers enjoy an outstanding reputation for their interpretation of Gregorian chants, reminding us that this music was also, quite unusually, performed by women centuries ago.

At the festival opening, the well-known journalist and theologian Renata Schmidtkunz will speak about the connections between Western and Eastern Christian traditions.

Kolo Suryoyo

Milad Bahi—oud

Feras Charestan—kanun

Abdulrahman Koujer—violoncello

Mariam Alshamani, Heba Fatouhi, Mirna Zuhair, Gabriel Masso, Dani Abo—vocals

Graces & Voices

Antanina Kalechyts, Adrija Čepaitė, Laine Tabora, Jasmin Vorhauser, Aliona Kalechyts-Pietrowskaja—vocals

Salah Ammo—co-curator

Renata Schmidtkunz—festival speech