Now by livestream — Icons of Sound: Hagia Sophia Reimagined!

Cappella Romana livestreams Part 1 of the triumphant November 2016 performance at Stanford University’s Bing Hall.

This was the first time in the world that a full concert had been produced with the digital auralization of the acoustics of Hagia Sophia.

For this concert, consider cooking a Byzantine dish before or after the livestream:

Here are some select Byzantine recipes and resources.

Learn more about the depth and scope of this project:

The Icons of Sound project on the aesthetics and acoustics of Hagia Sophia was founded by Stanford Professors Bissera Pentcheva and Jonathan Abel.

Cappella Romana joined the project in 2011, allowing us to bring years of experience researching and performing the music of Constantinopolitan liturgy.

For further reading:
Lingas, Alexander (2013), ‘From Earth to Heaven: The Changing Soundscape of Byzantine Liturgy’, in Claire Nesbitt and Mark Jackson (eds.), Experiencing Byzantium: Papers from the 44th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Newcastle and Durham, April 2011 (Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies Publications 18; Aldershot: Ashgate), 311–58.

Lingas, Alexander (2007), ‘How Musical was the “Sung Office”? Some Observations on the Ethos of the Byzantine Cathedral Rite’, in Ivan Moody and Maria Takala-Rozsczenko (eds.), The Traditions of Orthodox Music. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Orthodox Church Music, University of Joensuu, Finland 13–19 June 2005 (Joensuu), 217-34.

Lingas, Alexander (1997), ‘Festal Cathedral Vespers in Late Byzantium’, Orientalia Christiana Periodica, 63, 421–59.

This middle stage of the project culminated in a preliminary demonstration of live auralization in a concert entitled at Bing Hall, Stanford University on 6 February 2013

Performance of the Prokeimenon for Sundays, Mode 1 (Manuscript Patmos 221, ca. 1162–1179):

This was reported by Stanford Professors Jonathan Abel and Bissera Pentcheva in this article:

Pentcheva, Bissera V. and Abel, Jonathan S. (2017), ‘Icons of Sound: Auralizing the Lost Voice of Hagia Sophia’, Speculum, 92 (S1), 336-60.

It also informed Professor Pentcheva’s book of the same year:

Pentcheva, Bissera V. (2017), Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium (University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press).

Meanwhile, project participants entered into a new study phase, highlights of which were 1) a second, complementary, set of acoustic measurements by Stanford researchers at Hagia Sophia in Istanbul; and 2) and the Aural Architecture Seminar at Stanford, which was presented with sponsorship from the Onassis Foundation (USA).

The seminar schedule and selected materials from its presentations may be found here.

Published versions of some of the presentations in Pentcheva, Bissera, ed. (2017), Aural Architecture in Byzantium: Music, Acoustics, and Ritual (Abingdon and New York: Routledge).