The event will take place in the period 22-25 May 2025 and will bring together guests from the United States and Romania. The current edition is part of the series of events dedicated in the Romanian Patriarchate to the Commemoration of the Centenary of the Romanian Patriarchate and to the Commemoration of Romanian Spiritual Fathers and Orthodox Confessors from the 20th century.
The main theme of the current edition, Doxology and Confession, is a way of celebrating 1700 years since the first Ecumenical Council, held with the support of St. Constantine the Great at Nicea in 325.
The program of events will include: concerts of psaltic music, church services, a concert of traditional music, a painting exhibition, and psaltic composition, mosaic and painting workshops.
This year, too, the Iași Byzantine Music Festival offers some special moments.
The “Cappella Romana” ensemble from Portland, USA, returns to the festival stage with a series of itinerant concerts in Botoșani (22 May, “Mihai Eminescu” Theatre), Iași (23 May, “Vasile Alecsandri” National Theatre), and Piatra Neamț (24 May, Youth Theatre). Led by Professor Alexander Lingas, the ensemble first participated in the Byzantine Music Festival in Iasi in 2017. This year, psaltic choirs from the cities where Cappella Romana will give concerts will perform alongside the American guests. The repertoire will include works dedicated to the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325, performed for the first time in Romania.
A unique presence in the Byzantine Music Festival in Iasi is that of Mr. Horea Paștina. A co-founding member of the “Prolog” group, a close disciple of Saint Dumitru Stăniloae, Priest and Confessor, he comes to Iasi during the very year of the canonization of Father Stăniloae, with the painting exhibition titled “Piatra din capul unghiulului” (The Cornerstone), which will be opened on Thursday, 22 May, at 6.00 pm in the “Baptisteriu” hall from the Metropolitan Ensemble in Iasi. The exhibition includes works that represent theological ideas on canvas, in which theology is understood as a living, practical experience, around the Cross of our Savior, Christ.
Another new entry on the agenda of this year’s edition of the festival is the Eikon mosaic and painting workshop, organised in collaboration with professors and students from the Sacred Art department of “Dumitru Stăniloae” Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Iasi. The workshop will take place in the open air, in two important venues in Iasi: on the pedestrian part of “Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt” avenue and in the civic space of the A building of “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University.
A workshop on psaltic composition is organised on 22-24 May, out of the desire to promote authentic church music and to encourage young chanters and composers.
Other highlights in the programme of the eighth edition of Iasi Byzantine Music Festival are made possible through the participation of two psaltic groups: “Sf. M. M. Mc. Dimitrie” (from the Metropolitan Cathedral of Craiova) and “Sf. Ioan Damaschin” (from the Academy of Byzantine Arts and Studies in Cluj-Napoca):
• The Divine Liturgy, Sunday, 25 May, in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Iasi, and
• The concert on the unity of faith and nation, Sunday, 25 May, in the Unirii Hall in Iasi (with the participation of Rev. Alexandru Grigoraș, Archdiocese of Roman and Bacau).
The Byzantine Music Festival in Iasi is organised with the support of our special partner Iulius Group, as well as with the support of the following institutions: Iasi City Hall, Iasi County Council, State Secretariat for Cults, Ford Iasi – ATI Motors Holding, “Sfântul Nicolae” College, Iasi Metropolitan Ensemble, Iasi Faculty of Orthodox Theology, “George Enescu” National University of Arts Iasi, National University of Music Bucharest, National Athenaeum Iasi, Elsaco Botoșani, Aqua Carpatica Antibiotice Iasi, Fan Curier.
Media partners of the event are Trinitas TV, Radio Trinitas, Lumina Newspaper, “Basilica” News Agency of the Romanian Patriarchate, Doxologia and Wink.
More details about the programme and the performers invited to this edition can be found on: the official website of the Festival ( www.ibmf.ro), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/IasiByzantine), and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/iasi.byzantine/).