As I was listening on Sunday, April 10^th, 2011, to the members of the male choirs “Armonia (The Harmony)” and “Cuvânt Bun (Right Word)” of the Archiepiscopate of Tomis, I was telling myself that the students of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Constanţa can look confidently at their colleagues from other cities. Their voices are very good, refined, trained, with a very clear intonation. They are very dedicated singers, I’m sure, also because of the fact that for them, the word has a theological significance; they know what they are saying, they understand deeply the meaning of the text and they pass it forward with a high persuasion and also with a great beauty.

Performance in premiere

I’ve heard the members of the “Armonia” and “Cuvânt bun” choirs accompanied by a group of instrumentalists from The Opera and Ballet Theatre (Teatrul de Opera si Balet) “Oleg Danovschi” from Constanţa in a performance in premiere in its own form presented yesterday at the auditorium of the Ministry of Administration and Interns: a musical fresco “În vremea aceea… (“Once upon a time…”) by priest Ion Popescu Runcu in teacher Horaţiu Alexandrescu’s arrangement for the soloists, choir and orchestra. The performance was written regarding the texts of the evening services during the passion week from the Maundy Thursday and the Good Friday, in a classical harmony and with an extremely successful quasi-folkloric moment - here, Virgin Mary is wailing her Son in a kind of a mourning song, from which I remember two extremely beautiful and appropriate lyrics: “today, the Gentle Mild was caught by the wicked wolf”. Virgin Mary’s voice was that of an excellent mezzo-soprano with an authentic and seldom met voice from the Theatre of Constanţa, Lucia Mihalache Stoica.

The Joy found through music