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"The work contains texts from the life of Jesus Christ from the first day of Holy Week to the Resurrection. The first part of the work is called "Holy Lament" - when the Gospel tells how Jesus Christ has already entered and ordered his disciples to find a place for the Last Supper. There follows Holy Tuesday and Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday when he washes the feet of his disciples and Good Friday when he is captured and judgment is already upon him and him until the Resurrection - Sunday when we all rejoice that Life has prevailed over Death. The work is large, in 44 parts which describe the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. The music is very beautiful, Baroque, it resembles Bach's music" - says Metropolitan Kyprian of Stara Zagora, who will conduct "The Passion according to Matthew".
The work is particularly vividly presented with spectacular multimedia, the work of Sergei Golubev.
The work's composer, Metropolitan Hilarion (secular name: Grigory Valerievich Alfeyev), is among Russia's best-known contemporary theologians and church diplomats, a patrologist and composer, a doctor of philosophy from the University of Oxford, and a doctor of theology from the St. Sergius Theological Institute in Paris.
He was born in 1966 in Moscow. He studied violin and composition at the secondary music school - Moscow. He entered the composition faculty of the Moscow State Conservatory, but interrupted his studies of his own accord and entered a monastery as a novice. He subsequently graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy. Ordained bishop in 2002, he was appointed head of the Russian Orthodox Church's representation in European international organizations. In 2003, he was appointed Bishop of Vienna and Austria. He participated in the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. He is the author of more than 600 publications, including monographs on patristics, dogmatic theology and church history.
Metropolitan Hilarion is the author of several major works, including The Passion According to Matthew, The Nativity Oratorio, The Divine Liturgy, The All-Night Vigil, and Concerto Grosso. In a short time, Metropolitan Hilarion, who worked in various genres from chamber music to oratorios, became one of the most performed contemporary Russian composers.
His distinctive musical oeuvre is deeply connected to the rich Russian intonational song, often based on ancient church chants - Znamenny, Kiev.
The oratorio St Matthew Passion (2006) was written on the canonical text of the Gospel of Matthew and liturgical texts of the Orthodox Church. A complex work in structure, it consists of separate musical movements linked together by episodes of reading the Gospel passages. The music of the oratorio is characterized by inner depth and concentration, at times by drama, without excessive pathos and sentimentality, which drama alternates with a prayerful state of contemplation. The oratorio St Matthew Passion is a magnificent spiritual revelation.
