Christmas concert in the Black Church

Sunday, December 11, 7.30pm
Christmas Concert
Bach Choir of the Black Church + Capella Coronensis
Conductor Steffen Schlandt
St. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church,
str. Mureșenilor, Brașov

We look forward to seeing you at the concert.

Good news: 2022 concert season approaching in the Black Church

 

What could be more beautiful than listening to the music of great composers in a unique architectural monument? Concerts at the Black Church are unforgettable experiences. This year, we are offering both organ concerts as part of the ORGAN NIGHTS summer season and extraordinary concerts featuring choirs and soloists from home and abroad.

The 70th edition of the organ concert summer season

Organ Nights concerts return to the Black Church from 4 June until the end of September. The summer organ season has enjoyed an unbroken tradition since 1953. Since then more than 4000 organ concerts have been held in the Black Church.

This year, the concerts will take place on Saturdays from 6 pm, lasting about 60 minutes, with guest artists from the USA, Croatia and Romania. In the repertoire of the 17 concerts we will find composers from all eras – a repertoire tailored to the possibilities offered by the 4 instruments of the Black Church.

These concerts are an integral part of INSPIRATIO by History & Music, a concept launched in 2020 by the parish of the Black Church, whose mission is to preserve and promote the heritage of this monument. With each participation, our public contributes to the preservation of the valuable heritage, including the restoration and conservation of special objects, repairs, tuning and maintenance of the organs, as well as increasing the cultural-historical offers for the wider public.

The cost of a ticket for the summer season organ concerts is 20 lei, with children under 18 years of age free of charge. An exception is the children’s concert on 11.6., where the ticket costs 20 lei for adults and children. The cost of tickets for the special concerts varies between 30 and 50 lei, and children get a discount in the case of the 30 lei tickets.

For extraordinary concerts, ticket sales will start 10 days before the event, and for ORGAN NIGHTS Festival concerts, tickets can be purchased from the Monday of the week of each concert at the ticket office located in the INSPIRATIO Gift Studio.

You can purchase tickets online for each concert of the season HERE.

We look forward to seeing you at the concert.

The Citrus Singers perform in the Black Church

There will be an extraordinary concert at the Black Church on Sunday 5 June from 6pm – the Citrus Singers conducted by Douglas Austin and Marius Beltran.

You can purchase tickets in advance here – https://booktes.com/cumpara/concert-citrus-singers#2022-05-30

The Citrus Singers

conducted by Douglas Austin and Marius Beltran

The Citrus Singers, the vocal ensemble of the college of the same name in Glendora, California, was founded in 1968 and quickly gained international renown. This top ensemble has won numerous choral competitions, including the prestigious Internationale Chorwettbewerb in Spittal, Austria. Previous venues where it has performed include the Glinka Capella in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the Vienna Symposium for Outstanding International Choirs, the Riebeld Festival in Denmark, the Midnight Sun Choral Festival in Tromso, Norway, and the International Choral Festival in the People’s Republic of China. It has also performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, opened the Rose Parade, and performed live from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles each year on the PBS Christmas Eve special. The Citrus Singers Choir has delighted presidents and foreign dignitaries and represented the United States around the world, performing in France, Italy, Austria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Japan, Spain, China, Denmark, Norway, Germany, South America and the United Kingdom.

The programme includes excerpts from the following creations:

All That Hath Life and Breath Praise Ye the Lord! René Clausen
Sing Me to Heaven Daniel Gawthrop
Let the Life I’ve Lived Speak for Me Gwyneth Walker
How Can I Keep from Singing Robert Lowry/arr. Sarah Quartel
Sanctus Craig Courtney
Prayer for a New Day Jonathan Reid
Gloria (from “Missa Kenya”) Paul Basler
There Will Be Rest Frank Ticheli
The Word Was God Rosephanye Powell
Ubi Caritas Ola Gjeilo
Psalm 96 Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
O Magnum Mysterium Morten Lauridsen
Northern Lights Ola Gjeilo
Baba Yetu (Swahili adaptation of “The Lord’s Prayer”) Christopher Tin
The Heavens’ Flock Ēriks Ešenvalds
Panunumpa Jessel Gerard Gonzalez/arr. Christopher Borela
Lord, Listen to Your Children Ken Medema/arr. Kenneth Dake
O Shenandoah Traditional/ar. Greg Gilpin
Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho Traditional/arr. Jonathan Rathbone
Prayer of the Children Kurt Bastor/arr. Andrea S. Klouse

Douglas Austin, conductor of the renowned Citrus College Singers, began teaching in the fall of 1985 and has dedicated thirty-five years to the students of the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Citrus College, using his impressive musical experience to enhance the academic performance of his students. Douglas Austin, who studied music at California State University, Los Angeles, has a solid professional career as a composer, arranger, singer and performer. He has taught courses in vocal and choral technique, musical theatre and solo singing. Professor Austin is a sought-after choral expert and evaluator, frequently conducting vocal workshops and guest lecturing at prestigious festival conferences.

Marius Beltran, associate conductor of the Citrus Singers, has more than ten years of teaching experience. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Composition and a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting. Marius Beltran began his formal music education at Citrus College as an undergraduate and eventually became a faculty member in 2017, where he teaches courses in music theory, music history, and voice. In addition to his work at Citrus, Beltran teaches other age groups, from children’s choirs to professional theatre productions. He also works as a performer, choreographer, private voice teacher, composer/arranger, and adjudicator for choral festivals in Southern California.

The Citrus Singers, Arturo Alvarez, Grace Bernard, Emma Castillo, Jaalene DeLeon, Rachel Fisher, Lorenzo Flores, Mario Garcia, Quinn Gearheart, Jacob Gonzalez, Maren Hamilton, Alexis Herrera, Jillian Hurte, Michael Keleshian, Kaelyn Kilpatrick, Anthony Legans, Andrew Limon, Berlynn Milliken, Christopher Nevarez, Harmony Nichols, Jack Nisbet, Christian Ontiveros, Emilio Pichardo, Reagan Slomback, Dylan Smith, Joanna Tan, Hannah Valenzuela, Aidan Ramirez, Jake Rushing, Hannah Weisman, April Williams, Luis Zano.

Citrus College is the oldest community college in Los Angeles County and the fifth oldest in California. Founded in 1915, the college has grown and expanded so much that it now offers transferable associate degrees and/or certificates in over 54 fields, as well as highly rated career and technical programs. Citrus College is regularly ranked as one of the best community colleges in the country. The Citrus College Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1966 to support the educational goals of all students, including those in the Citrus Singer program. We are grateful for their continued support.

The Citrus Singers thank you for supporting the arts and sharing this wonderful musical experience with us.

Extraordinary concert on Europe Day in the Black Church

On the eve of Europe Day, the Black Church invites you to an exceptional concert in which the Bach Choir of the Black Church and the Ensemble Crescendo from Paris, under the musical direction of maestro Christian Ciucă, will perform compositions by Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Gabriel Fauré and Marțian Negrea. Soloists of this French-Romanian concert are the soprano Melinda Samson (Sibiu) and the baritone Dmytro Rusyniak (Odessa), and Steffen Schlandt plays the organ.

The proceeds of the concert will go to the Centre for War Refugees, which is run by the city of Brasov together with a number of NGO’s experienced in working with refugees.

Tickets at 50.- lei are available in the INSPIRATIO gift studio of the Black Church or online via BookTes – https://booktes.com/

Guided tours of the Black Church

We offer unforgettable guided tours of the Black Church.

You can request a private guided tour of the Black Church at guide@biserica-neagra.ro.

Together we will agree on the details of the meeting: the day, the time, the language and the payment modalities, according to your availability and that of our church guides.

Reservation price: 50 lei/group + entrance fee/person

Adults – 15,00 lei
Pensioners – 10,00 lei (pensioner’s card required)
Students – 10,00 lei (student card required)
Pupils – 5,00 lei (up to 18 years, pupil’s card or gradebook required)

The church guide is exclusively available to your group.

Guided tours outside the opening hours published on our website can be arranged on request: Groups must be a minimum of 15 people and the price is RON 25/person plus the church guide booking fee of RON 50. In these cases, no discounts are granted (for children or pupils, students or pensioners).

For groups of maximum 30 persons organ concerts are offered, separately or in combination with a church tour. Please place your written request: guide@biserica-neagra.ro. The cost of the organ concert is 600 lei per group.

For groups of more than 30 people, details of organization and payment will be given on request via the same email address guide@biserica-neagra.ro.

Further Information:
Phone – 0268 511 824 (Monday – Friday between 8.00 am and 2.00 pm).
Mobile – 0040 726 337 433 (Monday – Friday between 8.00 and 16.00)
E-mail – guide@biserica-neagra.ro

The award ceremony for the Annual Cultural Prizes in Brașov will take place on February 25th

We are delighted about the four nominations this year: for the series “Organ Nights”, for the concert played by Steffen Schlandt at the organ from the Lutheran church in Rupea, featuring, among other creations, the Metallica song “Nothing else matters”, and for the nomination in the category “Cultural Institution of the Year” as well as for the co-organisation of the festival “Musica Barcensis” together with the foundation “Forum ARTE”

You can vote for us again this year here – https://bit.ly/PremiileAnuluiÎnCulturăBrașov

We are pleased that our events have found favour with the public, even though we were forced to rethink them in an experimental way due to the pandemic.

Whatever the outcome of the competition, we are looking forward to the award gala on February 25th at 7 p.m. in the “Astra” cinema, because then, together with the other cultural institutions of Brașov, we can look back on two not exactly easy, but culturally rich years; we will also be able to anticipate the upcoming cultural year and look forward to it.

See you at the gala!

https://www.facebook.com/ConsortiulCulturalCorona

https://www.facebook.com/fundatiaforumarte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWqXm7SHyss

Good news: Organ Nights concerts are starting again in the Black Church

From 26 June to the end of September the Organ Nights concerts are back in the Black Church, a festival that has continued even in 2020 the beloved tradition of the summer organ season, uninterrupted since 1953. After a year in the open air, the festival returns to the Black Church, retaining the charm of a summer evening festival achieved last year: it will take place once a week on Saturdays from 6.00 pm, with an extended duration of 60 minutes, during which the audience will enjoy the sounds of the organs and the special acoustics of the monument.

This year, the protagonists will be guest artists from the USA, France and Romania, and the program of the 14 concerts will be attractive and varied, accompanied by the Buchholz organ or the other three organs in the Black Church, with works by famous composers.

A novelty of this season is the addition of solo instruments such as the clarinet or brass to the organ music, live projection on an indoor screen, online broadcasting and small historical incursions about organs in Romania – enough reasons to arouse the interest of music, history and heritage lovers.

These concerts are an integral part of the INSPIRATIO by history & music concept, a concept launched last year by the Black Church, whose mission is to preserve and enhance the heritage of this monument. With each participation, the public contributes to the preservation of the valuable heritage, including the restoration and conservation of special objects, repairs, tuning and maintenance of the organs, as well as increasing the cultural-historical offers for the general public.

In the years to come, this new approach and new perspective will strengthen through inspiring cultural actions the best known Brasov brand – the Black Church – and will open new ways for the general public to understand heritage.

The cost of a ticket is 20 lei, with children under 18 free of charge. Tickets can be purchased from the Monday of the week of each concert at the ticket office in the INSPIRATIO gift studio.

All legal requirements will be respected. If concerts are not allowed inside, they will be screened live in the courtyard in the specially designed area.

Program:

26 June 2021 – Renée Anne Louprette (USA)

3 July 2021 – Ursula Philippi (Prejmer)

10 July 2021 – Ciprian Dancu (Sibiu) – clarinet, Steffen Schlandt (Brasov) – organ

17 July 2021 – Students of the organ class of the Music Academy “Gheorghe Dima” from Cluj, coordinator Prof. Amalia Erdős

24 July 2021 – Steffen Schlandt (Brasov)

31 July 2021 – Miklós Noémi (Cluj)

7 August 2021 – Neumarkt Brass Quintet – brass (Tg. Mureș), Steffen Schlandt – organ

14 August 2021 – Erich Türk (Cluj)

21 August 2021 – Antal Eduard (Bucharest)

28 August 2021 – Paul Cristian (Brasov)

4 September 2021 – Eckart Schlandt (Brasov)

11 September 2021 – Organ Class of the Faculty of Music Brasov

coordinator Steffen Schlandt – Geanina Sălăgean (Bucharest) – Iulia Reitu (Ploiești)

18 September 2021 – Domenico Severin (France)

25 September 2021 – Brita & Jürg Falch-Leutert (Sibiu)

The Organ Nights Festival is financially supported by the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania.

The daily life of the Transylvanian Saxons in the 20th century in family photos

This charming documentary exhibition presents the everyday life of the Transylvanian Saxons in historical photographs.

It will be on display at the Honterus-Hof for one month from Sunday, 20 June, inviting you all to linger, learn, remember and enjoy with a glimpse into our history.