Very soon a solo concert of one of the most unusual participants, and also the winners of the popular television project "The Voice" Hieromonk Photius, will take place in Moscow. The performer will delight his listeners with compositions that have already made an impression on those who closely followed the development of events on TV, as well as other musical works - lyric songs, news, pop hits and others.
Hieromonk Photius is a citizen of Nizhny Novgorod. Since childhood, he loved to sing and even received an elementary musical education, but he could not advance along this path, since he moved to Germany. At the age of twenty, the future hieromonk went to a monastery and became a conductor of a church choir. Within the framework of the "Voice" project, Hieromonk Photius performed under the patronage of the famous musician Grigory Leps and walked confidently until the very end, supported by enthusiastic spectators.
You can buy tickets for the performance of Hieromonk Photius right now on the page of our website. Delivery of tickets in Moscow is free.
Rumors that the church hierarchs allegedly forbade the winner of the "Voice" competition, hieromonk Photius, to give solo concerts, do not quite correspond to reality. The performer himself told reporters about this.
No blessing - no concerts
The Sochi Christmas concert took place without Photius, and no prohibitions have anything to do with it. The reason for the absence of the winner of the prestigious vocal competition is simple. First of all, a hieromonk is a spiritual person, and unlike most of his fellow citizens, he serves, and does not go to work. Even the petition of Grigory Leps himself did not affect this decision, made by the hieromonk together with his spiritual father, Metropolitan Clement, who blessed him to participate in the festive service, but not in the concert.
The confessor called his son by faith to fulfill his duty in the temple. By the way, there are also a lot of listeners in it, and the joy brought to them from that is no less than from performing in front of a secular audience.
Perhaps, in the future, if duties permit and there is time, Photius will take part in the concerts of the participants of the competition, but in this case the blessing of the spiritual father, given not only to the hieromonk, but also to the organizers of the tour, the Universal company, will be an indispensable condition.
In an interview, the winner of the show also revealed that he loves good music, especially classical music, on which he was brought up. And he would also like to have a car, not luxurious, but modest, so that he can quickly fulfill the requirements of the flock.
Hieromonk Photius, a resident of Svyato-Pafnutiev Borovsky Monastery, and in the world - Vitaly Mochalov, the country recognized in the fall of last year, after his participation in the show "Voice" on "Channel One". During the "blind listening", one of the most eccentric mentors, Grigory Leps, turned to his clear voice. Then he could not contain his exclamation of surprise. A young monk in a cassock stood before his eyes, smiling timidly. The audience was delighted with his voice, and with a wide margin from the other participants, he went on to the next round over and over again. In the final, 76 percent of the viewers gave him their sympathy.
It is worth noting that after winning the project, despite the nationwide fame, the ROC did not immediately allow him to perform on tour. But after a huge number of letters and requests from admirers of his talent, Father Photius was still allowed to perform on stage. Then Patriarch Kirill said: “It so happened that a very young monk has gained nationwide fame and, most importantly, nationwide sympathy. If there was only glory, and there was no such love of people, I would use my power and forbid him to speak. But I know how many people, through Fr. Photius, are discovering the Orthodox faith. If you tell him now: don't speak out, don't say anything, go peel the potatoes and so on, maybe he will do it, but then we will lose the person whose voice today turns people to God, including the intelligentsia. I never thought that among our contemporary singers there are people who, through communication with Fr. Photius, are able to discover the beauty of Orthodoxy. " Addressing Photius himself directly, the patriarch wished him not to forget about his destiny as a clergyman: “I wish you to preserve the naturalness of behavior and modesty inherent in the monastic title, and also remember that the chosen monastic path in its meaning and meaning exceeds the victory that you won. After all, many voted not only for the voice, but also for the image ”. After that, Hieromonk Photius continued his path in music, without giving up spiritual service.
And on March 11, he visited Tambov. Tickets for his concert were sorted out almost immediately after they went on sale. There was not a single free seat in the hall. The bulk of the audience is the generation "above" the middle age, but there were a lot of young people as well. The concert began with a slight hitch. Stepping on the stage, Father Photius greeted the audience and, embarrassed, fell silent in mid-sentence, forgetting the name of our city. The audience answered him amicably: "Tambov!" Even more embarrassed, the monk asked for forgiveness from the audience and explained his mistake.
- Forgive me, I'm a little confused in the cities. They change every day. I really don't even see them. We arrive in a new city, have a little rest, rehearse, then a concert and leave, the monk apologized timidly from the stage. - Now here again after the concert on the road. Once again, forgive me!
His assistant, pianist Anastasia Goncharova, performed on stage with Father Photius. In between songs, she played classical pieces on the piano, and also accompanied him in the performance of several romances.
The repertoire of the monk-singer sounded not only classical works, such as Fly away on the Wings of the Wind from the opera Prince Igor, romances based on poems by Pushkin and Bulat Okudzhava, but also hits "Scorpions", Italian works and contemporary songs: "City, which does not exist "by Igor Kornelyuk and" My red rose "by Philip Kirkorov. The monk sang very easily, as the audience whispered in the hall, "without straining."
- See how easily he draws notes,- the audience whispered among themselves. - Not even a muscle flinched in his face. This is talent!
Silence reigned during his speech. Fans listened to his magical voice in fascination and carried flowers to the stage. And one of the admirers gave the monk a basket of fruits, apparently knowing that Photius was fasting. The concert was held in one breath. It ended with the song "Good night, gentlemen", which was written by Grigory Leps. However, the audience in no way wanted to let Father Photius go from the stage. He could not just leave and finally sang one more song: "It is light in my room." The spectators all got up from their seats and gave him a standing ovation. He ended his speech with the following words:
- Thanks to everyone who came to our concert. We tried very hard to find the most beautiful pieces. At first glance, it may seem that this is a "hodgepodge", but this is not at all true,- said Photius. - We selected all the pieces very scrupulously and tried very hard to create a good atmosphere. God bless you!
After the performance, Photius went on stage and handed out his autographed photos to everyone. However, many stretched their hands not only for him, but folded their palms asked: "Bless me!" And everyone got what they wanted.
The concert of Hieromonk Photius is a unique and unusual cultural event. And this is connected, of course, with the personality of the participant himself.
A monk singing the hits of world pop music from the stage - is this possible? A few years ago, we could not even believe such a thing. But Vitaly Vladimirovich Mochalov, a resident of St. Pafnutiev's Borovsky Monastery, dared to prove the opposite a few years ago. He is naturally endowed with excellent vocal abilities, which allowed him to become the choir director of his native monastery. But at the same time, the interests of the singer are not limited to one sacred music. This led him to the famous television project "Voice", the winner of which he soon became. This event has become unique in the history of this show, and of all Russian popular music. It is not surprising that such an unusual performer became famous. Therefore, soon domestic music lovers had the opportunity to buy tickets for the concert of Hieromonk Photius. For this, the monk had to ask for the blessing of the patriarch to carry out concert activities. And the clergy allowed him to speak in his free time from serving the Lord.
At present, this unusual performer continues to serve God in the monastery, which does not prevent him, as far as possible, from performing throughout the country. And very soon Muscovites and residents of the Moscow region will be able to attend his solo concert. Here the singing monk will present a varied and vivid program, which will include Russian romances and other vocal music of different years and trends. World pop compositions will also be performed here.