Ivan Moody (composer)

Ivan Moody (11 June 1964 in London – 18 January 2024 in Lisbon) was a British composer and musicologist.

Moody was active as a conductor, having directed ensembles such as Voces Angelicae, the Kastalsky Chamber Choir (United Kingdom), Capilla Peña Florida (Spain), Cappella Romana (United States), the Choir of the Cathedral of St George, Novi Sad, (Serbia) the KotorArt Festival Choir (Montenegro), the Orthodox Choir of the University of Joensuu (Finland) and Ensemble Alpha (Portugal); and as a widely published musicologist. His research interests included the music of Eastern Europe, especially 20th century and contemporary music from Russia and the Balkans, the music of the Orthodox Church in the modern era, music and spirituality, music as theology, Serbian church music, the aesthetics of Modernism and Postmodernism and their intersection with Orthodox church music and the musical culture of the Mediterranean. ^[1]

Early life

Ivan Moody was born in London on 11 June 1964. He studied composition at Royal Holloway College, in London and privately with John Tavener; he took his doctorate in the University of York. He also studied Eastern Orthodox Theology at the University of Joensuu in Finland.

Work from the 1980s and 1990s

Moody's compositions show the influences of Eastern liturgical chant and the Eastern Orthodox Church, of which he was a member (He converted to Orthodoxy in 1988, being received in the Russian Cathedral in London. Ivan worked very hard to help creating an Orthodox Church with regular Liturgies in Lisbon, Portugal, where he was living, for there was no regular service and with the opening of the borders and the migration of lots of eastern orthodox people to Portugal in the 90s made it even more necessary. He was ordained Priest by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2004, later becoming a protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He was transferred to the Serbian Orthodox Church in 2022.^[2] His Canticum Canticorum I, written for the Hilliard Ensemble and premiered in 1987, achieved enormous success and remains his most frequently-performed work,^[3] and in 1990 he won the Arts for the Earth Festival Prize for Prayer for the Forests, subsequently premièred by the renowned Tapiola Choir of Finland. One of his most important works is the oratorio Passion and Resurrection (1992), based on Orthodox liturgical texts, premièred in 1993 by Red Byrd and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Tõnu Kaljuste at the Tampere Festival. In 1996 it was given its North American premiere by Cappella Romana. The Akáthistos Hymn (1998), the composer's largest work to date, and the first complete musical setting of this text, was written for Cappella Romana following these performances.

Other significant works include the 'cello concerto Epitaphios (1993), the cantata Revelation (1995), Endechas y Canciones (1996), the recorder concerto Pnevma (1998), Lamentations of the Myrrhbearer (2001) for string quartet, Lumière sans déclin (2000) for string orchestra, and the choral triptych written for Trio Mediaeval - Words of the Angel (1998), Troparion of Kassiani (1999), A Lion's Sleep (2002), and Chalice of Wisdom, using a text from Matins of the Feast of St Thomas, written in 2002 for the ensemble amarcord.

Work from the 2000s

Later compositions include a large-scale BBC commission, The Dormition of the Virgin (2003), concertos for double-bass (The Morning Star, 2003), piano (Linnunlaulu, 2003) and bassoon (Arise, 2004), Passione Popolare, built on popular religious texts from Magna Graecia and premièred at the Antidogma Festival in Italy in June 2005, and Ossetian Requiem, written for the Amsterdam-based 'Cello Octet Conjunto Ibérico. In 2008, he completed a new work for the King's Singers, "Canti della Rosa" and a large-scale setting of the Stabat Mater, incorporating texts from the Byzantine liturgy and by Anna Akhmatova, for the Oslo International Festival of Church Music. His 2009 Hymn to St Nicholas for eight voices was commissioned for the KotorArt Festival in Montenegro, where it was premiered under the composer's direction,^[4] and received its American premiere in November of that year.^[5]

Works completed in 2010 include Canticum Canticorum IV, a commission from Seattle Pro Musica, Angelus Domini descendit, a commission from the Choir of Royal Holloway, University of London and Sub tuum praesidium, a commission from the English Chamber Choir. 2011 saw the completion of a sequence of music for Byzantine-rite vespers for the Children's Choir of St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York and Ode 8 of the Paschal Canon, part of a multi-composer work commissioned by Cappella Romana. Recently completed works include "Simeron", for the Goeyvaerts Trio, recorded on Challenge CC72616), "Keskiyö" for two harpsichords, "Shoreline" for two pianos, "Dragonfly", a bass clarinet concerto for Luís Gomes and the Grupo de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa, "Fioriture" for American pianist Paul Barnes (recorded on Orange Mountain OMM0107), "Qohelet" for the Italian ensemble De Labyrinto, the "Dante Trilogy" for choir and ensemble, and "O Isplendor", in memory of John Tavener, for Cappella Nova, recorded on Linn Records CKD 539.

In October 2014 he was in residence at Biola University in Southern California, where he gave a series of masterclasses and lectures. The concluding monographic concert ended with the world premiere of "Cielo della Luna", the third part of the "Dante Trilogy", commissioned by the Biola Conservatory of Music. The first part of the Trilogy, "O Luce Etterna", was a commission from the Alcobaça Festival for the Capela Musical Cupertino de Miranda, and the second, "Oltre la Spera", was written for the Grupo de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa and the Grupo Musical Olisipo and first performed, as was the bass clarinet concerto "Dragonfly", at the composer's 50th Birthday concert at the Palácio Foz in Lisbon on 27 June 2014. In 2016 was Composer in Residence at the Stimmwercktage in Adlersberg, Germany.

Later work (2016–2024)

Later works include "Los Espejos de Velázquez" for the pianist Artur Pizarro (premiered in Vila Nova de Gaia in July 2016), "Paris, 7 am" (soprano and piano quintet) for soprano Suzie LeBlanc (premiered by Suzie LeBlanc and the Blue Engine, Robert Korgaard and the Blue Engine Quartet, Toronto, December 2016), "Le Vergine" for Stimmwerck (premiered at the Stimmwercktage, Adlersberg, June 2016), "Vespers Sequence" for New York Polyphony, premiered at St Mary the Virgin, New York, January 2017), "Psalm Antiphon", using the same scoring as Stravinsky's "Symphony of Psalms", commissioned by the Chamber Choir of Lisbon University and premiered on 13 July 2017 in Lisbon, "Psalm 1" and "Antiphon for Psalm 1", commissioned for Singer Pur and the Regensburger Domspatz and "Amorphous Metal" for the Trio Entremadeiras, premiered in Guarda, 9 February 2018. Works completed between 2018 and 2020 include "Isangele" for the English Chamber Choir, premiered at the Patmos Festival in August 2018, three motets on texts from the Codex Las Huelgas and the Byzantine rite for Trio Mediaeval, premiered in Oslo in October 2018, "Taninim" for tuba and piano, premiered by Sofia Moody and Pedro Vieira de Almeida at the Gravissimo Festival in Alcobaça in August 2019, the large-scale oratorio "Stephans-Weihnacht", commissioned by Singer Pur and St Stephen's Church, Therwil (premiered in December 2019), "Transfiguration", premiered by Voces8 and Intrada in Moscow in January 2020, and "Piano Book", comprising seventeen pieces for different pianists (2020), and "Bird in Space" (2020) for the saxophonist Amy Dickson.

Academic profile

As of 1990, Moody lived near Lisbon, Portugal, where he was until 1998 Professor of Composition at the Academia de Artes e Tecnologias, Lisbon. He was involved in the construction of a database for the Portuguese Contemporary Music Centre ([1]), was a Research Fellow of the CESEM research unit at the Universidade Nova in Lisbon 2010–2012 ([2] and again from 2015, and was Professor of Church Music of the Department of Orthodox Theology at the University of Eastern Finland ([3]) from 2013-2014. In 2005 he was elected the first Chairman of the International Society for Orthodox Church Music (ISOCM). His book "Modernism and Orthodox Spirituality in Contemporary Music" was published in 2014 by ISOCM/SASA ([4]).

Ivan Moody's music is recorded on the Hyperion, ECM, Sony, Challenge, Telarc, Gothic, Oehms, Orange Mountain, Linn and Cappella Romana labels.

Moody died on 18 January 2024, at the age of 59.^[6]

Personal life

Ivan Moody was married to contralto ^[7] and viola da gamba performer Susana Moody,^[8] member of the São Carlos National Theater Choir, father of Sebastian Moody, trombonist Bárbara Moody and tuba player Sofia Moody ^[9]

Partial list of works

1982: "Three Poems of Anna Akhmatova", for soprano or tenor and string sextet
1985: Canticum Canticorum I, for vocal ensemble
1987: "Canticle of the Mother of God", for choir
1988: "Hymn of the Transfiguration", for choir
1988 "Miserere", for choir
1990: Prayer for the Forests, for choir
1992: Passion and Resurrection, oratorio, for soloists, choir and ensemble
1992: Vigil of the Angels for viola and string orchestra
1993: Epitaphios, concerto for cello
1995: Revelation, cantata, for choir and ensemble
1996: Endechas y Canciones, for vocal ensemble
1996: Klama for viola and double bass
1998: The Akathistos Hymn, for choir
1998: Pnevma, concerto for recorder
1998: Words of the Angel, for choir
1999: Troparion of Kassiani, for choir
2000: Lumière sans déclin, for string orchestra
2001: Lamentations of the Myrrhbearers, for string quartet
2002: A Lion's Sleep, for choir
2002: Chalice of Wisdom for choir
2003: The Dormition of the Virgin, cantata for soloists, choir and ensemble
2003: The Morning Star, concerto for double-bass
2003: Linnunlaulu, concerto for piano
2004: Arise, concerto for bassoon
2005: Passione Popolare, for soloists, choir and ensemble
2009: Hymn to Saint Nicholas, for choir
2010: "Canticum Canticorum IV", for choir
2010: "Sub tuum praesidium", for choir
2011: "Vespers", for upper voices
2012: "The Paschal Canon: Ode VIII", for choir
2012: "Te lucis ante terminum", for choir
2012: "Noć Prekrasna", for choir
2012: "Simeron", for vocal trio and string trio
2012: "Shoreline", for two pianos
2013: "Keskiyö", for two harpsichords
2013: "Dragonfly", for solo bass clarinet and ensemble
2013: "Fioriture", for solo piano
2014: "Liturgy of St John Chrysostom no. 2 (Greek Liturgy)", for choir
2014: "O Luce Etterna (Dante Trilogy Part I)"
2014: "Oltre la Spera (Dante Trilogy Part II)"
2014: "Cielo della Luna (Dante Trilogy Part III)"
2015: "The Descent of the Dove", for violin, cello and piano
2015: "Uspomena" for two tubas and piano
2015: "...grace upon her heart..." for choir
2015: "Los Espejos de Velázquez" for piano
2016: "Paris, 7 a.m." for soprano and piano quartet
2016: "Albor" for harpsichord and recorder quartet
2016: "Le Vergine" for vocal consort and viol consort
2016: "Vespers Sequence" for vocal ensemble
2016: "Iterazioni", concerto for marimba
2017: "Psalm Antiphon" for choir and orchestra
2017: "Psalm 1" for choir
2017: "Antiphon for Psalm 1" for choir
2017: "Perchoresis" for flute trio
2017: "Amorphous Metal" for wind trio
2017: "Exaposteilarion for Theophany" for choir
2018: "Isangele (John on Patmos)" for choir
2018: "Three Motets (Ave Maris Stella; O Maria Maris Stella/Ti Theotoko; Resurgentis/Dhefte lavete/Christos anesti) for vocal ensemble
2018: "Tanninim" for tuba and piano
2018: "Transfiguration" for vocal ensemble and choir
2019: "Imperaytriz de la Ciutat Joyosa" for organetto
2019: "O Angels and Archangels" for soprano, cornetto and bass viol
2019: "Stephans-Weihnacht" for soloists, choir and ensemble
2020: "Piano Book" for piano
2020: "Wingtip Vortex" for flute
2020: "Civitas Sancti" for vocal ensemble
2020: "Bird in Space" for soprano saxophone
2021: "And no birds sing/Opsometha phos" for piano
2021: "Concierto Narrativo" for soprano saxophone and strings
2021: "Dromoi" for flute and piano
2022: "Byzantine Requiem" for chamber choir
2022: "Tre Notturni" for baryton trio
2022: "Cavafy Songs" for countertenor and piano
2023: "Evangelismos" for choir
2023: "Anasta" for contralto, violin and bass clarinet
2023: "Quartet of Life" for contralto, clarinet, violin and double-bass
2023: "Babbu nostru" for choir

Selected recordings

Aflame, He Who clothed Himself with Light, Moons and Suns NDR Choir, Raschèr Saxophone Quartet C2 Hamburg Es Dur ES 2081
Akáthistos Hymn Cappella Romana CR418-2CD
A Lion's Sleep ECM New Series 1869
Apokathilosis Raumklang Rkap 10117
Canticum Canticorum I ECM New Series 1614/15
Canticum Canticorum I Atma Classique ACD2 2284
Chalice of Wisdom CD "Prinos euharistic", Theological Faculty, Iași
Endechas y Canciones ECM New Series 1614/15
Fioriture Orange Mountain Music OMM 0107
Imperaytriz de la ciutat joyosa Consouling Sounds SOUL0139
Lamentation of the Virgin Oehms Classics OC 354
Passion & Resurrection Hyperion CDA 66999
Ravenna Sanctus Warner Classics R2 146364
Simeron Channel Classics CC 72616
Supplication for Peace Oehms Classics OC1714
Te Apostolit Cappella Romana CR 412-CD
Te lucis ante terminum, He Who clother Himself with Light, The Blessed among Women weeping, Stabat Mater, Funeral Trisagion, Words of the Angel, Meeting in the Garden, Angelus Domini, Ablaze Records AR 00065
Troparion of Kassiana ECM New Series 1869
When Augustus Reigned Naxos 9.70039
Words of the Angel ECM New Series 1753