“…You will open a window through which the beauty of the Heavenly Kingdom will shine into your life in a particularly intense and radiant fashion.”
– Orthodox Arts Journal review of The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Producing World-Class Recordings
Music holds such immense power that it can dramatically transform a person’s life in an instant. Sacred music can heal, inspire and touch the soul of believers and non-believers alike, in a way no written word can ever do. PaTRAM Institute™ is dedicated to producing Christian Orthodox music in its most authentic and prayerful form, setting for ourselves the highest standard of musical excellence. To achieve this goal for each of our recordings we bring together world-class ensembles; supremely talented conductors; the highest caliber recording engineers and producers in the industry; we select the most beautiful musical repertoires, and record our albums in unique and acoustically rich churches throughout North America and Russia.
We hope to have a lasting, positive impact on humanity and inspire new generations of orthodox singers and conductors.
Praise the Lord All Ye Nations©
We begin with a revelation.
While in Moscow in 2013, the Co-Founders of PaTRAM Institute attended the service of the Great Compline at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra Representation Monastery. They found themselves deeply moved by the prayerful and angelic singing by Conductor Vladimir Gorbik’s Male Choir. Though the Lukianovs had heard beautiful church singing many times, never before had they witnessed so many faithful, with intense devotion, moved to tears of repentance at a church service. Later that evening Alexis and Katherine learned that 70% of Maestro Gorbik singers were not trained professional musicians, but in fact, they were simply observant Orthodox Christians. This was a revelation. Alexey Lukianov immediately wondered how to transplant the full beauty of the Russian Orthodox musical tradition to North America, where choral singing was in steady decline. The Lukianovs and their team of like-minded Orthodox individuals began to formulate a multi-tiered method to improve the qualifications of church conductors and singers, and thus, the Patriarch Tikhon Russian-American Music Institute™ (PaTRAM™ Institute) was born.
Praise the Lord All Ye Nations is PaTRAM Institute’s first album, sung by the Patriarch Tikhon Choir, a largely North American ensemble of mostly professional choristers, dedicated to the prayerful performance of Orthodox Christian music. Conducted by Maestro Vladimir Gorbik, the CD represents PaTRAM Institute’s first effort to unite deep spirituality, heartfelt love of the traditions of Orthodox singing, and an uncompromising standard of musical excellence. Future albums were but a distant dream, but with God’s help, they would come to fruition.
Alexis and Katherine Lukianov were Executive Producers on Praise the Lord All Ye Nations and would go on to become the Executive Producers on all the PaTRAM Institute CD’s. This album marks the beginning of PaTRAM Institute’s partnership with multi-Grammy winning recording and mastering company, Soundmirror, which would go on to record, produce and master PaTRAM Institute’s future CD’s.
Teach Me Thy Statutes©
The PaTRAM Institute Male Choir™ made it’s recording debut on Russian soil in 2016, uniting choristers from East and West and realizing its first momentous Russian-American music project. Guided by their Orthodox faith and the love of liturgical music for worship, the singers, who had come from different continents, achieved a truly remarkable unity in just 6 short days.
The objective of PaTRAM institute’s second album was to immerse the listener into the beautiful Russian monastic style of singing through its fullness and richness of sonority. Written by the famed Russian composer, Pavel Chesnokov, and performed by the PaTRAM Institute Male Choir, 42 vocalists hailing from North America and Russia, these pieces represent some of the Orthodox world’s greatest music. Our highly esteemed conductor Maestro Vladimir Gorbik skillfully united strong musicianship with superb diction to achieve an otherworldly sound. This album was recorded with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Longin of Saratov and Volsk in July 2016 at the Saratov Orthodox Theological Seminary, Saratov, Russia.
The CD was released in the Spring of 2018. To our delight Teach Me Thy Statutes earned a GRAMMY nomination and took the win for MusicWeb International’s 2018 Record of the Year, bringing Orthodox music to the global arena.
About the recording trip: https://patraminstitute.org/patram-sponsors-recording-of-new-cd-in-saratov-russia/
The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom©
“With God, all things are possible”. It is with these guiding words that Dr. Kurt Sander embarked upon composing the very first full setting of the Divine Liturgy in the English-language. This original masterpiece was commissioned by PaTRAM Institute and flawlessly conducted by Maestro Peter Jermihov. Under the soaring and magnificently frescoed cupolas of the New Gracanica Church at the New Gracanica Serbian Monastery (outside Chicago), the composer’s musical notes took flight for the first time. Rooted in classical, 19th century Russian models, Sander’s Divine Liturgy beautifully unifies the musical fabric of the composition with the spiritual journey of the Faithful. Twenty-six of the finest choristers from across the United States joined together to create the landmark album.
PaTRAM Insititute was truly honored and humbled to receive its second Grammy nomination for Sander’s, The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
Learn more about the recording: https://patraminstitute.org/kurt-sanders-newly-written-divine-liturgy-recorded-for-release-in-2018/
The first public singing of Sander’s Divine Liturgy: https://patraminstitute.org/first-singing-of-kurt-sanders-divine-liturgy-at-the-patronal-feast-of-st-alexander-nevsky-at-the-diocesan-cathedral-in-howell-nj/
https://patraminstitute.org/a-new-musical-setting-of-the-divine-liturgy/
Blessed Art Thou among Women©
This very special album, Blessed Art Thou among Women, is lovingly dedicated to the memory of Protopresbyter Valery Lukianov, father of the Chairman of PaTRAM Institute, Alexis Lukianov. The church venue is the Diocesan Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Howell, New Jersey, which was engineered and built by Fr. Valery. The Cathedral is an architectural gem, adorned with exquisite frescoes and a rich acoustic. It is a magnificent, worshipful home to a very large flock of Russian Orthodox faithful. Under the superb leadership of Maestro Peter Jermihov, the talented choristers of the PaTRAM Institute Singers™, coalesced from across the US and Canada combining their talents to make this recording both astoundingly beautiful and deeply soulful. We hope you will enjoy this unique collection of rarely or never-before-heard Orthodox hymns on the Marian texts!
https://patraminstitute.org/remembering-protopresbyter-valery-lukianov-one-year-anniversary/
More Honourable Than the Cherubim©
In 2019, with the special permission and blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, the Kursk Root Mother of God of the Sign Icon traveled with the PaTRAM Institute Male Choir to Saratov, Russia. During our time in Saratov, more than 18,000 believers and those new to the faith venerated this holy and magnificent relic. Once we learned that the Kursk Root Icon would be accompanying us, we knew that the 2019 PaTRAM Institute Male Choir recording MUST honor the Most Immaculate Lady, the Holy Theotokos! The musical project, entitled More Honourable than the Cherubim, brought together 56 choristers from 5 countries, including 9 oktavists! Grammy nominated Maestro Vladimir Gorbik achieved a sound so deeply beautiful and moving that local residents huddled outside the St. Nicholas Church and on balconies of adjacent buildings in hopes of hearing the heavenly and exquisite music coming from inside the church. In addition to recording the new album, the PaTRAM Institute Male Choir performed a standing room only concert at the Saratov Conservatory and participated in Divine Services. The compendium of hymns by various composers honoring the Holy Virgin Mary was recorded by Grammy winning production company Soundmirror and is released by multi-Grammy winning Chandos Records.
Listen to the behind the scenes rehearsals, concert at the Saratov Conservatory and Divine Services:
https://www.facebook.com/patraminstitute/videos/2424452914543199/
https://www.facebook.com/patraminstitute/videos/357434238479826/
https://www.facebook.com/patraminstitute/videos/2463852610563087/
https://www.facebook.com/patraminstitute/videos/1198812360322262/
About our recording trip: https://patraminstitute.org/patram-returns-from-successful-recording-trip-in-saratov-russia/
Rachmaninoff’s “All-Night Vigil” – Arrives March 23rd 2024
After completing its landmark project, in June 2022 in the holiest place on earth, Jerusalem, PaTRAM Institute™ has released this first-of-its-kind, international male choir CD of one of the greatest compositions in all of Orthodox Music – Rachmaninoff’s “All-Night Vigil”. The gifted Maestra Ekaterina Antonenko conducted the 50+ member PaTRAM Institute Male Choir™, featuring choristers from five countries, to create this masterpiece.
Please order the “All-Night Vigil” CD and be the first to hear this incredible recording. You’ll be amazed at the unbelievable sound.
