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The concert of Hieromonk Photius is a unique and unusual cultural event. And this, of course, is connected with the personality of the participant himself.
A monk singing hits of world pop music from the stage - is this possible? Just a few years ago we couldn’t even believe this. But Vitaly Vladimirovich Mochalov, a resident of the St. Pafnutev Borovsky Monastery, dared to prove the opposite several 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 singer’s interests are not limited to sacred music. This led him to the famous television project “The Voice”, of which he soon became the winner. This event became unique in the history of this show, and indeed 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 to the concert of Hieromonk Photius. To do this, the monk had to ask for the blessing of the patriarch to carry out concert activities. And the clergy allowed him to perform in his free time from serving the Lord.
Currently, this unusual performer continues to serve God in the monastery, which does not prevent him from performing whenever possible 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 vibrant program, which will include Russian romances and other vocal music of different years and styles. World pop compositions will also be performed here.
Very soon a solo concert of one of the most unusual participants, and also the winners, of the popular television project “The Voice” of Hieromonk Photius will take place in Moscow. The performer will delight his listeners with compositions that have already impressed those who closely followed the developments on TV, as well as other musical works - lyrical songs, pop hits and others.
Hieromonk Photius is a resident of Nizhny Novgorod. Since childhood, he loved to sing and even received a primary musical education, but was unable to advance along this path, as he moved to Germany. At the age of twenty, the future hieromonk entered a monastery and became the conductor of the church choir. As part 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 now on the page of our website. Ticket delivery within Moscow is free.
When, during the blind audition, the judges turned to the wonderful voice and saw a monk in front of them, everyone was shocked. And his coach was at first making fun of him and asking tricky questions. Apparently, Leps couldn’t get over the shock at first - what should he do with such a colorful member of his team?!
Blind audition, shock and impressions
But then everything went smoothly and wonderfully. Leps selected excellent material for Photius (the first of them was the romance “On the Road to Zagorsk” - immediately at the audition Leps gave Photius to study). Here he is, we look, we listen.
On the way to Zagorsk
The material selected by Leps allowed the monk to hold his head high and not stoop to vulgar primitive hits. The monk's strong, beautiful voice attracted a large army of fans, and the monk won the show.
From the very first broadcasts, questions began to appear: Hieromonk Photius, Golos, the opinion of the priests, how this is allowed, what kind of business it is, monks on stage, and so on. But mostly the opinions of the priests were positive; our secular viewers could not sit quietly in front of the screens. They would rather listen to and applaud all sorts of perverts and mustachioed people. But the modest, childishly pure monk with his crystal strong voice, you see, is not to their liking. Well, you can’t please everyone, but the majority of the people (almost 80%) voted for Photius. And thank God! Perhaps it was not from him, but from above that this speech was allowed to the monk.
Metropolitan Photius blessed him, Hieromonk Macarius spoke very positively about him, Father Vasily, his confessor, let him go with a calm heart. So all those people who were confident in Photius, without doubt, let the monk go to the show.
I would like to quote the words of one priest:
A little biography
Photius (in the world Vitaly Mochalov) was very passionate about music since childhood. but it so happened that he and his parents left for Germany, and 3 years later he returned to his homeland to become a monk, and settled for a long time in the St. Paphnutie Borovsky Monastery. The guy is musical, active, hardworking, simple and modest. He works actively in the monastery both before and after the show, does not shy away from any work, leads the choir, records discs. Young, energetic - why not. In the meantime, we will listen and watch the best songs of the monk Photius, heard on “The Voice” - it’s very beautiful!
Duet with Leps - Labyrinth
Leps, writhing and distorting sounds, looks next to Photius like Parsley, against the pure and confident, high, strong, powerful and simple sound of Photius...
Rus', always be holy
Very beautiful singing, beautifully designed, clear voices, sound majestic and soulful.
Father Photius, Kormukhina, Petrovsky - magnificent, delightful singing of “Caruso”!
And the monk sang this song with Ella Khrustaleva - great impressions, wonderful blowing, wonderful singing!
Discussion: 3 comments
Hieromonk Photius is not just a singing monk, he is also an unusual person. I read an interview with his friend Denis on Pravmir, and he talked about what a wonderful, calm, kind-hearted person he is, and how devoted he is to God. That’s why his management let him go to the show with a calm soul, they knew that dirt wouldn’t stick to the young monk, and if something went wrong somewhere, he would immediately leave.
I also liked how he says that many go to the monastery for various reasons, and often run away from problems, but there are few people like Photius who go to the monastery out of love for God. They perform there with their brothers, hold concerts for schoolchildren, shoot videos, for all his modesty, Father Photius, it turns out, is a very smart person with a sense of humor, and his discs are already gaining popularity in other countries. It’s great that the country saw him and heard him; maybe someone thought about their life after his speeches...
Answer
God bless Hieromonk Photius! I consider his speeches a kind of sermon, missionary work! Some preach by word, some by deed, and he by singing! And this is great! At first, in his first speech, I felt sorry for him when Leps attacked him - that’s the temptation, but then it became clear that he was doing it out of his powerlessness, because... I didn’t know how to continue to deal with the hieromonk on stage and in the project! Well done Hieromonk Photius - he took the blow with dignity! And in his performance with Photius, Leps looked very pathetic with his flat and disgusting singing against the pure and academic vocals of the talented hieromonk! It’s great that such bright, clean, worthy works were chosen for performance! Thank God for everything!
The country recognized Hieromonk Photius, a resident of the St. Pafnutev Borovsky Monastery, and in the world - Vitaly Mochalov, last fall, after his participation in the show “The Voice” on Channel One. During the “blind audition,” 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 and smiled timidly. The audience was delighted with his voice, and over and over again he advanced to the next round with a large lead over the other participants. In the final, 76 percent of TV viewers gave him their sympathies.
It is worth noting that after winning the project, despite his nationwide fame, the Russian Orthodox Church did not immediately allow him to go 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: “Here it turned out that a very young monk acquired nationwide fame and, most importantly, popular sympathy. If there was only fame, and there was no such love from people, I would use my power and forbid him to perform. But I know how many people, through Father Photius, discover the Orthodox faith. If we tell him now: don’t speak, don’t say anything, go peel the potatoes and so on, maybe he will do it, but then we will lose a person whose voice today turns people to God, including the intelligentsia. I never thought that among our contemporary singers there are people who are capable of discovering the beauty of Orthodoxy through communication with Father Photius.” Addressing Photius himself, the patriarch wished him not to forget about his purpose as a clergyman: “I wish you to preserve the naturalness of behavior and modesty that is inherent in the monastic rank, 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 this, Hieromonk Photius continued his path in music, without giving up spiritual service.
And on March 11 he visited Tambov. Tickets for his concert were sold out almost immediately after they went on sale. There was not a single empty seat in the hall. The bulk of the audience was the generation “above” middle age, but there were also quite a lot of young people. The concert started with a slight hitch. Entering the stage, Father Photius greeted the audience and, embarrassed, fell silent mid-sentence, forgetting the name of our city. The audience unanimously answered him: “Tambov!” Even more embarrassed, the monk asked the audience for forgiveness and explained his mistake.
- Forgive me, I'm a little confused about the cities. They change every day. I don't even really see them. We arrive in a new city, rest a little, rehearse, then a concert and leave,- the monk timidly apologized from the stage. - Now, after the concert, we’re on the road again. Once again, forgive me!
His assistant, pianist Anastasia Goncharova, performed on stage with Father Photius. In between songs, she played classical works on the piano, and also accompanied him in the performance of several romances.
The monk-singer’s repertoire included 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 modern songs: “City, which does not exist” by Igor Kornelyuk and “My Red Rose” by Philip Kirkorov. The monk sang very easily, as the audience in the hall whispered, “without straining.”
- Look how easily he pulls out the notes,- the spectators whispered among themselves. - Not even a muscle moved on his face. What talent!
There was silence during his speech. Fans listened in fascination to his magical voice and brought flowers to the stage. And one of the fans gave the monk a basket of fruit, apparently knowing that Photius was fasting. The concert was a breeze. It ended with the song “Good night, gentlemen,” written by Grigory Leps. However, the audience did not want to let Father Photius leave the stage. He couldn’t just leave and finally sang one more song: “It’s light in my upper room.” The spectators all stood up from their seats and gave him a standing ovation. He ended his speech with these words:
- Thanks to everyone who came to our concert. We tried very hard to select the most beautiful works. At first glance it may seem that this is a “hodgepodge”, but this is not the case at all,- said Photius. - We selected all the works very carefully and tried very hard to create a good atmosphere. God bless you!
After the performance, Photius went on stage and handed out his autographed photographs to everyone. However, many stretched out their hands not only for him, but with folded palms asked: “Bless me!” And everyone got what they wanted.
Rumors that the supposed winner of the “Voice” competition, Hieromonk Photius, were banned by church hierarchs from giving solo concerts are not entirely true. The performer himself told reporters about this.
No blessing - no concerts
The Sochi Christmas concert took place without Photius, and no prohibitions had anything to do with it. The reason for the lack of a winner of the prestigious vocal competition is simple. First of all, a hieromonk is a spiritual person, and unlike most fellow citizens, he serves and does not go to work. Even the petition of Grigory Leps himself did not influence this decision, made by the hieromonk together with his spiritual father, Metropolitan Clement, who gave his blessing to participate in the festive service, but not in the concert.
The confessor called on his son by faith to fulfill his duty in the temple. By the way, there are also a lot of listeners, and the joy this brings them is no less than from performing in front of a secular audience.
Perhaps in the future, if responsibilities allow and there is time, Photius will take part in the concerts of the competition participants, but even in this case, an indispensable condition will be the blessing of the spiritual father, given not only to the hieromonk, but also to the organizers of the tour, the Universal company.
In the interview, the winner of the show also said that he loves good music, especially classical music, which he was raised on. He would also like to have a car, not a luxurious one, but a modest one, in order to quickly fulfill the needs of his flock.
