This year’s Summer Music Institute at St. Vladimir’s Seminary brought together more than sixty people from Orthodox parishes across North America. From June 22–27 participants of all musical levels and experience studied and worshipped alongside noted liturgical music experts and instructors including Fr. Stephen Meholick, Alexander Lingas, Vladimir Morosan, Photini Downie Robinson, Juliana Woodill, and Alice Hughes.
“What an amazing community of musicians we had in attendance this year,” said Hughes, who was one of the Institute’s chief organizers this year together with Dn. Harrison Basil Russin, Zachariah Mandell, Alexander Lingas, and Peter Bouteneff. “It was a joy to observe the camaraderie and supportiveness of the participants, who had various levels of experience and training, working together to grow and learn, to rehearse and then to render with beauty and prayer the services this week.”
Alice Hughes teaches vocal technique during an individual Summer Music Institute session.
The 2026 Summer Music Institute, an event of the Seminary’s Institute of Sacred Arts (ISA), offered training in musicianship, vocal technique, conducting, and—new for this year—advanced studies in the history of Orthodox liturgical music. The three keynote lectures delivered throughout the week explored the planting, cultivation, and flourishing of Orthodox music in North America and highlighted musicians such as Boris Ledkovsky, Michael Gelsinger, Tikey Zes, Michael Hilko, and others.
“If we continue with God’s help and guidance to build on the foundation that has been laid by our Orthodox musical forefathers here in America,” proposed Vladimir Morosan during his keynote lecture, “we will be contributing to that essential event of transforming this land, our nations of North America, in ways that the Puritans, first settlers, and founding fathers would never have imagined. May it be God’s will!”
Dr. Vladimir Morosan was one of three keynote speakers who delivered lectures throughout the week, along with Fr. Stephen Meholick and Dr. Alexander Lingas.
Each day Institute participants also convened in the Seminary’s Three Hierarchs Chapel for services, serving as the choir during Matins, Vespers, Divine Liturgy, and a special Panikhida for all departed Church musicians. During the Panikhida Fr. Alexander Rentel recited an extensive list of names which parishes from around North America submitted for remembrance. Two of the daily services (Great Vespers on Tuesday and Saturday Matins) were sung by a Byzantine Schola led by Photini Downie Robinson, Alexander Lingas, and Eleftherios Chasanidis. Dr. Chasanidis is protopsaltis of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.
The Summer Music Institute concluded on June 27 with a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy presided over by His Grace Bishop Benedict of Hartford and New England.
“What draws me back each year is the continued training as well as the camaraderie,” shared Alta Xenia Morris, who has been to multiple Summer Music Institutes including this year’s. “Spending time together with Church musicians who are serving their parishes in the same way that I'm serving my parish truly makes my heart sing. Being able to learn from those who have more experience than I or to help those who are struggling in ways that maybe I’ve struggled before, learning together, laughing together, brainstorming, problem solving—that time spent together always leaves me ready to return to my parish with renewed energy and purpose.”
Next year’s Summer Music Institute is set for the week of June 21, 2027. More details will be announced in the coming months.
The participants and faculty of the 2026 Summer Music Institute.
ABOUT THE SUMMER MUSIC INSTITUTE
The Summer Music Institute has a storied history at St. Vladimir’s Seminary. In recent years the Institute has drawn hundreds of Orthodox church musicians from North America and abroad to St. Vladimir's Seminary to hone their vocal, conducting, and compositional skills. Past themes have included Orthodox liturgical music written by American composers, pan-Orthodox hymnody, and practical skill- and resource-building for parish musicians.
ABOUT THE INSTITUTE OF SACRED ARTS
The Institute of Sacred Arts (ISA) at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary explores the intersection of human creativity and holiness. With a theology that is holistic, and a liturgy that unites multiple artistic disciplines and all the human senses, the Orthodox Christian tradition is ripe for the exploration and celebration of the sacred arts. Since its founding in 1938, St. Vladimir’s Seminary has fostered the study of icons, music and liturgy. The ISA serves to extend the seminary’s mission in exploring the mutual relationship between theology and the arts by: contributing to the work of people and institutions that practice and reflect on the sacred arts; engaging people and institutions of all backgrounds with Orthodox artistic tradition; inspiring wider public interest in spirituality and the arts. Learn more at www.instituteofsacredarts.com.
PHOTO GALLERY: Scenes from the Summer Music Institute
Top Photo: Institute faculty member Juliana Woodill leads a conducting workshop.
