22 February, 2025
🎶 Sacred Sounds
with the Ashmolean Museum Hosting
Sacred Sounds: Linguistic and Cultural Diversity
We are delighted to collaborate with the University of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum – the holder of one of the richest collections of art, archaeology, and ancient world artefacts.
Set in the glorious Mallett Gallery, this multilingual and multicultural performance introduces a rich tapestry of sacred sounds through melodies, songs, and poetry readings.
(Photo courtesy of Ashmolean Museum)
Indulge your aural senses in this multilingual performance featuring sacred songs, melodies, and devotional poetry readings, presented by members of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Classics, Medieval and Modern Languages, and various communities.
Date: 22 February, 2025
Time: 14:15 – 16:15 GMT
Venue: Gallery 44 | The Mallett Gallery (European Art Gallery) | Ashmolean Museum | Oxford
Programme
14:15-14:20 | Introduction by Dr Thea Gomelauri
The Gift of Love | Sami Yusuf | The World’s First Interfaith Anthem | Based on the Two Commandments of ‘Love of God, and Love of the Neighbour’ | Diliges proximum tuum tamquam te ipsum. ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18, and Mark 12:31) | None of you truly believes until you love for your neighbour what you love for yourself, a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) | The Music Video, filmed in Jordan and East Jerusalem, beautifully captures the King Hussein Mosque in Amman, the Citadel, the Holy Baptism Site, Petra, and Wadi Rum | Exclusive shots also filmed in Jerusalem
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14:20-14:35 | Kirtan | Sikh Devotional Songs | One Universal Creator God | I Send My Message of Love to You | Sung by Isher Singh (Keble College) and Gurleen Singh
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14:35-14:40 | Psalm 51 | Sung by Assyrian Archimandrite Seraphim Bit-Kharibi with Keti Iliaev in Aramaic Language | A Video Recorded on the occasion of Pope Francis’ Visit to the Svetitskhoveli (Living Pillar) Patriarchal Cathedral in Georgia, 1 October, 2016
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🌟World Premiere🌟 Buddhist ‘Mani’ Mantra of Universal Compassion
14:40-15:00 | The 13th Century Tibet Tune | Revived and Presented by Charles Manson (Bodleian Library) | Sung by Ven. Palden Tsultrim Yönten (Bodhicharya) | Opening: Refuge Prayer; The Four Immeasurable Contemplations (Brahmaviharas) | Closing: Dedication of Merit; Long Life Prayer for Ringu Tulku Rinpoche | Communal singing encouraged
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15:00-15:05 | The Prayer ‘Our Father‘ written by the Georgian Poet Ilia Chavchavadze | Sung by Georgian Nuns of the Samtavro Orthodox Christian Monastery that Combines the Samtavro Transfiguration Church and Convent of St Nino in Mtskheta, Georgia | Recorded in the Monastery
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🌟15:05-15:30 | Syriac Liturgical Poetry🌟 Presented and Read in Syriac & English by Professor Sebastian Brock, FBA, the World’s Best-Known Authority in Syriac Studies
Odes of Solomon (2nd cent. AD?), no. 40
St Ephrem (d.373) Poems on the Pearl and its Symbolism (H.de Fide 82)
St Ephrem, Hymns on the Fast, 6
Anonymous, Dialogue between Joseph and Mary, (stanzas 2-14, and 31-41)
Jacob of Serugh (d. 521), A Mother’s Lament for the Loss of Her Child
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15:30-15:35 | Greek Orthodox Byzantine Chant | Professor Alexander Lingas with Cappella Romana | A Video Recorded on the Occasion of the Coronation at Westminster Abbey
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15:35-15:55 | Multilingual Reading of Psalm 23 and Psalm 121
Church Slavonic | French | Georgian | Greek | Romanian | Sanskrit | more TBA | Read by Prof Sebastian Brock, Dr Thea Gomelauri, Dr Ionut Moise, Revd Canon Hugh Wybrew
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15:55-16:00 | Coptic Liturgical Music
Celebration of St Paul the Hermit Feast Day in St Paul Monastery in Egypt | Sunday School Choir Singing a Doxology of Praise ‘O St Paul the First Hermit and Beloved of Christ Who Gives Light to the World’ | a Video Recorded in St Paul’s Monastery, Red Sea, Egypt, on 9 Feb 2025
Coptic Midnight Psalmody of the Lobsh of the First Ode | Choir of the Monastery of St Macarius the Great, Wadi el Natrun, Egypt | The hymn Khen Ou’shout (“Truly the [Red] Sea was divided”) | Accompanied with Cymbals
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16:00-16:15 | Oxford Hindu Temple | Bhajans | Hindu Devotional Songs | Tum Vinti Suno Sab Ki – Listen to the Prayers of All | Bade Pyar Se Milana Sabse Duniya Me – Meet Everyone with Great Love in this World, Who knows in Which Form We May Meet God | Sung by Dr Gian Gopal, Kanta Gopal, Nikita Desai, Mark Bhagwandin (Harmonium), Caroline Howard Jones (Tabla) Shane Bhagwandin (Dholak) | Temple Instruments: dhol ki, hand cymbals & tambourine
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(Optional)
Aramaic Liturgical Songs | Assyrian Archimandrite Seraphim Bit-Kharibi with the Mukhambazi choir | Jesus’ Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane | Psalm 16 | Cherubic Hymn
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ALL Welcome
Photo courtesy of Ashmolean Museum
THE 2024 PERFORMANCE
Led by Professor Henrike Lähnemann with St Edmund Consort, set in Cast Galley – one of the oldest and largest collections of casts of Greek and Roman sculpture in the UK – the performance featured songs in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, and English, interspersed with the sound of shofar, shell horn, seaweed horn, followed by Sikh Liturgical songs Kirtans presented by the GNNSJ community.
Venue: Gallery 14, Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont St, Oxford. OX1 2PH.
Interfaith Harmony: Singing Across Time, Cultures, and Space
Photo courtesy of Ashmolean Museum
Photo courtesy of Ashmolean Museum
