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Toensing’s ‘Kontakion’ gets local debut

By R.M. CAMPBELL
P-I MUSIC CRITIC

From its first days in the early 1990s, Cappella Romana has cut a long, deep swath through music: from the Byzantine empire that ended in 1453 and its Slavic descendants to the modern world.

There are other vocal groups in the United States and Europe singing works of the Byzantine era, Greek Orthodox chants and Russian music, but none that brings together in a single repertory all the diverse traditions linked by the Orthodox faith, said Mark Powell, Cappella Romana’s executive director and a veteran member of the ensemble. Thus its rise from modest beginnings in Portland and Capitol Hill to a national and international life with an impressive touring and recording schedule….

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