The Institute for Sacred music will present its annual concert titled “Icons in Sound: The Life of the Theotokos from Medieval Georgia to the Latin West” on Friday, February 5, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. Central time in the Archabbey Church. The concert will feature singers from the Georgian Orthodox Sacred Monastery of Saint Sidónia in Maryland and will explore musical and liturgical links between the Eastern and Western branches of the Church.

Following the previous evening's concert, whose goal was to celebrate the spiritual unity and musical connections between the ancient church of the Republic of Georgia and the medieval West, this workshop guides students into the rich tradition of Georgian three-part polyphonic song, a globally significant repertoire that has been designated as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Led by Abbess Sidonia Freedman, singer, musicologist, and ethnographer, participants will explore the breadth of sacred Georgian polyphony, its general characteristics, its rich history, its special theological significance, its place in traditional culture and education at least since the 10th century, and the preservation and revival of the repertoire in the 19th-20th centuries.

Participants will learn to sing several ecclesiastical chants and folk songs, especially from Georgian cradle and healing song genres. The repertoire for this particular workshop will include songs about the Virgin Mary or related to Georgian traditions about her life. The music will be taught primarily orally, with written texts provided, and participants are encouraged to bring pencils and notebooks. This program is suitable for anyone interested in Georgian chant, a cappella singing, oral traditions, and sacred and folk music in general. Prior experience with Georgian singing is not required, and all newcomers interested in tasting the consonant-rich Georgian language and in singing in harmony are welcome. A variety of songs will be presented, some more challenging than others, with flexibility based on the interests and backgrounds of the participants.

Abbess Sidonia Freedman resides at the Monastery of St. Sidonia in Union Bridge, Maryland. After receiving a BA in Music and Medieval Studies at St. Olaf College, she carried out postgraduate work in Orthodox chant studies at the University of Limerick, Ireland, culminating with a PhD in Arts Practice, which explored the theology of Eastern Orthodox chant through a multidisciplinary approach, including Holy Week services, ethnomusicological field work in the Republic of Georgia, textile arts, iconography, patristics, performance, and pedagogy. Besides daily choral singing, her current work includes vocal coaching, publishing postdoctoral research, facilitating chant workshops and discussions, continued fieldwork in Georgia, handiwork, and teaching children at the monastery's summer camp.

The workshop will run from from 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Central on Saturday, February 6 2027.