2026 Summer Music Institute Hosted by St. Vladimir’s Seminary

Summer Institute faculty and participants with His Grace Benedict, Bishop of Hartford and New England

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.”

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!”

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.