Lincoln, Neb.--Marguerite Scribante Professor of Piano Paul Barnes, along with violinist Teimuraz Janikashvili, will present a concert titled “Toward Re-Enchantment: Beauty as a Portal to the Sacred” on Monday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Westbrook Music Building’s Performance Hall in Rm. 130.
The concert is free and open to the public.
The program includes the U.S. premiere of Ivan Moody’s “And no birds sing/Opsometha phos” and the Lincoln premieres of N. Lincoln Hanks’ “Hristos Anesti!” and Gustav Hoyer’s “Transfigured Night.”
“It has been a profound privilege to musically collaborate with Fr. Ivan Moody over the past 15 years,” Barnes said of Moody, who was a world-renowned composer and conductor and founder of the International Society for Orthodox Church Music and passed away in 2024. “Beginning with his 2010 piano quintet ‘Nocturne of Light’ up until this current work, completed in 2021, Ivan wrote four beautiful pieces for me.”
“And no birds sing/Opsometha phos” creates a powerful musical contrast between darkness and light, Barnes said.
“As in many of his piano works, Fr. Ivan explores the darkness of the lower register of the piano creating a musical image destined to be transformed by the upcoming light,” he said. “’And no birds sing’ is a reference to the John Keats 1819 poem, ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci,’ where the dark concluding and truncated phrase ‘and no birds sing’ reflects Keats impending premature death and a love he will never experience. Fr. Ivan’s premature death prevented our usual and exhilarating musical interaction and collaboration as his new piece would take shape throughout the compositional process. This performance is offered in loving memory of all our musical collaborations.”
The program also includes Philip Glass’s Epilogue from “Monsters of Grace,” arranged by Barnes with video produced by Peter Barnes.
“I’m going to be starting this program with ‘Monsters of Grace.’ That will be accompanied by the video that my son produced with the drone footage of the Richard Serra event on campus,” Barnes said. “That’s how I opened my recitals in California last year, and it was a huge hit. But, of course, what we’re hoping is to go completely immersive and to have the video going on all three sides.”
He hopes to go even further with the video to accompany the two Orthodox pieces, “Hristos Arnesti!” and “And no birds sing/Opsometha phos.” The final technology for the performance hall is being installed in Rm. 130 just before his performance.
“If everything works out, what I’m hoping to do for the two Orthodox pieces is recreate the interior of my favorite Orthodox cathedral, where I chant at in Greece at the Xanthi Festival,” he said. “This church in Xanthi is stunningly beautiful, so every time I go, I take all these photos. The projection walls in Rm. 130 in the performance hall are all run by separate computers, so I hope we can splash all of these photos from the interior of this church there while I’m doing the premiere. It’s a beautiful piece, so even if it doesn’t work out, it’s still going to be great. But if it does work out, there will be a wonderfully immersive experience.”
Also on the program are Glass’s “Pendulum” for Violin and Piano; Eugène Ysaÿe’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor (Ballade); Arvo Pärt’s “Fratres” and “Spiegel im Spiegel” and Glenn Korff School of Music Steinhart Distinguished Professor of Music Tom Larson’s “The Gift.”
What audiences can expect, Barnes said, is to hear music from living composers, such as his colleague Larson.
“The final piece, ‘The Gift’ by Tom Larson is a piece that one of my students played, and I just fell in love with it,” he said. “It’s dedicated to his mother who introduced him to music, and I would do the same thing to my father, who introduced me to music. Tom’s piece has this gorgeous, expressive, improvisatory feel with jazz-inspired harmonies, so I’ve always loved that language. This particular piece, because it’s such a personal expression of his, when I first played it, it was just so absolutely beautiful."
Janikashvili and Barnes met in Seward, Nebraska, where Barnes did a recital at Concordia University last year.
“We met because I performed my Philip Glass chant recital that I was going around with last season at Concordia University,” Barnes said. “He is a spectacular violinist.”
Janikashvili was immediately impressed, too, with Barnes.
“From the first chords, his greatness as both a musician and pianist was evident to me,” he said. “His technique and immersive musicality touch the soul. His phrasing is profound and musical, accompanied by impeccable technique.”
The two performed this program in September at Fort Collins, Colorado, at the Beauty through Faith Conference sponsored by the Kallos Arts Foundation.
“In the first concert rehearsal with Paul, it was clear that the musical understanding and rapport was absolute,” Janikashvili said. “It was a pleasure to play with him. I felt very free.”
Barnes said the whole re-enchantment title stems from those pieces on the program that have the Orthodox emphasis on beauty as being a portal.
“It’s the way that we can see that we’re so much more than just a collection of molecules,” he said. “We are actually created with a transcendent purpose, and when we experience beauty, that transcendent purpose confirms that it’s true.”
“Toward Re-Enchantment: Beauty as a Portal to the Sacred” will also be the theme for next year’s American Liszt Society Festival, which will be hosted by Barnes in the Glenn Korff School of Music Sept. 28-30, 2026.
“I can’t announce it yet, but we just booked, in collaboration with Bill Stephan at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, an amazing pianist that I am so excited is going to be doing an opening recital,” he said. “And we’re hoping to have the UNL choirs and orchestra perform.”
The program on Nov. 10 will feature music of emotional and spiritual depth.
“The program to be performed conveys depth, a feeling of spiritual reflection that touches the soul,” Janikashvili said. “Also being performed will be a Lincoln premiere by Gustav Hoyer, which will be a surprise due to its melancholic melody, romanticism and reminiscences evoking Arnold Schoenberg’s ‘Transfigured Night.’”
