Mysterious Ways is a music project created by Helena & Bogdan Kosanovic.The ProjectThe purpose of this project is to bring to the general public the beautiful sounds of eastern orthodox sacred music. Originally written for choirs and a-capella singers this type of music was a part of eastern orthodox liturgy for centuries. Many renowned classical composers contributed to this genre. Among them Sergei Rachmaninoff and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky .Helena and Bogdan decided to approach this music in a way that takes it into a completely new setting while staying true to the original material as much as possible. Those familiar with the original liturgical works of classical masters would easily recognize the immortal pieces of art used in this project. Those who never heard of it before would be puzzled by the depth and clarity of music experience.The ProductionWe selected what in our opinion represents the best pieces of choral work done for the eastern orthodox liturgy. The compositions have been completely reorchestrated for various acoustic and electronic instruments and a single soprano voice. In some cases we recorded multiple sopranos and/or altos. Some portions have been improvised on the spot, during the recording. We did not have any particular music style in mind while working on this project. However, it won't be hard to recognize a few influences which materialized along the way.All solo voices performed by Helena Kosanovic.
All instruments performed by Bogdan Kosanovic.
Recording, mixing, and mastering by Bogdan Kosanovic.
Produced by Bogdan & Helena Kosanovic.Copyright © 2007 by Bogdan Kosanovic. All Rights Reserved.The SongsOur Father
Also known as "Otche Nash" is a liturgical a-capella composition by Nikolai Kedrov, Sr. (1871-1940). While we retained harmonic structure of the source and the entire lead soprano theme, we wrote completely new lines for the electric bass and a few additional electronic instruments.Let My Prayer Arise
An a-capella choral composition by Dmytro Bortniansky (1751-1825). We combined the English and Russian versions. The English version appears within the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts. It was provided to us by Dn. Kevin Smith of the St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary. The verses were taken verbatim from this version. The responses were based on the Russian version, but with completely new music material. We thank Dr. Vladimir Morosan of Musica Russica for helping us to track down the music for this piece.Rejoice, O Virgin
Originally an a-capella choral composition written in 1915 by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) as part of the All-Night Vigil (Vespers), Opus 37 . Also known under the Russian title of "Bogoroditse Devo, raduisya". This piece was orchestrated for a soprano, two altos, an upright bass, and various additional instruments. The lines played by a bass and several other instruments were added.Cherubic Hymn No. 7
An a-capella choral composition by Dmytro Bortniansky (1751-1825). Orchestrated for a soprano, keyboards, and various instruments.
Helena's BioAt very young age Helena realized that the music should be the center of her life. As a child she played a violin. However, her real love was singing, especially Opera and in particular Maria Callas. Helena did not receive much of a formal voice training but was blessed with a natural music talent and amazing coloratura soprano voice. In 2005, she joined The Capitol Hill Chorale in Washington, DC as a soprano. The "Mysterious Ways" project was her idea.Bogdan's BioBogdan's involvement with music started in 1968 when his mother got him an upright piano. Was it because family wanted to stop Bogdan from singing every night since he was five or just because she wanted for her son to play piano nobody knows. Some eight years later, Bogdan was playing piano most of the time and nobody could stop him. At least, to his family delight he wasn't singing. Bogdan started composing original music very early. He received classical music training as a pianist. In late 1970's Bogdan joined the Belgrade jazz-rock band "Ptica" (Bird) . He was the youngest member in the band. He played acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes and Minimoog, or anything that had a keyboard and was available. Around 1978 Bogdan gave a solo piano recital at the University Cultural Center in Belgrade. This marked the start of Bogdan's solo career and later as a band leader and a session and studio musician. During the years in Belgrade, Bogdan led two bands: "Gray Sun" and "Ank". The first one (Gray Sun) was short-lived with just a single live performance. The next one (Ank) resulted in many live appearances in Serbia and a few in Croatia during early 1980's. "Ank" was a band that introduced several young and promissing jazz musicians from Serbia (Nenad Petrovic, Miroslav Karlovic, Slobodan-Bata Bozanic). The band was supported by a number of well known Serbian jazz musicians who recorded with them (Milivoje Mica Markovic, Stjepko Gut, Goce Dimitrovski, Nikola Mimo Mitrovic, Vladimir Furduj.) Just about the time "Ank" completed enough material for the first LP, the band split. During the mid-1980's Bogdan colaborated as a composer and a performer with several musicians and groups in Serbia, among them: Vladimir Furduj, Ivan Svager, Kire Mitrev, Jakarta, and Nenad Jelic. Although in 1990's Bogdan stopped performing in public, he continued composing and recording music. Now he is back on a brand new project "Mysterious Ways".Hubble Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, M.J. Jee and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University)
