biography

The “Arhanghelii” Choir in Orăştie serves the Orthodox Cathedral in the homonym town since its sanctification in 1945. Having a rich church history, the choir “Arhanghelii” has since 2012 as conductor phd.

Ioan Marius Popa, double-degree in theology and in music, graduate of masters and doctoral studies on the theological and musical line and author of several musical works and books. With the guidance of the current conductor, along with the concert program of the cathedral, the choir “Archangel” has undertaken from 2012 until now more than 40 participations to different cultural, choral and church events from Romania. The most important of these is the Divine Liturgy performed at the metropolitan cathedral in Iaşi in 2016.

The “Arhanghelii” choir won the 1st Prize at the National Choral Festival “Cu noi este Dumnezeu” from Orăştie in the years 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017. At the same festival, the choir won the Excellence Award in 2014 and 2016. On the national level “Arhanghelii” obtained different Prizes I and II and Excellence Awards at various festivals organized in Deva, Zalău, Caransebeş, Reşiţa, Fărcaşa, Lugoj and Sibiu.

Internationally, the choir “Arhanghelii” has made four tournaments so far:

– Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2014;

– Slovakia and Austria in 2015;

– The Netherlands and Germany in 2016;

– Serbia in 2017.

Within these tournaments, the choir won the bronze medal at the “Petr Eben” Festival in Prague in 2014, two bronze diplomas at the “Bratislava Cantat II” Festival in 2015, the honorary diploma of the Sliedrecht Festival in the Netherlands in 2016 and Prize of Excellence of the Te Deum Laudamus Festival in Vârşeţ (Serbia) in 2017.

In parallel with the concert and church activity, the “Arhanghelii” choir is indispensable for many charity events organized in Orăştie and in the counties of Alba, Caraş and Hunedoara.