"Tronos" Psaltic Group

“Tronos” Psaltic Group was created in 1997 at the initiative of Fr. Archdeacon Mihail Bucă, protopsaltis of the Patriarchy Cathedral of Bucharest. It is a group formed, mostly, by young theologians that are passionate about Byzantine Psaltic music.

The “Tronos” name has been given to the group in 2007 by His Beatitude Father and Patriarch Daniel. Participating to the divine services, to various church events, concerts, having numerous rehearsals, audio recordings were all opportunities for the group members to discover and study the psaltic chant – the Orthodox Church traditional music. All these efforts have already been considered as the standard for other Romanian young soloists and groups of psaltic music. Therefore, we can strongly affirm that, throughout its diverse activity, the “Tronos” Psaltic Group has had a significant contribution in preserving the church musical tradition all over the Romanian territory.

For the members of “Tronos” choir, the attention given to accuracy in performing the Byzantine scores goes with the love and respect that all members have for the message of the liturgic text, thus showing that the musical texture serves the word and prayer.

Especially during the last seven years, the psaltic group of the Patriarchy Cathedral has had numerous concerts of Byzantine music organized in Romania but also abroad, has recorded several CDs, becoming a nationally and internationally well-known group.

In December 2013, the “Tronos” Psaltic Group has received the Sanctus Stephanus Magnus Order from His Beatitude Father and Patriarch Daniel as a reward for all its activity.

Archdeacon Mihail Bucă, conductor of "Tronos" Psaltic Group

Protopsaltis of the Patriarchy Cathedral of Bucharest since 1997, Fr. Archdeacon Mihail Bucă is the creator and conductor of “Tronos” choir. His passion for Byzantine church music and his continuous endeavour to better know its mysteries made Fr. Mihail a true performer of psaltic music, always preoccupied by faithfully transmitting the Romanian church musical tradition. These interests have been generously shared with the psaltis around him to whom he inspired the same love for the psaltic chant.

His music is not a simple reproduction of chants and Byzantine scores taken out of manuscripts – which it is often the case –, but rather an update that becomes a revival and reevaluation of a previous musical tradition, and also a creative musical act. In other words, we can affirm that the Reverend Archdeacon recomposes the music he performs, going beyond the musical text towards a more profound level, there where the chant originates, a chant he then replays in a spirit of freedom, maybe adapting and nuancing certain details, but faithfully preserving its essence. Therefore, a well-known or special or even a simple monody will be heard out of his mouth as a new one, alive and magnificent, far from any routine and stereotype.