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PODCAST

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson

Matthew Wilkinson

We explore topics such as classical music, Orthodox chant, Bach, Messiaen, architecture, symbolism, the philosophy of mind, aesthetics, and the general pursuit of Beauty.

music music commentary

All Episodes

01:21:23

They Sing for 15 Hours Straight (And That's a Short...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/04/20

Deacon Mihret Melaku is an Ethiopian Orthodox deacon, host of the Burning Bush Podcast, and author of Defending the Ancient Faith. In this conversation we explore the full breadth of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity — its theology, its extraordinary sacred music system, its deep roots in Second Temple Judaism, and its living traditions of liturgical poetry.Burning Bush podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCKL74lcBHGYh2Xwsz8X68Nw Dcn. Mihret's book: https://www.defendingancientfaith.com/We begin

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01:39:11

Bishop Maximus & Evgeny Skurat | Resurrecting the...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/04/10

Matthew Wilkinson sits down with Bishop Maximus of Pelagonia and musicologist Evgeny Skurat to discuss one of the most extraordinary sacred music projects in recent memory: a full reconstruction and live recording of the medieval Byzantine Divine Liturgy, filmed at the Hermitage of St. Ignatius in Santa Cruz Naranjo, Guatemala. Drawing on years of manuscript research and decipherment of Middle Byzantine notation, Evgeny has worked to bring to life a musical tradition that has not been heard in its

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01:01:10

From Heavy Metal to Armenian Orthodox Chant | Tigran...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/04/01

Armenian jazz piano legend @TigranHamasyan joins Matthew Wilkinson on Pursuit of Beauty for a rare, in-depth conversation at the intersection of jazz, Armenian sacred music, medieval polyphony, and the theology of musical beauty. This is not a typical jazz interview, it goes deep into the musical, spiritual, and cultural roots that have shaped one of the most original voices in contemporary music.Tigran shares how influences like Jan Garbarek and Keith Jarrett first led him back to his own

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01:41:12

From Hagia Sophia to the Coronation: Alexander Lingas...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/03/24

Dr. Alexander Lingas — musicologist, conductor, and Founding Director of Capella Romana — joins Matthew Wilkinson for one of the most wide-ranging conversations in the history of the Pursuit of Beauty podcast. From reconstructing the lost sounds of Hagia Sophia to conducting Byzantine chant at King Charles III's coronation, Lingas has spent 35 years at the intersection of sacred music scholarship and performance. This is the definitive interview on the Byzantine chant tradition, its history, its

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02:07:56

Rock & Roll Is a Trauma Response — Neil DeGraide of...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/03/13

Neil's links: @dirtpoorrobins https://www.dirtpoorrobins.com/In this episode of The Pursuit of Beauty Podcast, Matthew Wilkinson speaks with musician and rock star Neil Basil DeGraide of Dirt Poor Robins about faith, music, culture, and the search for truth in the modern world.Neil shares the story of his journey from Catholicism through Protestant and charismatic churches and eventually into Eastern Orthodoxy. He reflects on growing up in New England during the Catholic scandals, searching

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01:22:52

What Is Sarum Chant? The Medieval English Tradition...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/03/07

Dr. William Renwick joins the podcast to discuss Sarum chant, the medieval English plainchant tradition centered on Salisbury Cathedral that once dominated worship across most of England, Scotland, parts of Ireland, and even Northern France. William is a retired music theory professor from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, and has devoted the latter part of his career to transcribing, editing, and publishing the entire Sarum chant repertoire at his free website, sarum-chant.ca.In this

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01:36:54

The Beauty of Coptic Iconography (And Why It Matters)...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/02/28

Why do some coptic icons look cartoonish? Makary argues that the loss of apprenticeship, the absence of formal art education, and the pressure of rapid church construction have weakened artistic formation. Iconography is not a matter of copying lines and colors, but of understanding composition, light, volume, and the relationship between the image, the viewer, and the liturgical space. Sacred art must be treated as art in its fullness, not as a mechanical formula.The conversation then moves into

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01:52:36

The King's Iconographer

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/02/12

In this conversation, I sit down with Aidan Hart, an internationally renowned iconographer, liturgical artist, and multiple-time artist commissioned by King Charles III, to explore the meaning of sacred art in the modern world.We discuss what iconography really is, why hierarchy does not mean domination but the transmission of grace, and how the architecture of East and West reveals radically different theological visions. Aidan explains the difference between Romanesque and Byzantine art, why

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01:02:38

Why the Avant-Garde Isn’t the Enemy of Tradition

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/02/04

Modern music, classical music, avant-garde, tonality, postmodernism, and music philosophy are at the center of this conversation between composer and analyst Samuel Andreyev and host Matthew Wilkinson. Together, they examine one of the most common stories we are told about modern music and ask whether it is actually true.A central claim explored here is that tonality never disappeared. While figures such as Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Milton Babbitt developed new and experimental

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00:55:40

Jordan Hall on the solution to AI Music and the...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/01/25

In this episode, I’m joined by philosopher and systems thinker Jordan Hall for a wide-ranging conversation about AI, music, and the future of human creativity.As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes how music is made and distributed, a deeper question emerges: does it matter whether art is human-made? And if it does, how would we even know?Jordan proposes that we are entering a moment where “human” itself becomes a genre. In a culture increasingly saturated with synthetic media, authenticity may

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01:19:24

The Normandy Cantata and the Cost of Losing Beauty |...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/01/14

This is Part Two of my conversation with Dr. John Wykoff, composer and scholar. We continue a wide-ranging discussion on beauty, worship, church music, and the long-term consequences of losing aesthetic seriousness in the life of the church.Dr. Wykoff reflects on how churches came to measure success through efficiency, attendance, and growth, and why those metrics often displace formation, meaning, and truth. We explore why the familiar divide between traditional and contemporary worship fails to

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02:45:09

The Gregorian Chant Interview (Biggest Myths...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2026/01/06

Bruno de Labriolle (Ecole Gregorienne) joins Matthew Wilkinson on the Pursuit of Beauty Podcast to discuss the true history of Gregorian chant, the folk method of singing, ornamentation, relationship with Byzantium and Orthodoxy, singing with drones and instruments, and more.Bruno traces the “Gregorian chant” narrative to roughly around the year 750, when Pippin the Short seeks legitimacy and power in a shifting medieval world. The move toward a “Roman” sound is not just a devotional preference, but

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02:12:59

They Won’t Forgive You If They’re Mediocre | Allen...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2025/12/09

This week on The Pursuit of Beauty I sit down with Dr. Allen Hightower, Director of Choral Studies at the University of North Texas, for an honest and deeply pastoral conversation about choirs, faith, and the people who stand in front of us every week and sing.We talk very candidly about the real problems choir directors and church musicians face: how to work with aging voices and the infamous “old lady wobble,” why volunteers will forgive almost anything except being in a mediocre choir, and how to

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01:58:29

Modern Art Is Collapsing: Jonathan Pageau & Andrew...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2025/12/02

In this wide-ranging round table, architect Andrew Gould, icon carver and storyteller Jonathan Pageau, and host Matthew Wilkinson sit down over whiskey to wrestle with the future of beauty, sacred art, and architecture. We start with pirates and sea shanties, then quickly slide into Jackson Pollock, Rothko, oil slicks, marbled end-papers, and the problem of modern art hung in the wrong place. Andrew and Jonathan both argue that modernism is what happens when a long, rich tradition becomes

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01:07:16

The Hidden Escape Plan Inside "Wade in the Water" |...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2025/11/23

n this episode of The Pursuit of Beauty, Matthew sits down with legendary Charleston vocalist and storyteller Ann Caldwell to uncover the hidden world of spirituals, Gullah culture, and the music of the enslaved. From “Wade in the Water” to “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” Ann explains how these songs often carried coded messages of escape, using biblical language, river imagery, and “chariots” to talk about the Underground Railroad, freedom, and survival when plain speech was impossible.Ann shares her

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00:51:14

He Baptized Nina Simone, Befriended Bob Marley, and...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2025/11/13

In this long-form conversation, I sit down with Father Amde Hamilton, co-founder of The Watts Prophets, pioneering spoken word artist, and Ethiopian Orthodox priest. He tells the story of how a Creole childhood that intentionally formed poets and priests prepared him for militant poetry, the civil rights era, and what would later be recognized as some of the earliest roots of rap and hip hop. Father Amde describes his work in Watts at the beginning of the Crips and Bloods, and how gang members

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02:07:06

God is Beauty, but we don't know what that means...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2025/11/04

Gratitude: I must express a sense real gratitude for David Bentley Hart coming onto the podcast. His books have indeed changed my life. The Atheist Delusions settled so many historical and theological questions that would constantly nag at my faith, and the Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, that truly saved my faith. After reading that book, Atheism seemed so philosophically inept that it became patently absurd to doubt the existence of God as such. The Doors of the Sea was an

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01:39:18

If I were the devil, I’d start destroy beauty first -...

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2025/10/31

“If I were the devil, I’d start by destroying beauty.”Composer Dr. John Wykoff joins Matthew Wilkinson on The Pursuit of Beauty Podcast for a rare, soul-stirring conversation about what beauty really is, why it matters, and how its loss is reshaping our civilization. In this wide-ranging dialogue, the two explore the deep relationship between aesthetics, ethics, and faith—and how recovering a sense of beauty could be the key to restoring both art and culture.Beauty, truth, and goodness have been

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01:18:19

The Schism, the Chant, and Solzhenitsyn’s Plea for Unity

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2025/10/22

In this in-depth conversation, Father Pimen Simon of the Old Rite Church of the Nativity of Christ in Erie, Pennsylvania, joins Matthew Wilkinson to discuss the history, theology, and music of the Old Believers within the Russian Orthodox tradition. He explains how the Old Rite preserved ancient liturgical forms, theology, and chant after Patriarch Nikon’s 17th-century reforms divided the Russian Church. (Pursuit of Beauty Podcast Episode 28)Fr. Pimen describes the rise of the priested and

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01:35:10

Architectural Uprising with Michael Diamant

The Pursuit of Beauty with Matthew Wilkinson ·

2025/10/15

What happened to beauty in architecture? In this episode of The Pursuit of Beauty, host Matthew Wilkinson sits down with Michael Diamant, founder of The Architectural Uprising and creator of the Facebook group New Traditional Architecture, to explore how we lost our connection to form, harmony, and meaning in the modern world. From the sterile glass towers of contemporary cities to the rediscovery of timeless design, Diamant reveals why the future of architecture depends on reviving classical

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46 results

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