Video: Archdiocese of America School of Byzantine Music

Dimitri

Δημήτρης Κουμπαρούλης, Administrator
Staff member
Thanks for posting the link. It was a very pleasant surprise to hear the news about the formation of the Archdiocesan School of Byzantine Music in the US. Things are slowly changing in the US, that's really exciting!

It also verifies what can be achieved with support from the church leadership (the Archbishop) and appropriate funding (grant) and the work of people who love traditional Byzantine chant. I wish it serves as an example to other communities outside Greece.

Information about the choir master Demetrios Kehagias here.
 

Amanedes8

Active member
You're Welcome!

I was also surprised and happy to discover that the Archdiocese has a school of Byzantine Music. The choir sounds great! I know some of its members and they are excellent chanters.

Thanks for the information on the goarch.org site.
 
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Nikolaos Giannoukakis

Παλαιό Μέλος
An en excellent group of young chanters, trained by Mr. Nikos Stelliaros- one of America's VERY few living and active old-time traditional psaltai. They promise much and will hopefully inspire many more young people to join and learn.

Finally- after many many years, the Archdiocesan District (which covers NY and Washington DC) has an excellent basis from which BM can be furthered.

They are a joy to listen to.

NG
 

GabrielCremeens

Music Director at St. George, Albuquerque, NM
Several of the choir members are students (or recent graduates) of Hellenic College/Holy Cross, unless my eyes fail me...
 

apostolos

Απόστολος Κομπίτσης
Several of the choir members are students (or recent graduates) of Hellenic College/Holy Cross, unless my eyes fail me...

Your eyes do not fail you, Tim. There are, in fact, several "ringers" in the group (e.g. students/graduates of HCHC, experienced chanters with certificates/diplomas). Not that this is a bad thing, but the misconception is that the choir is comprised only of students of the Byzantine Music School that just got formed, which is not the case.

Incidentally (notice the clever segue!), OUR choir here at the Metropolis of New Jersey is made up of psaltai and students from the Greater Philadelphia and southern New Jersey areas. And we've been in existence since 2003; thus, we have an eight-year head start over the Archdiocese! :) (End of plug.:D)

Apostolos
 

saltypsalti

Παλαιό Μέλος
Your eyes do not fail you, Tim. There are, in fact, several "ringers" in the group (e.g. students/graduates of HCHC, experienced chanters with certificates/diplomas). Not that this is a bad thing, but the misconception is that the choir is comprised only of students of the Byzantine Music School that just got formed, which is not the case.

Incidentally (notice the clever segue!), OUR choir here at the Metropolis of New Jersey is made up of psaltai and students from the Greater Philadelphia and southern New Jersey areas. And we've been in existence since 2003; thus, we have an eight-year head start over the Archdiocese! :) (End of plug.:D)

Apostolos

Apostolos --is this a concert choir, or are you actually doing services above and beyond the "orthros ghetto" of Byzantine chant? If number 2 -Hurray!! Great Plug! May we see more and more of them

JPP
 
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GabrielCremeens

Music Director at St. George, Albuquerque, NM
the "orthros ghetto"...

THAT is an adage I will remember for a while. (We could make t-shirts... "Proud resident of the Orthros Ghetto.") :D
 
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Dimitri

Δημήτρης Κουμπαρούλης, Administrator
Staff member
What would be a complete list of the active established Byzantine choirs in the US today? I mean choirs performing/recording outside services mainly. I can move it to another thread if necessary. Thank you.

Something like

Byzantine Choir of the Archdiocesan School of Byzantine Music, D. Kehagias

Byzantine Choir of the Metropolis of New Jersey, A. Combitsis

Byzantine Choir of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh, N. Giannoukakis

Capella Romana, A. Lingas

Romeiko Ensemble, Y. Bilalis

Antiochian Orthodox Boston Byzantine Choir

Eikona (not strictly Byzantine choir but including it here)

Relevant older page from analogion.com:

Byzantine Chant in the US : Past, present and future.

Please add to the list.
 

Nikolaos Giannoukakis

Παλαιό Μέλος
Dimitri,

Perhaps the oldest of the choirs of the USA:

Byzantine Choir and Association of Psaltai of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago "Ioannis o Damaskinos", founded by Archon Nikolaos Georgafentis and currently directed by Nikolaos Georgafentis, Nikolaos Karavitis and Nikolaos Charisiadis (Chicago, IL)


For more than 30 years, they have graced festivals and offered concerts in the greater Chicago area.
 

apostolos

Απόστολος Κομπίτσης
Apostolos --is this a concert choir, or are you actually doing services above and beyond the "orthros ghetto" of Byzantine chant? If number 2 -Hurray!! Great Plug! May we see more and more of them

JPP

JPP,

Our group actually does chant services, mostly Great Vespers, of feast days for the churches in our area. We did a couple of funerals, Great Compline services, and we have informally done Orthros and Liturgy. ("Informally", meaning we didn't really rehearse, per se, but whoever was able to come just showed up at the Analogion and chanted, following music that I selected.) Yes, we have also presented themed concerts for Great Lent, Holy Week and Christmas, and as a bonus we have even sung traditional songs of Asia Minor (our favorites), Constantinople and Greece! (Not in church, of course, but usually during the "wine and cheese" reception after the main concert. We basically go where we are invited, and we have been fortunate to have had considerable "air-time" on Philadelphia's only Greek-American program, "The Greek Spirit". Thank God, we have been well-received by the community and we are discussing a format for our next CD, which we hope will come to fruition one day.

Look: we are not professionals, and not everyone can even read the music, believe it or not. But they all have a love for the art, and a desire to keep Byzantine Music alive and well. We are the only group of this kind in the entire Metropolis of New Jersey, and although we can't travel to every single parish because of the distances, our Metropolitan always enjoys when we participate in vespers where he is officiating. In a country where our Greek Orthodox Churches are primarily dominated by western-style mixed choirs with booming organs and screeching sopranos, our Byzantine Choir is, we feel, a breath of fresh air to a congregation who is looking to experience the Divine Services in a mystical and penitential, yet always majestic, form.

Apostolos
 

saltypsalti

Παλαιό Μέλος
JPP,

Our group actually does chant services, mostly Great Vespers, of feast days for the churches in our area. We did a couple of funerals, Great Compline services, and we have informally done Orthros and Liturgy. ("Informally", meaning we didn't really rehearse, per se, but whoever was able to come just showed up at the Analogion and chanted, following music that I selected.) Yes, we have also presented themed concerts for Great Lent, Holy Week and Christmas, and as a bonus we have even sung traditional songs of Asia Minor (our favorites), Constantinople and Greece! (Not in church, of course, but usually during the "wine and cheese" reception after the main concert. We basically go where we are invited, and we have been fortunate to have had considerable "air-time" on Philadelphia's only Greek-American program, "The Greek Spirit". Thank God, we have been well-received by the community and we are discussing a format for our next CD, which we hope will come to fruition one day.

Look: we are not professionals, and not everyone can even read the music, believe it or not. But they all have a love for the art, and a desire to keep Byzantine Music alive and well. We are the only group of this kind in the entire Metropolis of New Jersey, and although we can't travel to every single parish because of the distances, our Metropolitan always enjoys when we participate in vespers where he is officiating. In a country where our Greek Orthodox Churches are primarily dominated by western-style mixed choirs with booming organs and screeching sopranos, our Byzantine Choir is, we feel, a breath of fresh air to a congregation who is looking to experience the Divine Services in a mystical and penitential, yet always majestic, form.

Apostolos

A small psaltic choir can well out-power the booming organs, sopranoes, etc (I believe Photios Kontoglou made reference to it sounding like a haunted house).

I only wish Portland, OR and New Jersey wasn't a couple thousand mile commute. I would love to be someone else's headache to enjoy chanting with a group of psaltai.

As for your CD, please contact me I would love to buy it, and -promote it here.

JPP
 
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