Harilaos Taliadoros was born in Thessaloniki in 1926. He was distinguished for his
excellent voice and musical talent from his childhood. His teacher in Byzantine
chant was Protopsaltis Christoforos Koutsouradis from Chios. In 1942, at the age
of 16, he was appointed the Lambadarios of the church of Agios Therapon by ever-memorable
Gennadios, the then Metropolitan of Thessaloniki and at the end of the same year
he became the Protopsaltis of the same church. In 1944 he moved to the church of
Saint Fanourios and John the Baptist where he stayed until 1952 when he was called
to the church of the St. Sophia (a significant cathedral of Thessaloniki) by Metropolitan
Panteleimon to succeed Protopsaltis Socrates Papadopoulos. Greatest impact on Taliadoros'
formation as psaltis had his acquaintance with Archon Protopsaltis Konstantinos
Pringos, whom he first met in 1945. Harilaos Taliadoros currently is still the Protopsaltis
of St. Sophia where he has been faithfully serving the Church for well over 50 years.
He is a prolific composer and his numerous books provide an excellent source of
sometimes traditional and other times personal analyseis of musical theseis found
in classical editions of Byzantine chant. Despite his overall traditional style,
he has been criticised for having introduced some polyphonic chants in his publications
as well as his church repertoire. Worth mentioning are his teaching activities in
various music schools in Thessaloniki where he has trained hundreds of students
thus contributing to the preservation and dissemination of the authentic Byzantine
chant. He has been invited to chant to many feasts in Constantinople, various places
in Greece and overseas. He was honoured to have chanted with Protopsaltis Thrasyboulos
Stanitsas at various occasions. Among his students one can single out Athanasios
Bougiouklis, Angelos Kounas, Christos Chalkias, Theodoros Vasileiou and Metropolitan
Hierotheos Vlachos. In recognition of Harilaos Taliadoros' important contributions
to the Byzantine chant and his services to the Church, the Ecumenical Patriarch
awarded him the offikion of the Archon Protopsaltis of Archdiocese of Constantinople.