From 2020-Present
Notable events:
The most notable event that affected our meetings as well as our planned events was the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic. To protect our members as well as our community we unfortunately cancelled all our planned events.
The first event that was scheduled and for which the members of the choir were ready for was a lecture-concert featuring hymns of the Lenten period. The event was scheduled for March 15, 2020. A week prior to the event, the local health authorities deemed that all public events should be cancelled. We had already prepared for this.
The second event that was in the planning stages was a joint choral celebration of the African-American "spirituals" in the context of early Christian ecclesiastical chant, that was in preparation together with the Choir of Eastminster Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, PA. This event was scheduled for the late fall of 2020, however due to the COVID-19, it was postponed for a future date.
Instead, our choir began offering programs (lectures-concerts) in the virtual space, on the internet. Our first such event took place on the 16th of August 2020, with the theme "The Prophets from on High, prefigured You, O Holy Theotokos, Mother of Life", a journey on the theology, history, musicology of the Marian Dormition-Nativity ecclesiastical feast cycle.
On Thursday, March 25 2021, members of our choir offered a lecture-virtual musical presentation on the unparalleled Christologic Canon of the Feast if the Annunciation. This presentation was part of the Celebration of the Bicentennial of Greek Independence under the auspice of the American Hellenic Foundation of Western Pennsylvania and co-sponsored by the American Society of Byzantine Music and Hymnology.
in July, 2021, our good friend the Very Rev. Protopresbyter George Livanos passed into Heaven. As a tribute, we transferred the audio from our CD produced in 2003 ("Byzantine Soundscape of the Greek Orthodox Liturgy) which consisted of the Anaphora of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in plagal 2nd phthoric chromatic/diatonic) where Fr. Livanos had participated.
On July 31, 2021, we presented an encomium of three odes ("Triodion") dedicated to the Hieromartyr Kyprianos Archbishop of Cyprus (+1821) in metered English translations of original Greek. This was part of the Celebration of the Bicentennial of Greek Independence under the auspice of the American Hellenic Foundation of Western Pennsylvania.
On the evening of February 2, 2022, we presented a historical, musicological lecturer, together with the relevant hymns in English translations of the original Greek on the topic of the hymns of the Feast of the Presentation of Christ (Ypapanti). Entitled "A Byzantine Princess and Ballistic Chorea: The Hymnody of the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Birth of a European Aristocratic Dance", the lecture component featured the evolution of ancient Greek pagan rites into a European dance via the hymnology of the specific Feast.
LECTURES-CONCERTS:
"Repentance and salvation in the Lenten Byzantine Hymnology and Byzantine Chant", Sunday, March 15, 2020, at Mount Saint Peter Church in New Kensington, PA (postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
"The Prophets from on High, prefigured You, O Holy Theotokos, Mother of Life", VIRTUAL LECTURE CONCERT (internet), Sunday, August 16, 2020 (https://youtu.be/LvcNERweouQ)
"In the Beginning was the Logos and the Logos became Flesh: A Byzantine Concert-Presentation Celebrating the Unparalleled Christologic Canon of the Annunciation Dialogue" (internet), Thursday March 25, 2021
(https://youtu.be/T6mBPka_mJI)
"The Holy Anaphora in Phthoric Chromatic from the CD Byzantine Soundscape of the Greek Orthodox Liturgy" (2003) featuring the Very Rev. Protopresbyter George Livanos of late-blessed memory
(https://youtu.be/owR0oRiGHKU)
Hymnologic Encomium "The Triodion of the Hieromartyr", July 31, 2021
(https://youtu.be/C0OuCe0hYf8)
"A Byzantine Princess and Ballistic Chorea: The Hymnody of the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Birth of a European Aristocratic Dance", February 2, 2022
(https://youtu.be/OWTBeQ1IBP0)
Notable events:
The most notable event that affected our meetings as well as our planned events was the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic. To protect our members as well as our community we unfortunately cancelled all our planned events.
The first event that was scheduled and for which the members of the choir were ready for was a lecture-concert featuring hymns of the Lenten period. The event was scheduled for March 15, 2020. A week prior to the event, the local health authorities deemed that all public events should be cancelled. We had already prepared for this.
The second event that was in the planning stages was a joint choral celebration of the African-American "spirituals" in the context of early Christian ecclesiastical chant, that was in preparation together with the Choir of Eastminster Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, PA. This event was scheduled for the late fall of 2020, however due to the COVID-19, it was postponed for a future date.
Instead, our choir began offering programs (lectures-concerts) in the virtual space, on the internet. Our first such event took place on the 16th of August 2020, with the theme "The Prophets from on High, prefigured You, O Holy Theotokos, Mother of Life", a journey on the theology, history, musicology of the Marian Dormition-Nativity ecclesiastical feast cycle.
On Thursday, March 25 2021, members of our choir offered a lecture-virtual musical presentation on the unparalleled Christologic Canon of the Feast if the Annunciation. This presentation was part of the Celebration of the Bicentennial of Greek Independence under the auspice of the American Hellenic Foundation of Western Pennsylvania and co-sponsored by the American Society of Byzantine Music and Hymnology.
in July, 2021, our good friend the Very Rev. Protopresbyter George Livanos passed into Heaven. As a tribute, we transferred the audio from our CD produced in 2003 ("Byzantine Soundscape of the Greek Orthodox Liturgy) which consisted of the Anaphora of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in plagal 2nd phthoric chromatic/diatonic) where Fr. Livanos had participated.
On July 31, 2021, we presented an encomium of three odes ("Triodion") dedicated to the Hieromartyr Kyprianos Archbishop of Cyprus (+1821) in metered English translations of original Greek. This was part of the Celebration of the Bicentennial of Greek Independence under the auspice of the American Hellenic Foundation of Western Pennsylvania.
On the evening of February 2, 2022, we presented a historical, musicological lecturer, together with the relevant hymns in English translations of the original Greek on the topic of the hymns of the Feast of the Presentation of Christ (Ypapanti). Entitled "A Byzantine Princess and Ballistic Chorea: The Hymnody of the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Birth of a European Aristocratic Dance", the lecture component featured the evolution of ancient Greek pagan rites into a European dance via the hymnology of the specific Feast.
LECTURES-CONCERTS:
"Repentance and salvation in the Lenten Byzantine Hymnology and Byzantine Chant", Sunday, March 15, 2020, at Mount Saint Peter Church in New Kensington, PA (postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
"The Prophets from on High, prefigured You, O Holy Theotokos, Mother of Life", VIRTUAL LECTURE CONCERT (internet), Sunday, August 16, 2020 (https://youtu.be/LvcNERweouQ)
"In the Beginning was the Logos and the Logos became Flesh: A Byzantine Concert-Presentation Celebrating the Unparalleled Christologic Canon of the Annunciation Dialogue" (internet), Thursday March 25, 2021
(https://youtu.be/T6mBPka_mJI)
"The Holy Anaphora in Phthoric Chromatic from the CD Byzantine Soundscape of the Greek Orthodox Liturgy" (2003) featuring the Very Rev. Protopresbyter George Livanos of late-blessed memory
(https://youtu.be/owR0oRiGHKU)
Hymnologic Encomium "The Triodion of the Hieromartyr", July 31, 2021
(https://youtu.be/C0OuCe0hYf8)
"A Byzantine Princess and Ballistic Chorea: The Hymnody of the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Birth of a European Aristocratic Dance", February 2, 2022
(https://youtu.be/OWTBeQ1IBP0)
Program Notes and Varia from the Choir Lecture-Conferences of the Period as well as from other Notable Events
"Repentance and salvation in the Lenten Byzantine Hymnology and Byzantine Chant", Sunday, March 15, 2020, at Mount Saint Peter Church in New Kensington, PA (postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
"The Prophets from on High, prefigured You, O Holy Theotokos, Mother of Life",
VIRTUAL LECTURE CONCERT (internet),
Sunday, August 16, 2020
https://youtu.be/LvcNERweouQ
VIRTUAL LECTURE CONCERT (internet),
Sunday, August 16, 2020
https://youtu.be/LvcNERweouQ
"In the Beginning was the Logos and the Logos became Flesh: A Byzantine Concert-Presentation Celebrating the Unparalleled Christologic Canon of the Annunciation Dialogue" (internet), Thursday March 25, 2021
(https://youtu.be/T6mBPka_mJI)
(https://youtu.be/T6mBPka_mJI)
"The Holy Anaphora in Phthoric Chromatic from the CD Byzantine Soundscape of the Greek Orthodox Liturgy" (2003) featuring the Very Rev. Protopresbyter George Livanos of late-blessed memory
(https://youtu.be/owR0oRiGHKU)
"A Byzantine Princess and Ballistic Chorea: The Hymnody of the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Birth of a European Aristocratic Dance", February 2, 2022
(https://youtu.be/OWTBeQ1IBP0)
