About the Byzantine Choir of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh
The choir was formally blessed into existence in 1998 by His Eminence Maximos, formerly Pittsburgh, and consists of almost all of the chantors of Western PA and Eastern OH. Since then, the choir has served the good name of the Metropolis in many ways.
The choir has performed in support of academic lectures at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, University of Notre Dame, Ohio State University (at the Byzantine Studies Conference of 2002), the University of St-Louis at Missouri, and the University of Virginia at Richmond. The Choir was the first ever Orthodox choir in America to perform at the Roman Catholic Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida as well as inside the Basilica upon official invitation.
The Choir has been invited and featured four times on the US national Cornerstone Broadcasting Network TV channel (twice on “His Place” and twice in “Real Life 360”). The Choir has performed at St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church and St. Thomas More Catholic Church (Pittsburgh, PA) as well as at the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church (Irwin, PA) offering the rich musical legacy of Byzantium to the sister churches in the region. In 2018, it participated in a first-in-kind historical event in the US that brought together the African-American and Greek-American communities of Pittsburgh to commemorate the friendship between the Great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Archbishop Iakovos of late blessed memory and the historical march in Selma in 1965.
The Choir has performed in support of a number of lectures at the University of Pittsburgh (five times since 2000) and has offered lecture-concerts every year (often twice a year) on the hymnology of the Orthodox Church in the theologic, poetic, musical, and musicological context.
In 2014, it offered a historic two day programme-tribute to the 60 year anniversary of the poetic anthology of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, which was a program under the auspices of the Alumni Graduate Society of the Great School of the Peoples of Constantinople.
The Choir has also been invited to chant a number of festive services of many celebrating parishes across the US including in Florida, Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, regionally in Bethlehem, PA and here in almost all parishes of Western PA and Northeastern OH.
The Byzantine Choir of the Metropolis of Pittsburgh is a distinct entry (lemma) in the volume on Ecclesiastic Music of the “Great Orthodox Christian Encyclopedia”, a monumental and historic multi-volume works under the Aegis of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and is also a distinct lemma in the chapter on “Greek Choirs of the Diaspora” by Prof. Ursula Vryzakis, in the Commemorative Proceedings (2018) in memoriam of Olympia Psychopaidis-Fragos, Department of Music Studies, University of Athens.
In addition to four CDs (“Hymns of the Pentecostarion”, “Byzantine Hymnologic Soundscapes”, “Hymns of the Transfiguration” featuring guest soloist George Hatzichronoglou, Archon Hymnodist of the Great Church of Christ, and “Έως Υπάρχω” – a tribute to St. Paul the Apostle on the 50th Anniversary of the ordination of the renowned Very Rev. Evangelos Krontiris, Paiania, Greece) together with a DVD dedicated to the Panaghia Pammakaristos and to His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Choir is on Youtube (search "byzantine choir metropolis of Pittsburgh") and is featured at the www.ieropsaltis.com and psaltiri.org websites, which exhibit traditional choirs and chantors of Greece and abroad.
The direction of the Choir was and remains under the guidance of Dr. Nick Giannoukakis, formerly Protopsaltis at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Pittsburgh, and Protopsaltis (offikion bestowed in 1998 by His Eminence Maximos, formerly Pittsburgh) of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh. Dr. Giannoukakis is internationally-recognized and respected as one of the few Master Cantors of Byzantine Chant in North America, having studied for many years under the personal supervision and tutelage of historically renowned and legendary Protopsaltae Constantinos Lagouros, Georgios Syrkas, and Emmanuel Hatzimarkos.
The choir was formally blessed into existence in 1998 by His Eminence Maximos, formerly Pittsburgh, and consists of almost all of the chantors of Western PA and Eastern OH. Since then, the choir has served the good name of the Metropolis in many ways.
The choir has performed in support of academic lectures at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, University of Notre Dame, Ohio State University (at the Byzantine Studies Conference of 2002), the University of St-Louis at Missouri, and the University of Virginia at Richmond. The Choir was the first ever Orthodox choir in America to perform at the Roman Catholic Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida as well as inside the Basilica upon official invitation.
The Choir has been invited and featured four times on the US national Cornerstone Broadcasting Network TV channel (twice on “His Place” and twice in “Real Life 360”). The Choir has performed at St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church and St. Thomas More Catholic Church (Pittsburgh, PA) as well as at the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church (Irwin, PA) offering the rich musical legacy of Byzantium to the sister churches in the region. In 2018, it participated in a first-in-kind historical event in the US that brought together the African-American and Greek-American communities of Pittsburgh to commemorate the friendship between the Great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Archbishop Iakovos of late blessed memory and the historical march in Selma in 1965.
The Choir has performed in support of a number of lectures at the University of Pittsburgh (five times since 2000) and has offered lecture-concerts every year (often twice a year) on the hymnology of the Orthodox Church in the theologic, poetic, musical, and musicological context.
In 2014, it offered a historic two day programme-tribute to the 60 year anniversary of the poetic anthology of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, which was a program under the auspices of the Alumni Graduate Society of the Great School of the Peoples of Constantinople.
The Choir has also been invited to chant a number of festive services of many celebrating parishes across the US including in Florida, Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, regionally in Bethlehem, PA and here in almost all parishes of Western PA and Northeastern OH.
The Byzantine Choir of the Metropolis of Pittsburgh is a distinct entry (lemma) in the volume on Ecclesiastic Music of the “Great Orthodox Christian Encyclopedia”, a monumental and historic multi-volume works under the Aegis of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and is also a distinct lemma in the chapter on “Greek Choirs of the Diaspora” by Prof. Ursula Vryzakis, in the Commemorative Proceedings (2018) in memoriam of Olympia Psychopaidis-Fragos, Department of Music Studies, University of Athens.
In addition to four CDs (“Hymns of the Pentecostarion”, “Byzantine Hymnologic Soundscapes”, “Hymns of the Transfiguration” featuring guest soloist George Hatzichronoglou, Archon Hymnodist of the Great Church of Christ, and “Έως Υπάρχω” – a tribute to St. Paul the Apostle on the 50th Anniversary of the ordination of the renowned Very Rev. Evangelos Krontiris, Paiania, Greece) together with a DVD dedicated to the Panaghia Pammakaristos and to His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Choir is on Youtube (search "byzantine choir metropolis of Pittsburgh") and is featured at the www.ieropsaltis.com and psaltiri.org websites, which exhibit traditional choirs and chantors of Greece and abroad.
The direction of the Choir was and remains under the guidance of Dr. Nick Giannoukakis, formerly Protopsaltis at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Pittsburgh, and Protopsaltis (offikion bestowed in 1998 by His Eminence Maximos, formerly Pittsburgh) of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh. Dr. Giannoukakis is internationally-recognized and respected as one of the few Master Cantors of Byzantine Chant in North America, having studied for many years under the personal supervision and tutelage of historically renowned and legendary Protopsaltae Constantinos Lagouros, Georgios Syrkas, and Emmanuel Hatzimarkos.