Biography

musicAeterna byzantina

Current as of July 2021

The name of musicAeterna byzantina speaks for itself. Founded by conductor Teodor Currentzis in 2018 as a member of the musicAeterna group of ensembles, the Choir seeks to rediscover the treasures of Byzantine musical culture, including ancient Greek church singing. The Choir works under tenor Antonios Koutroupis, an alumnus of the vocal department at the Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatory and an honorary right-side cantor of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St George in Venice.

The Choir consists of twelve graduates of schools of Byzantine music in Greece. As well as gaining experience of singing Byzantine chant, each member of the Choir has been listening to this music since childhood, making a gradual journey to excellence, from common reader to right-side cantor, the principal position in a Byzantine choir.

musicAeterna byzantina’s rehearsals combine classical vocal training and the ancient traditions of Greek sacred singing. The depth and significance of each Byzantine hymn is embodied in its unique melodic patterns, requiring careful work on phrasing, vocal expression and unison singing. The sound of ancient Greek scales takes a listener accustomed to equal temperament to a time when music was more openly sacred in its purpose than ever.

Following its acclaimed debut at the Diaghilev Festival in Perm in May 2019, musicAeterna byzantina has appeared in Vienna, at the Philharmonia and St Isaac’s Cathedral in St Petersburg, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Théâtre du Châtelet and Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden and the Megaron in Athens. This summer, the Choir will make its debut at the Salzburg Festival.

musicAeterna byzantina was created with the assistance of Aksenov Family Foundation.

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