Renowned Byzantine choir to sing in New York City

The World Music Institute announces the New York debut of the Greek Byzantine Choir “Masters of the Psaltic Art” at the 5th Annual Greek Festival of Sacred and Secular Traditions which also includes the return appearance of renowned rembetika singer Giouli Tsirou.

5th ANNUAL GREEK FESTIVAL—SACRED & SECULAR TRADITIONS

FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2004 —- 8:00 PM

WOMEN OF REMBETIKA: MARYO with GIOULI TSIROU
Peter Norton Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th St., NYC
$30; students $15 with college ID —- Box office (212) 864-5400

SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2004 —- 8:00 PM

BYZANTINE MUSIC: MASTERS of the PSALTIC ART
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 112th Street & Amsterdam Avenue, NYC

CitiTix (212) 581-1212 —- $50, $35, $25; students $15 with college ID

Tickets available at Greek Music & Video (718) 932-8400
Info/charges (212) 545-7536 —- www.worldmusicinstitute.org

This year’s annual Greek Festival will feature 30 singers and instrumentalists from Greece in programs of sacred and secular music. On Friday, April 16th at Symphony Space, the festival will feature an engaging tribute to the divas of rembetika - the Eastern-influenced “Greek blues” that is the foundation of popular Greek music- with songs from the 1920s to ‘50s made famous by such singers as Rosa Eskenazy, Marika Pagaghika and Marika Ninou. The artists include Maryo, “the grand dame of Greece” who is one of the last exponents of a style of music that has all but disappeared; Giouli Tsirou, a rising star in Greek song; and a brilliant ensemble on lutes (oud, bouzouki and baglama), violin, accordion and piano.

On Saturday, April 17th at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Masters of the Psaltic Art, Greece’s most famous Byzantine choir, will make its U.S. debut. Comprised of the leading chanters from the churches of Athens, this 20-voice choir is under the direction of the highly respected Byzantine authority, Gregorios Stathis. The choir specializes in Byzantine chant, the great Eastern tradition which developed out of early Christian monody (plainsong) into a sophisticated liturgical music. In addition to striking renditions of traditional sacred chants, including resurrection hymns, the ensemble will perform secular songs and instrumental music. The program will take place in one of New York’s most glorious venues.

Masters of the Psaltic Art has appeared at services, ceremonies, and festivals throughout Greece, Russia, Italy, France, Cyprus, Israel, Armenia and Australia. The choir was formed in 1983 by Gregorios Stathis, an internationally renowned researcher and professor of Byzantine Musicology and Psaltic Art at the University of Athens. He has authored over 300 publications, and is chief editor of the eight album set of recordings entitled Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Composers of the Institute of Byzantine Musicology. He founded the choir to research and present the main Byzantine and post-Byzantine composers and to establish and define the criteria for the renewal of the Psaltic art in Orthodox worship.

This program is made possible in part with support from the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.