Co-presented by the Hellenic College Holy Cross, St. Paul’s Harvard Square, and the St. Paul’s Choir School
CREDO:
SACRED MUSIC FROM THE EAST AND WEST
Sunday, November 9, 3:00 PM EST
St. Paul’s Church, Harvard Square (Corner of Bow and Arrow Streets) Cambridge, MA & Livestreamed
Holy Cross St. Romanos the Melodist Byzantine Choir, directed by Fr. Romanos Karanos
St. Paul’s Parish Choir, directed by Nara Lee
In musical selections that begin with the order of the Mass and Divine Liturgy, the two choirs offer Byzantine and Gregorian chant, ekphonetic recitation, and pieces by Petros the Peloponnesian, Markos Vasileiou, Antonio Vivaldi, Orlando Lasso, Edward Bairstow, and Igor Stravinsky.
Holy Cross St. Romanos the Melodist Byzantine Choir is a vocal ensemble of students and alumni of Hellenic College Holy Cross. It is named after the sixth-century saint Romanos the Melodist and is dedicated to performing Byzantine and post-Byzantine sacred musical works in the style created and preserved at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. The choir regularly performs in liturgical services and concerts and has recorded several CDs.
The St. Paul’s Parish Choir in Harvard Square sings weekly at the 9:30 Sunday Mass and at concerts and special events. Building on the rich tradition of liturgical music at St. Paul’s developed under Dr. Theodore Marier (1912-2001), a pioneer in the twentieth century Liturgical Movement, the Choir sings the full range of Western sacred music from Gregorian chant to the present day.
Co-sponsored by the Harvard Orthodox Chaplaincy, Saints Constantine and Helen Church, the Telos Center, the Huffington Ecumenical Institute, COLLIS Institute of Catholic Thought and Culture (Cornell), the Kateri Institute (University of Michigan), and the In Lumine Network
FREE & OPEN TO ALL
LIVESTREAM & IN-PERSON
David Composing the Psalms, illustration, MS. gr. 139, folio 1v, Paris Psalter, c. 960 AD, Bibliothèque Nationale de France
REV. FR. ROMANOS KARANOS, PhD
The Rev. Fr. Romanos Karanos, PhD is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Byzantine Liturgical Music and Director of the Byzantine Music Program at Hellenic College Holy Cross. He also serves as Artistic Director of the Boston Byzantine Music Festival, is a Protopresbyter of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and is the Pastor of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Brockton, MA. He studied Byzantine Music under Photios Ketsetzis, Archon Protopsaltis of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. He has a BA in Government from Harvard University, an MBA from Boston University, and a PhD in Musicology from the University of Athens, Greece.
NARA LEE
Nara Lee serves as Associate Director of Music at St. Paul’s Choir School, where he gives organ lessons, and plays the organ for weekday Noon Masses, and directs the St. Paul’s Parish Choir on Sundays. Originally from South Korea, Nara earned his Bachelor’s degree in church music from Seoul Theological University, and a Master of Music degree and a Performer Diploma in organ and sacred music from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he also completed doctoral coursework. Before joining St. Paul’s, Nara taught organ at Indiana University as an Associate Instructor and served as assistant organist at Trinity Episcopal Church in Indianapolis.