musicAeterna byzantina

Te-ri-rem

The pinnacle of Byzantine hymnography is expressed through the musical setting of the three syllables “te-ri-rem”. At the exact point where words, concepts, verbs, and linguistic clarity cease to exist, music steps in to express the ineffable. With a mere three syllables, Byzantine composers such as Petros Peloponnesios, Nikolaos of Smyrna, and other great masters achieved artistic greatness, exploring the height, depth, and horizon of musical imagination, and proving their unsurpassed compositional genius. Where a psalm would naturally end, the composer would “hold” the prayer alive, resurrecting it, accompanying the thoughts of emperors and believers alike, and extending the hymn in duration, breath, conceptual expansion, and scope, through the “te-ri-rem”.

The musicAeterna byzantina choir was founded in 2018 by conductor Teodor Currentzis as the specialized Byzantine member of the musicAeterna artistic “family”. Under the artistic direction of Antonios Koutroupis, this all-male vocal ensemble aims to showcase the spiritual and musical wealth of the Byzantine tradition on the international stage. The two leading musicians collaborate closely on joint projects, bridging ancient Greek ecclesiastical chant with demanding contemporary orchestral and choral productions.

Teodor Currentzis, artistic director / Antonios Koutroupis, Archon Maistor of the

Ecumenical Throne, choir master / Grigorios Zarkos, Archon Protopsaltis of the

Holy Metropolis of Piraeus, soloist