PATRIARCHAL OCTOECHOS  ' 23 

PATRIARCHAL OCTOECHOS  ' 23 - Let Us Rise (May 2023)

Patriarchal Octoechos is our preferred "theme" for all our events. As the name of the Workshop infers, the mission of this workshop was to provide advanced training to participants on classical compositions of pivotal composers of Byzantine Ecclesiastical Music of the past millennium. 

Patriarchal Octoechos '23 was a five-day online and in-class workshop, covering the following themes:

• Interpretation of various heirmological melodies from the Anastasimatarion

• The Polyelaios, "Upon the rivers of Babylon", in Tone 3, by Chourmouzios the Archivist (18th C)

• The ancient sticheraric melody of "Aineite auton", in Tone 8, by Iakovos Protopsaltes (17th C)

• The Largo Doxology in Tone 4 Hagia by Petros Peloponnesios (17th)

• The Sunday communal hymn, "Aineite ton Kyrion", in Tone 6

• From the Great Anoixandaria, in Tone 8, composed by Ioannis Koukouzelis (~ mid to late 13th C) and Ioannis Kladas (~ early 14 th C) , and abbreviated by Chourmouzios the Archivist 

As a student of the Archon Protopsaltes Thrasyvoulos Stanitsas, Athanasios Paivanas, our master teacher, attempted to peer into these compositions through the analysis and interpretation of contemporary Archon Protopsaltes of the Great Church of Christ, the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

As a final touch to this workshop, our School offered a 45-minute recital in Byzantine Music as part of the festivities of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saints Constantine and Helen, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC, where it presented seminal works by important composers according to the interpretation of the great chanters of the Great Church of Christ - Ecumenical Patriarchate.