In an exclusive Australian concert, the Hellenic Museum welcomed and celebrated international musicians Vassilis Tsabropoulos and Nektaria Karantzi in Melbourne for a one-night-only, live performance titled Between East and West on Saturday, 1 April 2023.
Vassilis Tsabropoulos is a virtuoso pianist, composer and conductor who has taken the stage with several of Europe’s most prestigious orchestras. Nektaria Karantzi is one of the world’s most influential voices in Byzantine and wider Mediterranean music traditions, and founder of the Worldwide Association of Women in Byzantine Music.
Together, they are an inspired musical marriage that results in a transfixing on-stage dialogue between Western musical culture and Eastern tradition.
Off the back of their successful European tour, they travelled from Greece exclusively for the Hellenic Museum’s Between East and West.
Sarah Craig, CEO of the Hellenic Museum, warmly welcomed Vassilis Tsabropoulos and Nektaria Karantzi to the stage with a speech highlighting the influence of the Byzantine Empire in the Mediterranean basin for over a millennium.
Byzantine music reflects the Empire’s cosmopolitan nature and combines its diverse poetic and musical influences – including ancient Greco-Roman styles, Jewish sacred music, Syriac chant, and western polyphony.
Vassilis Tsabropoulos and Nektaria Karantzi then graced the stage like humble royalty. They filled the Museum’s enchanting courtyard pavilion with mesmerising grand piano and voice over a two-hour live performance. They left not one dry eye in the house, as the audience described their performance as God-inspired, beautiful, soul-touching moving music.
An emotional standing ovation inspired Vassilis Tsabropoulos to masterfully lift the spirits of every audience member in a breathtaking piano finale after cries for an encore.
Their performance was supported by the Holy Trinity Brunswick – Serbian Orthodox Church Choir and the Psaltries Choir of Melbourne, who recently won an Award in Chanting Excellence at the international Orthodox Arts Festival. The choir holds regular rehearsals under the direction of Nektaria Karantzi and locally coordinated by Ioanna Nikoloulea.
The Psaltries Choir of Melbourne accepts requests for new members and hearings via email: women.byzantinemusic@gmail.com
The Masterclass – with Nektaria Karantzi
On the afternoon of Sunday, 2 April 2023, a rare opportunity presented itself for students of all abilities to learn Byzantine Ecclesiastical Music from the world-leading vocalist, Byzantine Music professor, and founder of the Worldwide Association of Women in Byzantine Music, Nektaria Karantzi.
Since the tender age of 9, Nektaria Karantzi consistently dedicated her voice to the art of byzantine ecclesiastical music, which she studied and practiced, with the encouragement of Saint Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia, who was her Spiritual Father.
In parallel, she studied Law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and completed postgraduate studies in Penal Law, Criminal Law Procedure, Criminology, and Ecclesiastical Law.
An essential part of Nektaria’s work is dedicated to teaching and disseminating Byzantine Ecclesiastical Music. Nektaria has run masterclasses at some of Europe’s most prestigious educational and music centers, including the Liszt Academy of Hungary, the Sorbonne University in France, and the University of Oviedo in Spain.
In an Australian first, she brought her Byzantine Ecclesiastical Music Masterclass exclusively to Melbourne’s Hellenic Museum. The three-hour Masterclass was designed by Nektaria Karantzi to maximize learning for students of all abilities, from curious beginners to advanced Byzantine chanters.
Nektaria Karantzi encouraged all attendees to continue their studies who left the Masterclass awe-inspired by her deep and insightful knowledge of Byzantine Ecclesiastical Music, edified and motivated to learn more.
