Feb. 2, 2009
Contact: Sara R. Leonard
Concert and Production Manager
413/542-2195
AMHERST, Mass. – Musician and icon painter Nektarios S. Antoniou and his group Schola Cantorum will perform a concert of Byzantine chant, psalmody and Greek popular song at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 13, in Buckley Recital Hall in the Arms Music Center at Amherst College. Sponsored by the Department of Music, the event is part of a longer visit by the artist; he will also give a lecture and demonstration at the Mead Art Museum on the creation and liturgical function of icon paintings showcased in the Mead’s galleries at 1 p.m. the same day. Both events are free and open to the public.
Antoniou has studied Byzantine music, religion and the arts and theological aesthetics in New Haven, Conn. (while earning his post-graduate degree at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music); Cambridge, Mass.; Boston; and Thessalonica, Greece. His life-long fascination with iconography was further developed during his studies of iconology at Harvard Divinity School. As a cantor, soloist and conductor, he has performed throughout the United States and abroad, presenting concerts at the New England Conservatory and Princeton, Yale and Harvard universities. He has also served as principal cantor at cathedrals and historic chapels in the United States, Belgium and Greece. He currently conducts research and curates for the Mount Athos Center in Thessalonica and teaches at the Conservatory of Northern Greece.
Boston-based Schola Cantorum was founded by Antoniou during his studies at Yale. Specializing in Eastern chant and Greek paraliturgical music, the group made its world debut in 2003 in a live broadcast on NPR. It has performed throughout the New England area and is featured in Margot Fassler’s forthcoming documentary film on Eastern chant.