Post Event Press Release
Mostly Orthros 2010 by the Axion Estin Foundation
Byzantine Chant & Folk Music Festival


The Mostly Orthros 2010 Byzantine Chant & Folk Music Festival was organized by the Axion Estin Foundation in collaboration with CUNY-Graduate Center's PhD Program in Ethnomusicology. Other significant collaborators in this year's festival were the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA) by supporting Dr. Katy Romanou as Senior Visiting Scholar, The Rev. Peter N. Kyriakos Endowment Fund by underwriting the expenses of the "Great Theory of Music" publication, the National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians by partially supporting the same publication, and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), by supporting the Greek folk music presentation.

The festival was entitled Mostly Orthros to recognize Byzantine chant mastermind John of Damascus (8th century), the main author of the Octoechos. The Octoechos constitutes the core material of the Orthros service celebrated weekly by Eastern Christian Churches around the world immediately before the Sunday Divine Liturgy. The Orthros service along with the Octoechos has been the most significant medium for educators in teaching Byzantine chant theory and Greek folk music performance throughout the centuries and to this day. The events included the presentation of the definitive book "Great Theory on Music" by Chrysanthos from Madytos first published in Trieste in 1832, with translation and commentary by Dr. Katy Romanou, various lectures on the history and practice of Byzantine sacred music and Greek Folk music, and the "Chanting Orthros Workshop."

The Axion Estin Foundation, since its inaugural conference in 2006 on Byzantine Music teaching methodologies and through its second conference in 2008 on building a Byzantine Choir is evolving to a New York wintertime tradition that appeals to friends of medieval chant and audiences of diverse backgrounds, from the beginner to the expert. Following the last presentation of the Greek Byzantine Choir at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Temple of Dendur (January 13, 2008), Axion Estin's Mostly Orthros festival once again brought Byzantine chant to top venues and to casual settings.

The 2010 Mostly Orthros concluded with a benefit banquet, which was held jointly by The Rev. Peter N. Kyriakos Endowment Fund and the Axion Estin Foundation on Sunday January 17th, 2010, at the Newington Cropsey Foundation Museum, 25 Cropsey Lane, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, 10706. This event's honoree was Dr. Helen Evans, Mary & Michael Jaharis Curator for Byzantine Art of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for her contributions to the preservation and promotion of the Byzantine Arts.

For detailed report on Axion Estin's three-day
Mostly Orthros Festival 2010 please click here.