Music in Our Parish
In Orthodox worship, music is an integral and important aspect of how we praise and worship our Lord. Many of our hymns have been sung for centuries by the Church, in various cultural styles, and our chanters and choir enjoy singing Orthodox music from Arabic, Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, and American/Canadian Orthodox traditions. There are a variety of Byzantine two-part harmonized, Byzantine 4-part harmonized, Russian 4-part harmonized, and North American 4-part harmonized hymns within our regular services. Among the composers we frequently draw from are Nazo Zakkak, Basil Kazan, Frederick Karam, Dmitri Bortniansky, Alexei Kastorsky, Bishop BASIL ESSEY, Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Fr John (Rassem) El-Massih, St Anthony’s Monastery, and many more.
At Christ the Saviour we primarily sing everything in English, regardless of the traditional musical style, to be able to share the theological text with all the members of our community.
Vespers and Orthros are sung by the Chanters, while Liturgy is sung by the Choir. Chanters are considered those who are learned in Byzantine Chant, while Choir Members are those who can sing a Soprano, Alto, Tenor or Bass part confidently in a group context. We are always looking for new choir members, with Father Christopher’s blessing.
If you are interested in joining the choir, please talk to Catherine Irwin or John Alac.
Interested in joining the choir?
We are always looking for new choir members, with Father Christopher’s blessing. Send us a message to get in touch.