Holy Cross St. Romanos the Melodist Byzantine Choir is a vocal ensemble of students and alumni of Hellenic College Holy Cross. It is named after the 6th-century saint Romanos the Melodist and is dedicated to performing Byzantine and post-Byzantine sacred musical works in the style created and preserved at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. The choir regularly performs in liturgical services as well as at concerts, conferences, lectures, fundraising events, state and national holiday celebrations, and school ceremonies. In addition to Byzantine chant, its repertoire includes Greek folk music, popular and art songs, and modern English adaptations and original settings of sacred texts. The choir is directed by Rev. Fr. Romanos Karanos, Assistant Professor of Byzantine Liturgical Music at Hellenic College Holy Cross.

Pharos Ensemble is named after “φάρος”, from the Greek word “lighthouse” and specializes in the music of the Greek refugees of Anatolia. The ensemble consists of four highly acclaimed musicians and educators (Eirini Tornesaki - Vocals, Vasilis Kostas -Laouto, Panos Aivazidis - Kanu, and George Lernis - Percussion), all of whom are graduates of the prestigious Berklee College of Music. They have all studied their musical traditions in depth and they currently present them in the United States and around the world.

Greek musician Sokratis Sinopoulos is a contemporary master of the lyra, a bowed instrument that dates back to the Byzantine era. His playing is delicate and nuanced yet highly expressive, and his proficiency on the instrument has been widely acclaimed. Sinopoulos has collaborated with numerous musicians throughout the world. He’s equally comfortable crossing genre boundaries into jazz and classical, as he is to staying true to folk traditions of Greece and Eastern Mediterranean.

Born in Athens in 1974, he studied Byzantine music and classical guitar as a child, and began playing the lyra in 1988, under the instruction of Ross Daly. Sinopoulos’ remarkable talent was immediately apparent, and he joined Daly’s group Labyrinthos a year later. He became highly prolific, contributing to recordings by countless musicians all arround the world. Sinopoulos was awarded the Melina Mercouri award for young artists in 1999.

In 2010, he formed Sokratis Sinopoulos Quartet with pianist Yann Keerim, bassist Dimitris Tsekouras, and drummer Dimitris Emmanouil. The debut album of the quartet “Eight Winds”, was produced by Manfred Eicher for ECM records and received excellent reviews globaly. Sokratis Sinopoulos is an assistant professor in the Department of Music Science and Art in the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece.