Associates

Andreas Kotziamanis was born in 1948 in Agios Georgios of Kyrenia, Cyprus. He completed his secondary school studies at the Kyrenia High School. He served his military service in the National Guard during the period 1966-1968. On 18.06.1980 he received a Bachelor’s degree in Radiology from the University of Athens. His undergraduate and postgraduate studies include dregrees also from: the Medical School of the University of Thessaloniki (1968-1980); the Aretaieion University Hospital of Athens (1976-1980); the Department of Radiology of the Larnaca Hospital (specialization in “Electronic Diagnosis” and CT) (1978-1979 & 1980-1983). Since 1983 he has been the owner and Director of the Radiological Diagnostic Centre “Kotziamanis Biodiagnostics” in Limassol, which includes: MRI Scanner, CT Scanner, Digital Mammography Scanner, Color Doppler Ultrasound Scanner, Dental Panoramic X-Ray Machine, Osteoporosis DEXA Scanner. He is a member of the Cyprus Society of Radiology, the Hellenic Society of Radiology, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM), the European Society of Radiology, the Limassol Medical Association, the Pancyprian Medical Association and the Private Doctor’s Association of Cyprus. Apart from his mother tongue (Greek), he is also proficient in English.

Andreas Kotziamanis is a married father of three children. Since his childhood he has been an ardent devotee and researcher of Byzantine Church Music. He has served the Byzantine Church Music as Chief Cantor for many decades. On 25.06.2016 he received a Diploma of Byzantine Music Teacher with the grade “Excellent and A’ Prize” from the School of Byzantine Music of the St. Athanasios Church of Polydroso.

Gregorios Daravanoglou was born in 1960 in Istanbul. He took his first steps in Byzantine Music at the Ecumenical Patriarchate under the guidance of the late Archon Protopsaltes (Leader Master of the Right Choir) of the Great Chrurch of Christ, Vasilios Nikolaidis and the Archon Lampadarios (Leader Master of the Left Choir), Mr. Eleftherios Georgiadis. He was also taught a lot by the late Protopsaltes Achilleas Gartzoglou and the music teacher priest Athanasios Alexiades. In 1978 he went to the United States of America at the invitation of the then Archbishop of North and South America, Iakovos. There he gives lessons in Byzantine Music, creates and directs a choir with Greek students of Brown University and then from Harvard University, with whom he performs concerts in various States of America. In 1982 he arrives in Greece, where he is appointed to various Holy Churches. Today he is the Protopsaltes of St. Nicholas at Piraeus. At the same time he sings by invitation at festivals and events throughout the Greek Territory and abroad. He teaches pro bono Byzantine Music to young people at the Tutorial of the late Master Music Teacher (Άρχων Μουσικοδιδάσκαλος), George Tsatsaronis. He is the founder and choirmaster of a Byzantine choir, which bears his name, and has occasionally directed the Choir of the Hellenic Association of Constantinople, with which he has given concerts and broadcasts on television and radio. He has been a producer of broadcasts at the Radio Station of the Church of Greece. Among his numerous collaborations with artists of the Pentagram, he has collaborated with George Dalaras, with whom he performed together on May 24th, 2000 at the Ancient Municipal Theatre of Nea Ionia, Volos, where they sang songs of Asia Minor, in an event entitled Ealo Polis, and on February 14th-18th, 2001 at the Athens Concert Hall in the musical performance of the year Tribute to Tsitsanis. He has been honoured by many institutions and associations for his contribution to the art of chantιng. On Sunday, January 25th, 2009, the Feast of St. Gregory the Theologian, during the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Church of St. Nicholas of Piraeus, he was honored by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with the title of Archon Maestor of the Great Church of Christ by the hand of Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus.

Fanos Polydorou was born in 1985 in Kato Paphos. He is a graduate of the Ethnarch Makarios III High School of Paphos. He completed the Second Higher School of piano and studied bouzouki, tamboura, psaltery (cannon), makam theory, classical and jazz harmony, monody, contemporary and folk singing, music technology and Byzantine Music under the supervision of professors George Kakoulidis and Lycurgos Angelopoulos. He studied in depth all the periods of the Old Byzantine Music Notation known as Parasemantics, i.e. the music of paleography. He serves in Holy Churches of Cyprus as chief cantor. He received on 19.06.2010 a Diploma of Byzantine Music with the degree “Excellent” from the Conservatory of Egaleo and with the special teacher the Archon Maestor the Great Church of Christ, Gregory Daravanoglou. He is an active member of numerous Byzantine and European Music choirs, with which he has taken part in dozens of concerts in Cyprus and abroad.

Kifokeris Kosmas was born in 1971 in Arta, where he finished Ηigh School. He graduated from the Faculty of Theology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the Theatre School of the Society of Greek Playwrights and the Classical Music Department of the Melodramatic School of the Maroussi Conservatory. He holds a degree (hons.) in Byzantine Music from the Department of Byzantine Music of the Conservatory of Romannos the Melodist (Diploma thesis approved unanimously with distinction). He was taught Byzantine Music by the Inspector of Secondary Education of the Prefecture of Arta, Christos Pappas and the Archon Maestor of the Great Church of Christ, Gregory Daravanoglou, while he attended for several years courses in Byzantine Music, Palaeography and Parasemantics under the supervision of Theodoros Vassiliou. He is the editor of the unpublished works of the late Konstantinos Papapetrou, Professor at the Faculty of Theology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and the translator of his German-language works into Greek. He compiles the anniversary speeches and the ecclesiastical sermons of Greek Communities in Europe and America as well as their official correspondence with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In discography, the songs, whose lyrics he has written, exceed five hundred in Greece and abroad (Artistic alias: Kosmas). He has been honored with the award of dozens of multi-platinum and gold records. His lyrics have been set to music by leading composers and performed by leading singers. He has collaborated with the Canadian rock band Entanglers. His English-language lyrics are set to music by rock drummer Marco Ferrante. Composer and House of Jazz owner Bob Ricci presented him during  winter of 2015 at the House of Jazz in Montreal, announcing their collaboration on Celine Dion’s discography, among others. His English-language tetralogy (novel and screenplay), which deals with organized crime, is currently being released in America.

Christos D. Aristideou was born in Paphos, Cyprus in 1978. During his high school studies he studied at the School of Byzantine Music of the Holy Metropolis of Paphos under the supervision of professor Solon Hadjisolomos. He completed his military service in 1998. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Theology and the Department of Philology (Specialization in Medieval and Modern Greek Philology) of the Faculty of Philosophy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He holds a Master’s Degree in Byzantine Music from the Ionian University, where he is a PhD candidate in Byzantine Musicology since 2019, and a Diploma in Byzantine Music from the Byzantine Music Department of the Egaleo Conservatory, under the professors Andreas and Spyridon Voutsinas. Chief cantor since 2008 at the Holy Church of St. Demetrios located at Paphos. Professor of Byzantine Music since 2009 at the Holy Metropolis of Paphos and choirmaster of its Byzantine Choir. He translated into Greek Dr. Solon Hadjisolomou’s PhD thesis, The Modal Structure of the 11 Eothina Anastassima, and Egon Wellesz’s book, A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography. He has studied extensively the “Nikolaos Chrysochoidis Archive”, which is safely stored at the Asia Minor Studies Centre in Athens, as long as numerous manuscripts of Byzantine music, which are held by the National Library of Greece. His works that are currently under publication are the following: Anastasimatarion, The Sequence of the Great Canon and The Sequence of the Wedding.