Welcome to Sts Michael and Gabriel Antiochian Orthodox Church ecclesiastical music page. Here we hope to share the mission of the Choir in trying to faithfully serve the gospel of Christ. Our aim is to spread the word of God through the art of Liturgical Music in the tradition of our Eastern Orthodox Church.
The specific responsibility of the SMG Choir is to embrace the rich musical tradition of our ancient church and adapt it to the English services of our parish. This demands, first and foremost, education in Byzantine Music studies, experience and cultivation in the art of chant and wisdom to select and compose proper melodies for the English texts.
We believe that this inspiration, like every good deed, is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and thus we respond earnestly. For the past two years the Choir has undertaken formal education and training in ecclesiastical music, being taught by Byzantine Music teacher and chanter Basilios Psilacos of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia. The choir members have learnt how to read the byzantine musical language (neumes), identify the different musical genres and chant in various modes. This training is ongoing and weekly practices are our opportunity to put the learning into practice by studying and chanting new hymns for upcoming services.
Through this website we aim to share relevant news from the choir, recordings and music for future hymns, inspirational byzantine chant and links to relevant articles on liturgical music topics. We also hope that this website becomes a communication hub for other choirs chanting in English.
