2022-2023 Season

The 2022-2023 season included:

Fall Concert Season

Fall 2022 brought the Cathedral Choir to Symphony Space on the Upper West Side for the American premiere of Savvas Karantzias’ Theophanes The Greek. The November 9th premiere featured soprano Juliet Papadopoulos and narrator Anthoula Katsimatides, with Maestro Costas Tsourakis at the podium. The proceeds benefited the Cathedral Choir and Youth Choir’s Summer 2023 tour to Constantinople and Greece, a seminal event.

Later in November, the Saint Tikhon Choir premiered Benedict Sheehan’s Vespers at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity as part of the Great Music under a Byzantine Dome concert series. The Grammy-nominated piece received a warm welcome from the Cathedral’s audience, with the composer himself at the podium.

2022 Christmas Concert

The 2022 Christmas Concert was the 46th annual presentation of the season’s favorite program, “The Sounds of Christmas!” Among many seasonal favorites, the concert featured the world premieres of Dino Anagnost Artist-in-Residence Dr. John Baboukis’ Your Birth, O Christ/Η γέννησίς σου and Dawn Helene’s setting of the Katavasia of Christmas (with soloist Sophia Pelekasis) and We Three Kings (with soloists Adam Cromer, Costas Tsourakis, and John Koch, and Associate Director Hilary Baboukis at the podium). As always, the concert concluded with a singalong portion, featuring both Greek and American/Western Christmas carols.

The concert also featured the Cathedral Youth Choir, which was started by Maestro Tsourakis in September 2021 to teach the Cathedral youth community about music and the hymns of the church; their appearances were particular favorites of the audience. The annual Christmas Concert at Holy Trinity Cathedral is a staple in the New York holiday concert scene, continuing a tradition that began with the first Cathedral Christmas Concert under the baton of the late maestro Dr. Dino Anagnost in 1976.

A virtual concert version of “The Sounds of Christmas” was also made available to ticketholders around the world, and premiered to general acclaim on December 24th, 2022.

2023 Cabaret

Members of the Cathedral Choir and Youth Choir serenaded the audience with popular songs, Broadway showtunes, Greek songs, opera and more, including music by Berlin, Bernstein, Bizet, Gershwin, Puccini, Theodorakis. The evening was hosted by Maestro Costas Tsourakis and included food, drinks, and a 50/50 raffle, all in support of the newly-formed Cathedral Youth Choir.

2023 Spring Concert Season

In February 2023, in partnership with The Institute of Sacred Arts at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and Great Music under a Byzantine Dome, the highly acclaimed ensemble Cappella Romana brought a new program to the Cathedral under the auspices of the Great Music under a Byzantine Dome concert series: The Byzantine Choral Inheritance, an exploration of Byzantine, Greek, and Greek-American choral repertoire and traditions, under the batons of Dr. Alexander Lingas, Director and Founder of Cappella Romana, and John Michael Boyer, Associate Music Director. This extraordinary program was met with great acclaim by the Cathedral audience; proceeds from the concert contributed to the Cathedral Choir and Youth Choir’s 2023 tour to Constantinople and Greece.

2023 Lenten Concert

The Cathedral Choir was honor to present its traditional Lenten program, “The Sounds of Lent,” on April 1st, 2023. Concert highlights included Dino Anagnost Artist-in-Residence Dr. John Baboukis’ setting of Blessed Is The Man, new orchestrations of Theodore Bogdanos’ Κύριε των δυνάμεων, Frank Desby’s Σώσον, Κύριε, and Tikey Zes’ Τήν ωραιότητα, and Hilary Baboukis’ arrangement of Yiannis Russos’ Δοξασμένο τ’ονομά Σου. As has become tradition, the audience joined the Cathedral Choir, Youth Choir, and Cathedral Orchestra in singing excerpts from Dino Anagnost’s Lamentations and Manolis Kalomiris’ ‘Τῇ ὑπερμάχῳ (from his symphony Levendia). The concert was also made available through YouTube for virtual attendees.

Tribute to Hatzidakis

The Archdiocesan Cathedral Choir, under the direction of Maestro Costas Tsourakis, presented an evening of favorite songs of the legendary Manos Hatzidakis, sung by members of the Choir and Youth Choir and joined by the Archdiocesan Cathedral Greek Orchestra. Featured performers from the choir included soprano Kristina Kaye, mezzo-sopranos Hilary Baboukis and Anna Viemeister, tenor John Koch, and baritone Costas Tsourakis, with a guest performance by Metropolitan Opera performer Olga Xanthopoulou. The highlight of the concert was undeniably the performances of the Cathedral Youth Choir, and proceeds from the evening benefited the choirs’ tour to Constantinople and Greece.