St Ephraim Choir & Byzantine Musical School
St Paul’s Church choir chants meets weekly for practice as part of the St Ephraim the Syrian Byzantine Musical School. The choir chants every Sunday and during all services in both Arabic and English. Chanting is performed in the Byzantine style at St Paul’s. The choir has released two CDs to date as of December 2024.
The St Ephraim Choir chanting during Holy Friday
Senior choir members have an intimate knowledge of Byzantine notation and musical theory. These members ensure that less experienced choir members are still accepted, and help develop them into capable chanters, according to their skills level and familiarity with the theory. The St Paul’s Choir is blessed to have members from a wide range age range, and with competence in both the English and Arabic language to cater for the diverse community of St Paul’s Church.
The St Ephraim Byzantine Music School was developed by some members of the St Paul’s Choir. The St Ephraim Byzantine Music School provides instruction on Byzantine chanting, done in both Arabic and English. The choir’s namesake, St Ephraim, was born in 305AD in Nisibis, Syria (modern day Turkey, bordering Syria), and wrote over four hundred hymns during a time when Christians lived under severe persecution by Rome.
As of November 2024, St Ephraim Choir & Music School has transitioned to become a part of the greater national music school named the Antiochian Byzantine Music School, operating under the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. Registrations can be made here.
St Ephraim Choir performing at the 20th anniversary dinner & feast of Saints Peter and Paul
Byzantine chanting is monophonic, meaning aside from the ison (the “drone” note, the low bass sound) there is no harmony. Instead, the choir and the congregation chant the same melody together. This was the tradition of the ancient churches in the Mediterranean, as in Jewish temple worship in the Old Testament. Many Orthodox Churches, primarily in Europe, practice polyphonic chanting with more dynamic harmonies. Byzantine chanting survived the influence of Islam in the Mediterranean and Middle East; the Great Schism between Rome and the east, the fall of Constantinople in the 15th century, as well as the Ottoman Empire, making it a staple tradition of the Orthodox Church.
St Ephraim Choir on Palm Sunday 2024
You can purchase the Great Vespers of Sts Peter & Paul performed by St Ephraim the Syrian Choir from our store.
If you would like to join St Ephraim Choir or its Musical School, please don’t hesitate to contact us below.