Pandelis Zafiris

Pandelis Zafiris studied Music Composition and Musicology at the Ionian University (Corfu-Greece). The five-year bachelor program (integrated master) for obtaining his degree was completed with the elaboration of final projects in the fields of Music Pedagogy, Ethnomusicology and Byzantine Musicology with professors Dimitris Giannelos, Lenia Sergi and John Plemmenos.
His research interests then led him to Istanbul-Turkey where he obtained a postgraduate degree in ethnomusicology at the department of Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM) at Istanbul Technical University with professors ethnomusicologists Şehvar Beşiroğlu and Robert Reigle. The topic of the master's thesis is: “Sacred Music of ethnicities of Istanbul. A comparative study of music system of Byzantine and Armenian Sacred Music”. He is currently preparing his doctoral dissertation (PhD) at Ionian University Corfu - Greece in the field of Ethnomusicology entitled: "Ecosystems of sacred music of the Eastern Mediterranean: Continuity and change in Byzantine and Armenian traditions".
He has worked and participated with papers in conferences in Greece, Turkey, Finland, Italy, and Czech Republic. At the same time he has edited and written articles in scientific journals and books while he has participated and directed Byzantine choirs in concerts and festivals of religious music in Greece, Turkey, France, Switzerland and Germany.
Important milestones for him are his work in the digitization of the historical archive of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the library of the Theological School of Halki (2010-2016) in Istanbul as well as his participation as a conductor of Byzantine choir in the music concert "Music for One God" at the Byzantine church of Agia Irini in Istanbul in May 2012. Finally, he was the lead chanter (Protopsaltis) of the Holy Trinity Church (Taksim Square - Istanbul) for six consecutive years (2010-2016).