Byzantine Christmas II (10th December 2023)

You are cordially invited to attend the Christmas Event: “Byzantine Christmas II”, on Sunday December 10th, 2023, at 4.00 p.m. CT and will take place at the Social Sciences Building, Room 122. Αt the event the League of Chanters of Metropolis of Chicago “Saint John of Damascus” will chant Christmas hymns and carols and the students of “Athena” Educational Academy will sing Christmas Carols.

Byzantine Christmas

We are excited to invite you to “Byzantine Christmas”. Join us in celebrating Christmas with hymns, chants, and carols by the Byzantine Choir “Ioannis Damaskinos”. The event will take place at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago on December 10th and a reception will take place before the concert.

You can find more photos of the event here

Echoes of the Past: Asia Minor in Greek songs

The concert Echoes of the Past, organized by the Center for Hellenic Studies of the University of Chicago, the General Consulate of Greece in Chicago and the Asia Minor and Pontos Hellenic Research Center on the occasion of the Centennial of the Asia Minor Catastrophe was held on Sunday 9th October at the Logan Center of the University of Chicago. The concert featured the Utopia Project, four young talented musicians of Greek origin from New York who offered a varied program of popular modern and traditional Greek songs. During the event, the Orpheus Hellenic Folklore Society presented traditional dances from Ellinochori, Evros.

More than 350 people attended the concert among them the Consul General of Greece in Chicago, Emmanouel Koubarakis with his wife Consul Georgia Tasiopoulou, Mrs. Maria Pappas Cook County treasurer, the Vice-Provost of Academic Affairs of the University of Chicago Prof. Jason Merchant, Prof. Zoe Gavriilidou from the Democritus University of Thrace, as well as well as Mr. George Mavropoulos, President of the Hellenic Research Center for Asia Minor and Pontos. 

The Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies, Professor Anastasia Giannakidou, at the beginning of the event, after thanking the participants for their attendance, talked about the role of the Center of Hellenic Studies as fostering Greek culture and research at the University. Prof. Giannakidou emphasized that song and dance are windows into the Greek soul, a powerful way to re-engage with our history and historical memory.  At the end of the event, Cook County treasurer, Maria Pappas, congratulated the organizers for the outstanding concert and highlighted the importance of the Center for Hellenic Studies for the Greek Community on Chicago.

The event is organized by the Center for Hellenic Studies at the University of Chicago, the Consulate General of Greece in Chicago and the Asia Minor and Pontos Hellenic Research Center. You can find photos of the event here and you can watch the full concert here

Dance Performance: