Nektaria Karantzi is a Byzantine and traditional chanter from Greece whose voice has been internationally acclaimed as one of the most important voices in Byzantine Chant.
NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS
Nektaria receives an award from the International Church Music Festival of Hajnówka in Poland!
Nektaria Karantzi received the "Special award for her outstanding services in expanding and cultivating the chanting tradition of the Eastern Church and the high artistic level of female performance of Byzantine chanting".
More Information (Greek)
More Information (Polish)
Byzantine Music Festival Orientale Lumen – Theotokos, Hungary
Nektaria Karantzi will appear at three Byzantine Music Concerts, to the Hungarian audience in collaboration with the famous St. Ephraim Male Choir. More Information
Szombathely (2 October),
Budapest (3 October)
Debrecen (4 October)
“Classical Music is, without a doubt, more difficult than Byzantine music. Anyone who says otherwise is truly unfamiliar with either style. If, however, Byzantine music excels, it is not from a musical perspective, but from a spiritual one which transfigures and empowers the music to mystically touch the souls of its listeners. It is for this reason that when grace is missing from a byzantine chanter, no one can hear him”
~Nektaria Karantzi
REVIEWS
Achilleas G. Chaldaeakes
Professor of Byzantine Musicology and Psaltic Art and President of the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
“Identity unquestionably emerges and is admittedly diffused by the crystal and internal, the thriving and delicate performance of Nektaria Karantzi, a performance that sounded like that interpretive voice of the divine will of thin air, where the spirit of the God rests”
La Repubblica
Italian Newspaper
“Nektaria Karantzi brings byzantine music back to life […]. She stands alone on stage, like an ancient Greek priestess and lays out before us the treasures and the secret paths of Heaven”
Le Courrier
Swiss Newspaper
“An extraordinary singer […] The one who best represents Byzantine female song today, Nektaria Karantzi”
George Monemvasitis
Music critic journalist and historian
"There is no other woman chanter of byzantine music like her, in the Universe […]. She is an ecumenical artist […] She can just as easily make her voice cherubic when she sings hymns, but also earthly when she sings traditional songs […] She can illuminate any aspect of the music, with her vocal color”
Lumea Credintei
Οrthodox christian magazine of Romania
“Moreover, the presence of Nektaria Karantzi - the most famous female voice in Byzantine music - was a revelation of great days. […] Nektaria Karantzi - a Maria Callas of the sacred melody - is an authority in her field”
George Chatzitheodorou
Archon Maistor of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
“Nektaria has a divine gift. I absolutely believe that she is the best in Greece in this kind of music. Not just the best but the best by far"
Dobrotoliubie
Bulgarian Magazine
“A young and strong woman, whom we would not exaggerate if we say that she is one of a kind […]. Karantzi is the woman we would call a pioneer in female church singing”
Nueva Espagna
Spanish newspaper, Article by Iván Román
“The case of the Greek singer is unique, since she receives the musical legacy of Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia, currently canonized by the Orthodox Church, and becomes paradigmatic by becoming one of the greatest international specialists in a repertoire secularly restricted to voices masculine […] Α voice of great resonances, great range and beautiful timbre”
Arc Hebdo
Swiss Newspaper
“A Greek virtuoso. One of the greatest female interpreters of byzantine hymns […] A soft, deep and magical voice […]. In the world of liturgical song, she is described as a serene an devoted mediator”
The Greek Australian Vema
Australian Newspaper, Article by Chris Vlahonasios
“One of the most prominent women in Byzantine music. She has toured across Europe showcasing the ancient voice of the Church”
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa
Italian magazine, Article by Gianluca Grossi
“Ambassadress of Byzantine music in the world”
Sete Margens
Portuguese magazine, Article by António Marujo
“Karantzi is one of the most prominent voices in Byzantine singing […] a revelation of the intensity of the orthodox musical mystique”
