Nektaria Karantzi

Her voice has been identified mainly with the Byzantine sacred art
and has been regarded as one of the most important voices in Byzantine Chant. She is the unique Greek performer of Byzantine music with discography in Byzantine music since she was fourteen and with active work of chanting as a chorister in church since she was nine. Her performances in concert halls in Greece and abroad are purely devoted to Byzantine Chant and has been internationally acclaimed as the most ideal performer of Byzantine Melos [chanting] and of the Primeval Tradition.
In her first recordings of chanting she was accompanied by a contemporary saint, Saint Porphyrios the Kapsokalyvite and with his encouragement she started her studies in Byzantine Music at a very early age. She completed her studies in Byzantine Music, received a Degree and a Diploma from the Byzantine Music School of the Holy Metropolis of Piraeus, taught by notable tutors including Mr. Dimitris Verykios. Nektaria Karantzi is also well-known in Greek music stage through her apprenticeship and lengthy collaboration with the greatest teacher of the Greek Traditional Music Mr.Chronis Aidonides. Another important moment of her career is her collaboration with the acclaimed pianist, composer and conductor Mr. Vassilis Tsabropoulos in an artistic combination inspired by byzantine hymns joining West and East recorded and released by the German Company ECM .
Other key moments in her career were the invitations from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary and the Sorbonne University in France where she gave a Master Class about Byzantine Music. Nektaria has presented many concerts of Byzantine and Traditional Folk Music in Greece and abroad [ in France, Hungary, Serbia, Turkey, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,Bulgaria,Estonia,Switzerland,Letonia,Luxemburg, Spain, Italy ] while she has collaborated with the greatest traditional singer of Hungary Marta Sebestyen and the distinguished Byzantine choir the St. Ephraim male Choir.
She is the Honorary President of the Panhellenic Association of Women in Byzantine ecclesiastical Music while she has been honored for her contribution to Byzantine Music by the Byzantine Chanters [ Ieropsaltes ] through the Hellenic Musicological Society –Institute for Byzantine and Greek Traditional Music Studies and the music magazine <To Psaltiri>. She is also the artistic director of the Traditional Music School <Chronis Aidonides>.