wfn.org | GOAA - Spring 2003 Community Education in Berkeley CA

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		    GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
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	 Web: http://www.goarch.org Email: communications@goarch.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2002

For more information contact
Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute
2311 Hearst Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94709
510-649-3450
paoi@gtu.edu

PAOI Announces Spring 2003 Community Education Programs

Berkeley, CA -- The Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute will offer two
educational opportunities for the community beginning in February 2003. The
first  course  will be eight weeks of instruction in Byzantine Chant taught
by  John  Boyer.  The  second  will  be  a one-day workshop, "The Educating
Community"  for  parish  leaders  and  religious educators led by Dr. Anton
Vrame.

"Introduction  to  Byzantine  Chant" will be an eight-week course taught on
Thursday   evenings   at  the  Institute,  taught  by  John  Boyer.  Course
participants  will  learn  to read the musical notation of Byzantine Music,
begin  to develop skills in Byzantine Chant in Greek and English, and learn
the  order  of	services.   The  course  will begin on February 6, 2003 and
continue  until  March	27.  The  cost	for  the course is $200 plus course
materials.

This  course  is  ideal  for  someone who is interested in Byzantine Music,
whether  a  choir  member  or  assistant at the chanter stand. According to
Institute  Director,  Anton  Vrame,  "We  are  offering this course for the
community  so that we can maintain our Byzantine musical tradition. The art
of  Byzantine  Chant  will  be lost in the United States unless we begin to
instruct  members  of  the  community  and teach them to chant in Greek and
English.  Gone	are  the  days	when we can expect a chanter to arrive from
overseas and take care of everything for us."

John  Michael  Boyer,  the  chanter  at  the  Annunciation  Greek  Orthodox
Cathedral in San Francisco, will teach the course in Byzantine Chant. Boyer
has  lectured  at  workshops  and  seminars  on Eastern Orthodox liturgical
music,	and  directed  the Byzantine Chant schola at the 2001 San Francisco
Diocese  Greek Orthodox Church Music Conference, for which he also prepared
transcriptions	and  English  adaptations for the Great Vespers and Orthros
(Matins)  services.  He  began	studies  of Byzantine Chant at age 14 under
musicologist  Alexander  Lingas  at  Holy  Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in
Portland.  In 1996 and 1999, he furthered his studies in Byzantine Chant in
Athens under Lycourgos Angelopoulos, director of the Greek Byzantine Choir.
He  has  been  a  coach  for Chanticleer and the Minnesota Symphony. He has
received critical acclaim for his solo chant performances in the recordings
and  concerts  of Cappella Romana, the vocal ensemble specializing in early
and contemporary music of the Christian East and West.

The Educating Community
The  second  course  will be a one-day workshop, "The Educating Community,"
led  by  Dr.  Anton  Vrame.  This workshop, designed for parish leaders and
religious  educators,  will  focus  on	the  entire life of a parish as the
primary educator. "The workshop starts from the premise that everything the
parish is doing is teaching people about what it means to be and to live as
an Orthodox Christian," according to Vrame. Participants will be encouraged
to  reflect  on  their	parish	experiences  for  the positive and negative
educational  influences  they  might  have. Strategies will be provided and
shared	for  developing  and  enhancing  the  range  and  quality of parish
ministries.  This workshop will be held Saturday, March 22 at the Ascension
Cathedral in Oakland. The cost, which includes lunch and program materials,
is $30.

Anton	Vrame  is  the	Director  of  the  Patriarch  Athenagoras  Orthodox
Institute.  He	is  one  of  a handful of Orthodox specialists in Christian
Education  in  the world. He is the author of "The Educating Icon: Teaching
Wisdom	and  Holiness in the Orthodox Way." Before coming to the Institute,
he  taught  Christian  Education  at  Holy  Cross  Greek Orthodox School of
Theology,  Brookline,  and  St.  Vladimir's  Orthodox Theological Seminary,
Crestwood.

"The  PAOI  exists  to	serve  the  faithful of the Bay Area," according to
Vrame.	"We  are offering these two opportunities, to begin in a small way,
in order to offer what we can at this time to enhance the quality of parish
life,  support	the  work of the clergy, and to better equip the people who
volunteer  in  our for their ministries. We are not trying to duplicate the
education that's already occurring in parishes."

For more information on either course and to obtain registration materials,
please contact the Institute (510) 649-3450 or by e-mail paoi@gtu.edu.

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