Music

Richard Barrett is an Orthodox church musician, choral singer and scholar. He is the Executive Director of AGES Initiatives, which distributes service texts and liturgical music to Orthodox parishes throughout the world, and Artistic Director of the Saint John of Damascus Society, which supports the performance and dissemination of Orthodox liturgical and para-liturgical music. He is cantor and choir director at Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church in Somerville, MA, and has served there since 2015. From 2005-2012 he was the cantor and choir director at All Saints Orthodox Church in Bloomington, Indiana, and then most recently he was cantor and choir director at Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church in Indianapolis from 2013-2014. He has a performer’s certificate in Byzantine music from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, and has served as an invited clinician, speaker, and guest cantor at Orthodox churches throughout the country.

He sings regularly with ensembles such as Cappella Romana, the Patriarch Tikhon Choir, and Psaltikon. Previously, he has performed with ensembles such as the East/West Festival Chorale in Cincinnati, the Josquin Singers in San Francisco, Tudor Choir and the Seattle Opera Chorus in the Pacific Northwest, and in Indiana, the Pro Arte Singers, Collegium Musicum, and the American Guild of Organists Festival Choir. He has worked with conductors such as Alexander Lingas, Peter Jermihov, Marcel Pérès, Amelia LeClair, Vladimir Gorbik, Paul Hillier, John Poole, and John Harbison. He has spoken at events such as the International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, the International Society for Orthodox Church Music, the International Conference on Patristic Studies at the University of Oxford, the North American Patristics Society, and the Patristic Symposium of the Georges Florovsky Society at Princeton University. Recently he was invited to speak at “Byzantine Chant in the Anglosphere”, an event sponsored by City University of London in memory of Archimandrite +Ephrem (Lash). He holds a B. Mus. in vocal performance and an M. A. in Ancient History, both from Indiana University, has done additional specialized graduate work in Modern Greek studies, and is currently completing his Ph. D. dissertation, “Civic Devotions to the Mother of God in Late Antique Constantinople”.

Richard has studied voice with Dennis Kruse, Erich Parce, and Dale Moore, and has pursued further specialized study of Byzantine chant with Ioannis Arvanitis, John Michael Boyer, and Fr. Grammenos Karanos. Publications include essays on Orthodox musical topics in many print and online venues, as well as scholarly articles in journals such as the Greek Orthodox Theological Review, The Journal of Early Christian Studies, and Studia Patristica. He has been married to Megan Barrett since 2001, and they have two children, Theodore and Katherine.
Read all of Richard Barrett’s articles.