About Us: Unfading Rose Youth Choir

Six girls are the voices behind this Byzantine Children’s Choir:  Regina, Eleni, and Philothei Vasilopoulos joined together with Kyranna, Alexandra, and Kassiani Mamalakis.

Throughout their lifetime, the girls have enjoyed chanting, which has enabled them to perform the compilation of hymns on this CD. The two sets of sisters learned the hymns separately and, then, came together for two weeks to put the final touches on the hymns and record the CD.

The three Vasilopoulos girls learned the hymns under the direction of their parents, Sotirios and Georgia Vasilopoulos. Sotirios and Georgia grew up in Athens, Greece. Sotirios is a physician and Georgia is a teacher of Greek literature. They were both exposed to the rich tradition of Byzantine Music in the churches and monasteries of Greece and had the opportunity to study this music with various Greek teachers and chanters.

Sotirios and Georgia, with their seven children live in Allentown, PA, where they are teachers of Byzantine music. Georgia directs the children’s choir at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and Sotirios teaches Byzantine music classes for children and adults. They envision a closer contact of the Orthodox American family with Byzantine Ecclesiastic music and are devoted to promoting this music in America today.

The three Mamalakis girls have been learning hymns for many years from friends and family members, and have been blessed to study Byzantine Music with Father Michael Razzouk and Nektarios Antoniou, both chanters and graduates of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary in Brookline, MA.  The Mamalakis girls enjoy chanting, on occasion, in Orthodox churches in the Boston area. They live in Boston, MA, with their parents, Philip and Georgia Mamalakis and their other four siblings.