Ancient Greek Choir Workshop

Bettina Joy de Guzman, musician and Ph.D. Classics candidate from University of Reading, will lead and accompany everyone with her lyre on a musical journey from 2nd century BC Delphi, to 2nd century AD Tralles in Asia Minor, and Hadrian’s Roman Empire.

No musical background is needed - just a desire to connect with the ancient world through singing ancient Greek songs in joyful unison! We will attempt portions of three hymns by Mesomedes of Crete (Hymn to the Muse, Hymn to the Sun, and Hymn to Calliope and Apollo), and the song of Seikilos, using transliterated notations and reconstruction from Documents of Ancient Greek Music by Pöhlmann and West, as well as the first part of the Delphic Paean by Athenaios Athenaiou, using transliterations and reconstructions by Armand D’Angour and Barnaby Brown.

Guests will receive the music ahead of time to familiarize themselves, and after a very brief introduction, Bettina will help with standardized pronunciation and sight-reading, measure by measure. The goal is to sing a song, or a portion of a song, every fifteen minutes, then sing them once through at the end of the session, and still have time for refreshments. There will be time for Q and A after the group concert.

Musicians, classicists and ancient historians at all levels welcome!

Register your interest here.

About Mesomedes:

The Cretan poet Mesomedes, who sang his compositions while accompanying himself on a stringed instrument, was a great success in his lifetime. He is said to have been a close friend of the emperor Hadrian, and three of his poems have been transmitted with musical notation, probably because they were used to teach music in later antiquity and Byzantium. They and the other 10 poems attributed to Mesomedes are valuable records of the nature of the poetry sung to the lyre or to the cithara by some of the most highly rewarded category of musicians in the high Roman empire - metrically simple, but not always simple in thought or expression. He will be the subject of the third Donald Russell Memorial lecture by Professor Ewen Bowie on 23 October.

Bettina Joy de Guzman

is a multi-instrumentalist, educator, and PhD Classics candidate at University of Reading, who composes music inspired by her research of ancient cultures, especially Ancient Greek music and poetry. She has been invited to lecture, sing authentic ancient poetry, and play historical instruments in various universities and museums, internationally. These include Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies, National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, and University of Coimbra in Portugal. As Regent’s Fellow in the University of California in Irvine, she taught Ancient Greek and Roman history as well as mythology. A book she edited, Ancient Greek Lyre: Learning Method, by Nikos Xanthoulis, was shortlisted for the Good Life category of the Greek Public Book Awards in June 2019. As President of California Classical Association South, she organizes international conferences twice a year. She was co-creator and host of Cosmote TV, History Channel, “Ancient Greek Culture, Now!”( Αρχαιοελληνικο Πολιτισμο, Τωρα) which aired for to seasons from 2021 to 2022 in Greece. Her music recordings and video performances are shown worldwide in Classics courses as part of lecture enrichment and supplementary material. She was awarded a grant and Associateship, and named a Visiting Artist by Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies from 2020 to 2022. Bettina loves teaching and performing for the general public, and introducing people to the ancient world through songs and other cultural arts.

For further information on albums, lectures, interviews, tv appearance, and upcoming events: www.bettinajoydeguzman.com