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ARSINOI IOANNIDOU

Musicologist, Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Music of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Ms. Arsinoi Ioannidou is an accomplished musicologist and a successful professional music librarian, currently pursuing doctoral studies in the field of Byzantine Musicology at the City University of New York.

A native of Greece, Ms. Ioannidou initiated her studies in the University of Oviedo in Northern Spain from where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Historical Musicology. There she came across with the fascinating world of medieval musical manuscripts and treatises, which since then became her main interest. Her engagement with this discipline, propel her continuing her musicological studies in the United States, where she was admitted in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University. At that University, she had the opportunity to meet some of the most significant figures in this field who guided her through the amazing world of music history analysis and appreciation and trained her in the advance musicological strategies of research. During the same period of time, she started private lessons with one of the best Cantors of the Byzantine ecclesiastic chant in the U.S., Professor John Tselepidakis. Since 1996 he teaches her the art of chanting, the original notation (neumes) and the history and theory of this rich musical tradition.

After graduating from NYU with her Master’s in Musicology, she continued to study music at the Mannes College of Music. Courses such as composition, orchestration, music improvisation and also seminars on music instruments other than her major, (classical guitar) deepen her knowledge in the technical aspects of the musical art.

In May of 1998 she accepted the position as music cataloguer at the Harry Scherman Music Library at Mannes College the New School for Music. After graduating from St.John’s University in New York City, (Master in Library Science) she became a professional at the position of the music librarian which she currently holds. Due to her qualifications, classical music training, computer skills and knowledge in foreign languages, part of her tasks is to teach musicians on how to conduct research in the domain of classical music.

In 2002 Ms. Ioannidou was accepted in CUNY to pursue studies at the Doctoral level in the field of historical musicology and specifically in the field of Byzantine Musicology. At CUNY she advanced her research skills at a very high level and deepened her knowledge in medieval manuscripts by taking courses at Princeton University with Dr. Peter Jeffery. Under the supervision of Dr. Anne Stone (CUNY) and Dr. Diane Touliatos, (University of Missouri at St. Louis) one of the best Byzantine music specialists worldwide, Ms. Ioannidou is currently conducting research for her dissertation with the topic: “The Kalophonic settings of the 2nd Psalm in the Byzantine tradition (14th -15th centuries) A paper on this topic, was presented in the first international conference on Byzantine Music Culture organized by the American Society of Byzantine Music and Hymnology (Athens-Greece Sept.07).