The Department of Chanting Art and Musicology was established in 2013. The goals of the Department are the research, study, recording, preservation and promotion of Byzantine and post-Byzantine musical culture, particularly of the Church Chanting, as preserved in the living tradition of the clerics and cantors, continued till the present day through its various sources (musical manuscripts, theoretical writings and studies, historical evidence, patristic and secular literature, etc). Of special interest for the Department is the recording and study of the local chanting tradition of Magnesia and the territory of the Holy Metropolis of Demetrias, through the collection, classification and study of the relevant sources and evidence. In order to achieve the above objectives, the Department organizes a modern musical archive of cassettes, CDs, tapes and various audio recordings, photographs, residues, documents, manuscripts, and other sources for the research and study of Church Chanting, and the establishment of a library of music and musicology.
In addition, the Department aims to bringing together all the researchers, scientists and scientific institutions throughout the world, whose discipline or research interests are directly or indirectly related to the Chanting, and create a global network of partnerships and interactions. Therefore, the Department seeks to cooperate and interact with the Institute of Byzantine Musicology of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, with the Chanting Art Programs of the Ecclesiastical Academies, with the relevant Departments of the Universities of Greece and abroad, with cultural organizations (Chanters Associations, Schools of Byzantine Music), etc. The Department has organized till now four international conferences and various other artistic and scholar meetings, as well as educational workshops, and its associates have participated in many relative events. It has also published a number of books and CD’s, and it has created webpages aiming to the dissemination of related information to anyone interested. Konstantinos Ch. Karagounis, Associate Professor of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens, served as Director of the Department, from 2013 to 2022.