Biography

Protopsaltis John Michael Boyer has been a professional singer and conductor since 1997.  He began early training in Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony at age 9 under Dean Applegate in the renowned ensemble Cantores in Ecclesia, and an apprenticeship in Byzantine Music at age 14 under musicologist Alexander Lingas.  He later studied formally in Athens with the late Archon Protopsaltis Lycourgos Angolopoulos and with Dr. Ioannis Arvanitis. For his degree in music from the University of California, Berkeley, John studied orchestral, choral and operatic conducting with Professors David Milnes and Marika Kuzma. An expert Byzantine cantor, John lectures on liturgical music across the United States and abroad. He has been a singer with the world-renowned vocal ensemble Cappella Romana since 1999 and was appointed its Associate Music Director in 2017.  In the San Francisco Bay Area, John served as Artistic Director of the Josquin Singers and of MELOS (the Metropolis Ensemble for Liturgical Orthodox Singing), and Associate Conductor of Bay Area Classical Harmonies. He also coached Chanticleer for their Grammy award-winning 2001 recording of Sir John Tavener's Lamentations and Praises. John graduated as a seminarian with a Master’s degree in Divinity from Holy Cross in 2014. John is founder and Artistic Director of Próto, a collaboration with his dear friend and colleague, the esteemed Lebanese-American cantor Deacon John (Rassem) El Massih, Protopsaltis of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.  Their seminal recording, Sun of Justice: Byzantine Chant for Christmas, a double CD of hymns for the Nativity in Greek, Arabic, and English, was released in December, 2017 to critical acclaim. John is an active composer in both Byzantine and Western notations, having produced new music for CD recordings Divine Liturgy in English (Cappella Romana) and All Creation Trembled (Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology), as well the English compositions on Sun of Justice. In 2013, John set the English liturgical texts of the Orthodox Funeral Office for the funeral of Sir John Tavener. From 2013 to 2018, he collaborated with five esteemed composers on Heaven & Earth: A Song of Creation, an English setting of Psalm 103 for the St. John of Damascus Society, and conducted its premiere in 2018 by Cappella Romana.  John has written several articles and position papers in the discipline of liturgical music, including those published in Praxis, the ASBMH, and several online sources. His book, Byzantine Chant: the Received Tradition – A Lesson Book, is newly available through Cappella Romana Press at www.byzchantlessonbook.com. John is currently the Protopsaltis and Director of Music at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in New Orleans, Louisiana.