Jessica Suchy-Pilalis

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Jessica Suchy-Pilalis was born and grew up in Milwaukee.^[1] She became interested in playing the harp when she was in kindergarten.^[2] She graduated from Shorewood High School in 1972. Suchy-Pilalis went on to become an honor student at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM).^[3] Her mother, Gregoria Karides Suchy, who taught at UWM, was also a composer who has written harp music for her daughter.^[4][5]

She received two grants to study Byzantine music and to perform in Greece between 1984 and 1985.^[6] During that year, she became a psalti, or cantor, at the Indianapolis Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.^[7] She studied Byzantine music at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Theological Seminary with Savas I. Savas and in Greece where she studied primarily with Dimitrios Sourlantzis.^[8] In 1988, she received a fellowship from the Indiana Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts.^[9] She received diplomas with honors in Byzantine Music from two conservatories in Thessaloniki, Greece, and is recognized/certified as an Hieropsalti (Chanter) by both the Greek Orthodox Church and State.^[7]

In 1996 she took a teaching position with the Crane School of Music at State University of New York at Potsdam.^[10] She also established a concert career, performing both in the US and abroad. She has toured in Greece as a solo harpist under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State, and performed at international music festivals and for Greek National Radio-Television.^[4][10] In 2011, Suchy-Pilalis began a project with the Crane Harp Ensemble to encourage the creation and performance of new harp music for the twenty-first century.^[11]

Research

Her research involves modal analysis of Byzantine chant and, using the results of the analyses, she sets English translations of hymns as a Byzantine melodist.^[12] In 2006, she was awarded the Medallion of St. Romanos the Melodist by the National Federation of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians.^[13] Selected hymns have been recorded by Archangel Voices (Vladimir Morosan, director)^[14] and the Boston Byzantine Choir (Charles Marge, director). Presently, she chants at St. Olympia Orthodox Church, Potsdam, New York, and Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

Suchy-Pilalis' research in harp includes historical harps. She is a specialist on the life and compositions of Madame Delaval^[15] and has restored a single-action Érard harp specifically for performances of Madame Delaval's compositions. She has served as vice-president of the Historical Harp Society and as a member of the board, and has been a member of the editorial board of the American Harp Journal.

Selected works include:

• Kanon of St. Kosmas for the Nativity of Christ (Orthodox Music Press, 2011)^[14]
• Hymns for Pascha
• Divine Liturgy in the Varys Mode in Greek and English
• Guide to the Byzantine Modes: The Mnemonic Verses (two versions)^[16]
• Troparion of the Forefeast of the Cross and numerous other troparia for feasts and saints^[17]
• The Order of Service for the Lesser Sanctification of Water
• Prayer of Thanksgiving (paraliturgical)^[18]

Suchy-Pilalis appears on a number of recordings as a harpist. She has also written articles including "The Mysterious Madame Delaval (Part I)", published in the American Harp Journal.^[19]