Athanasios J. Paivanas

Athanasios I. Paivanas was born in Corinth.

He is a graduate of the Department of Mathematics of the Faculty of Science of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, with additional studies in Computer Science.

He is a certified Information Technology instructor by E.K.E.P.I.S. and is registered in the Vocational Training Instructors Registry (S.E.K.) of E.K.E.P.I.S.

He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Illinois, USA.

From the age of seven, he was nurtured in the Psaltic (Byzantine chant) Tradition of Constantinople, through recordings provided by his uncle Kyriakos Theodoropoulos, who at that time owned a reel-to-reel tape recorder. At the age of ten (1965), he began formal studies in Byzantine Music. His first teacher was Fr. Stavros Panourgias, followed (1968–1972) by Dimitris Bonatsos, then Protopsaltis of the Metropolitan Church of Saint Apostle Paul in Corinth and later of the Holy Church of Agia Zoni in Kypseli.

In 1974, while a student at the University of Athens, he approached Archon Protopsaltis of the Great Church of Christ Thrasyvoulos Stanitsas, requesting to become his student. Thrasyvoulos Stanitsas accepted him and for several years (1974–1982) transmitted to him, through private lessons, the Psaltic Tradition of Constantinople. In addition to being his student, he served throughout those years as a chorister in the choirs directed by Thrasyvoulos Stanitsas.

In 1983, he participated in the competition of the Archdiocese of Athens and was awarded the sole scholarship for musical studies at the Athens Conservatory, where he pursued his studies. He obtained the Diploma in Byzantine Music from the Conservatory of the Piraeus Association, in the class of Georgios Malafis, graduating unanimously with the grade “Excellent.”

For many years, he pursued studies in classical singing under professor and opera tenor of the Greek National Opera, Giorgos Zervanos (National Conservatory 1982–1983, Conservatory of the Piraeus Association 1984–1988). He also studied Western (European) Music at the National Conservatory of Athens and the Conservatory of the Piraeus Association (1979–1987).

From 1977 to 1988, he was a member of the OTE and Corinth choirs under conductor Alexandros Papagiannopoulos. Through the initiative of the OTE Choir and Alexandros Papagiannopoulos, he attended a series of choral conducting seminars.

He was a founding member and chorister (until 1988) of the choir “Maistores of the Psaltic Art” and among the first collaborators of Professor of Musicology at the University of Athens, Grigorios Stathis.

He has presented papers at the International Musicological Conferences of the Institute of Byzantine Musicology (2006, 2009, 2012), at the 3rd and 4th World Congresses of Byzantine Musical Culture (2011 and 2013), and at the Axion Estin Foundation, New York (2017). He has also conducted a series of Byzantine Music Master Classes at the Orthodox Music Academy of Saint Petersburg (2009, 2010, 2011), in Beirut (SEM 2012, 2016), and in Montreal (2016).

In 1998, he founded and has since directed the Byzantine Choir ERGASTIRI PSALTIKIS” (First Prize at the International Sacred Music Competition, Preveza 2002), with which he has developed extensive choral activity in Greece and abroad.

He teaches Byzantine Music at the Hellenic Conservatory in Athens and at the School of Byzantine Music Montreal of the Holy Archdiocese of Canada.

He also has long-standing experience in teaching Mathematics and Computer Science.

He participated as an instructor in the program “Information Society” (Operational Programme “IS”), Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs (3rd Community Support Framework, 2002). He has authored software packages (mathematical, medical, optical, etc.).

In 2014, he was honored by the International Music Association Gina Bachauer for his contribution and work in Byzantine Music.

He worked for over 30 years at OTE, serving in executive positions from 1998 to 2007. He received training abroad in Intelligent Networks (1998), ADSL technology and IP Networks (2003–2004). He was also trained in Human Resource Management by Citcom Groupe France Telecom (1994). He attended a trainers’ training program conducted by the Department of Educational Psychology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2002).

As an executive at OTE, he served as:

• Product Manager of the Hellas Direct service and Calling Cards (1995–1999)

• Project Manager of the Intelligent Network Commercial Design and Deployment Project (1998–2000)

• Head of Value-Added Services Management Department (2000)“

• Deputy Head of Business Customers Commercial Development Directorate (2000)

• Head of the Value-Added Services Sub-Directorate (2001–2003)

• Head of the Intelligent Network and New Applications Sub-Directorate (2003–2006)

• Project Manager for the commercial rollout of ADSL in the Greek market (2002–2003)

He led the development of marketing plans, training programs, operational procedures, and authored commercial training manuals related to Intelligent Network services. He coordinated IP-VPN commercial planning, ADSL provisioning procedures, and represented OTE at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva (1990–1993).

He participated in numerous international conferences, workshops, and collaborative projects across Europe, the USA, and Asia, including Ericsson, Bellcore, Samsung, ZTE, CEPT, IIR, and Eurescom research programs.

He speaks English and German.

He is a member of:

• the Hellenic Mathematical Society

• the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (USA)

• the European Center of Art

• the Philological Society “Parnassos”