The ISOCM Board
Elected in 2023
Maria Takala-Roszczenko, Chairperson, Editorial Secretary
Elected in 2024 for 2024–2025
Finland
Dr Maria Takala-Roszczenko is an associate professor of church music (tenure track) at the School of Theology of the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu, Finland.
She has studied English and Russian languages at the University of Joensuu and the University of Marie Curie-Sklodowska in Lublin, Poland (Master of Philosophy 2003) as well as folklore studies and Orthodox church music at the University of Joensuu (Master of Theology 2005). She defended her doctoral thesis “The ‘Latin’ within the ‘Greek’: The Feast of the Holy Eucharist in the Context of Ruthenian Eastern Rite Liturgical Evolution in the 16th-18th Centuries” at the University of Eastern Finland in 2013.
Her research interests include the evolution (“latinization”) of Eastern Rite liturgy in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the national and ideological aspects in the development of Finnish Orthodox church music in the 20th century. She has also published collections of Orthodox paraliturgical songs and carols arranged into Finnish.
Contact Information
maria.takala@uef.fi
Margaret Haig, Vice-chairperson
United Kingdom
Margaret Haig is a civil servant working on copyright policy in the Intellectual Property Office in London, United Kingdom. She is also on the editorial team for the Journal of ISOCM.
Margaret is a choir director of the Orthodox Parish of St Peter and St Paul in Clapham, south London. She also directs the Mosaic Choir, which has members from many Orthodox backgrounds. Mosaic sings liturgical music in services and in concert, as well as folk music from around the world. Concerts have taken place around the UK, in Amsterdam and a tour in Montenegro. Mosaic is under the umbrella of the Orthodox Fellowship of St John the Baptist, which brings together members of the several Orthodox traditions in the British Isles and Ireland. Margaret is the current Chair of the Fellowship.
Margaret has attended ISOCM conferences in Finland and the United States, and in 2021 presented on the experience of young people singing at Orthodox youth camps in the UK.
Contact Information
margaret_haig@yahoo.co.uk
Aleksandr Andreev
Elected in 2024 for 2024–2025
Norway
Aleksandr Andreev studies the history of Eastern Christian worship with a focus on the Slavonic Byzantine Rite tradition. More broadly he is interested in Greek and Slavonic manuscripts and old printed books, their production, content, dissemination and conservation. At the University of Oslo he is writing a dissertation on the history of the Byzantine Daily Office in its Slavonic translations, as reflected in the various versions of the Chasoslovets (the Book of the Hours in Slavonic).
He received a Bachelor of Sciences degree from Duke University (class of 2008) and a Master of Sciences degree from the University of North Carolina (2012). In 2019 he received a kandidat nauk (PhD) in Theology from St. Petersburg State University for his dissertation titled The Reform of the Hirmologion in Moscow in the 17th Century. He has taught Eastern Orthodox Liturgics, Greek Paleography, Church Slavonic, History of Slavic Worship, and History of Russian Liturgical Music at various institutions.
Contact Information
aleksandr.andreev@teologi.uio.no
Richard Barrett
United States
Richard Barrett is the Director of Publications for Cappella Romana, as well as Director of Music and Protopsaltis of Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church in Somerville, Massachusetts, and the Artistic Director of the Saint John of Damascus Society.
As a performer, he sings regularly with the ensembles Cappella Romana, Psaltikon, the Saint Tikhon Choir, the Patriarch Tikhon Russian-American Music Institute Choir, the Archdiocesan Byzantine Choir of the GOA, and others. He has served as an invited speaker, clinician, and singer at Orthodox parishes and sacred music conferences throughout the United States.
He has published scholarly articles in Greek Orthodox Theological Review, Journal of Early Christianity, and Studia Patristica, and he also writes regularly on musical topics for Orthodox Arts Journal and other publications. He holds a Master of Arts in Ancient History with minors in Medieval History and Ancient Studies, as well as a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, from Indiana University.
Andrew Mellas
Australia
Andrew Mellas is Senior Lecturer in Liturgical Studies at St Andrew's Theological College (Australia) and an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney (Medieval and Early Modern Centre). In 2018, he completed a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney on the emotion of compunction in Byzantium.
Andrew has published various books and articles on liturgy, hymnody and the history of emotions, as well as presenting papers on these subjects at international conferences. His current projects include exploring the liturgical intersections of hagiography and hymnography, and editing The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church. He is also a member of the Australian Byzantine Choir.
Tuuli Lukkala, Secretary and Treasurer (outside the Board)
Finland
Tuuli Lukkala is a doctoral researcher at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), Joensuu. She studies the soundscapes of Orthodox worship in Finland and the experiences of participants. In connection with the ethnographic fieldwork for this research, she has initiated an audio archive project for recording contemporary liturgical practice in the Orthodox Church of Finland. She also teaches at the School of Theology at the UEF (liturgical rubrics, liturgical singing, sound and silence in liturgical spaces, qualitative research methods).
She has studied Orthodox church music (Master of Theology 2015, University of Eastern Finland) and folk music (Joensuu Conservatory 2013), as well as ecology and environmental management (Master of Science 2010, University of Jyväskylä, Finland).
Her other research interests include the present-day formation of local traditions of church music, especially choice of style and repertoire, the revival and adoption of old chant traditions, and the adaptation of Znamenny chant to other languages.
Contact Information
isocm.secretary@gmail.com
The Board of the International Society for Orthodox Church Music (ISOCM)
According to the ISOCM rules, at the annual meeting the chairperson is elected for the term of four years.
Other Board members are elected for the term of two years.
The Board meets by request of the chairperson, or if s/he is indisposed, of the vice-chairperson. Three members present constitute a quorum. If vote is tied, the chairperson's vote is the deciding vote.
The name of the Society is written by two of the following together: the chairperson, the vice-chairperson or the secretary.