Konstantinos Pringos (1892 inConstantinople – 1964 inAthens) was aprotopsaltes (leadingcantor) in theGreat Church of Constantinople from 1939 until 1959. In this position, he succeededIakovos Nafpliotis, while Pringos himself was in turn succeeded byThrasyvoulos Stanitsas.^[1]

Although the oldest existing recordings of thePatriarchal School ofByzantine chant are the 78rpmGramophone records ofIakovos Nafpliotis,^[2] Pringos was the first to be recorded performing live in the church, in a normal tempo, and with a "standard" completeness of interpretations (unlike the gramophone recordings of Nafpliotis that are known to be slower and simpler than his normal style of chanting^[2]). As a result of that, Pringos (together withThrasyvoulos Stanitsas) is the main source of information and inspiration for those trying to chant in thePatriarchal Style.^[3][4] The other reason why the recordings of Pringos might be preferred to that of Stanitsas, is that Pringos was substantially more conservative, and so closer to the original chanting tradition of theEcumenical Patriarchate.^[1] The melodies Pringos used for those parts of the service that were not notated traditionally (such as the responses to the supplications)^[5] are also widely used in current practice as exemplary models.^[6]

• 1892 births
• 1964 deaths
• Performers of Byzantine music
• 20th-century Greek male singers
• Musicians from Istanbul
• Constantinopolitan Greeks

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