Stefanos Pourianos was born in Athens and raised in Volos. His introduction to Byzantine music began at an early age under the guidance of his father, Ioannis Pourianos, a protopsaltis (lead cantor).
At the age of ten, he began studying classical guitar while continuing his systematic training in Byzantine music with Archon
Protopsaltis Kyriakis Nikoleris. He completed his studies in Byzantine Chant under the supervision of Dr. Konstantinos Karagounis. At the same time, he studied at the Association of Greek Traditional Music E.D.R.A.M.E. – Panagiotis Acheilas in Volos.
He holds a Diploma in Byzantine Music and a degree in Advanced Theory of European Music. He is also deeply engaged with traditional instruments, including the bowed tanbur (yayli tanbur), the oud, and the Constantinopolitan lute (politiko laouto).
He studied alongside distinguished musicians in the field, including Markos Skoulios, Thymios Atzakas, Evgenios Voulgaris, Ziad Rajab, and for many years Christos Tsiamoulis. He also attended the postgraduate programme Greek Ecclesiastical Music at the Athens Conservatoire under the academic supervision of Dr. Georgios Konstantinou.
He has participated in and attended numerous seminars and conferences on Byzantine music, Greek traditional music, and learned modal music of the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as workshops on Ottoman music and maqam led by Evgenios Voulgaris. He was also a speaker at the 1st Greek Traditional Music Conference organized by the Municipality of Iolkos, presenting on the topic “Sound and Maqam.”
His artistic activity includes concerts throughout Greece and abroad. He has been invited as a performer of Byzantine music by the National Higher Conservatory of Music of Lebanon as part of the Beirut Chants Festival and has collaborated with the Conservatory’s Byzantine Choir in performances in Lebanon. He has also performed with the Philokalia Ensemble at the Svatováclavské slavnosti festival in Prague, among other international engagements.
He was the founder of the music ensemble Melpis, dedicated to the study and performance of musical traditions from the Near East.
He has curated and directed musical productions including Lemnos Melpei and Learned Music of Constantinople – Romioi Composers from the 17th to the 20th Century, among others.
He has appeared as a musician in theatrical productions and, in one of his own compositions, accompanied Dimitris Katalifos in The Imagined Monologue of Hephaestus, presented as a staged dramatic reading.
As a cantor and choir director, he has served in churches of the Holy Metropolis of Demetrias, at the cathedral of the patron saint of Limassol in Cyprus, at the Metropolitan Church of Tamassos and Oreini in Nicosia, at the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem, Palestine, and in churches of the Holy Metropolis of Lemnos.
He has taught at music schools throughout Greece, including the Municipal Conservatory of Volos and Nea Ionia, the G. Fountoulis Conservatory, MusicNart in Limassol, as well as various educational institutions, academies, and cultural organizations.