Gabriel Aydin, PhD, is a musicologist, author, and composer specializing in ancient Syriac liturgical chant and the musical traditions of the Christian Middle East. Born and raised in Tur‛Abdin (southeastern Turkey), he received early formation in the chant and liturgical tradition of the Syriac Orthodox Church. He holds a Ph.D. in Musicology from the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Lebanon, and an M.A. in Art and Religion from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School.
Dr. Aydin is the founder and director of the Syriac Music Institute in the United States (2007). His research focuses on the history, structure, and modal theory of Syriac liturgical music. He is the author of Syriac Hymnal According to the Rite of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch (2018), Syriac Sacred Music: The Catalog of Chants According to the Edessan School of Music and Demonstration of Arabic Music Scales Recorded by Ivar Schmutz-Schwaller (2008), and Syriac Music for Syriac Elementary and Middle Schools (2003). His scholarly work on Syriac chant, early musical notation, and the eight-tone modal system has appeared in several academic publications, including entries in the Russian Orthodox Encyclopedia and in a Turkish encyclopedia published by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Alongside his research, Dr. Aydin has composed numerous Syriac sacred works and music for educational and literary publications, including The Children’s Bible (2008), The Life and Miracles of St. Gabriel (2009), and musical settings for Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet (2018). He also led the development of the Syriac Hymnal App (2025), a digital platform providing access to Syriac liturgical hymns with texts, translations, musical notation, and audio recordings for the liturgical cycles, seasons, and feasts of the Syriac Church according to the annual ecclesiastical calendar. He moderates the Zamar discussion group on Groups.io, an international forum dedicated to the study and preservation of Syriac sacred music.