Polykarpos Tympas serves as a Research Associate at the Institute of Byzantine Musicology since July 2025. He holds a degree in Musicology from the Department of Music Studies at the School of Philosophy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, graduating with distinction and a specialization in Byzantine Musicology (2016), as well as a postgraduate degree specializing in Byzantine Musicology from the same department, also with distinction (2018). Since January 2019, he has been accepted as a doctoral candidate and is working on a dissertation titled "Petros Melodos o Bereketis: The Aesthetics of His Work," under the supervision of Professor Achilleas Chaldaiakis.
His musical training also resulted in the following qualifications: • Cantor’s Diploma with Distinction (2006, School of Byzantine Ecclesiastical Music of the Metropolis of Trikki and Stagoi, Trikala) • Diploma in Advanced Music Theory (Harmony) with Distinction (2007, Municipal Conservatory of Trikala) • Diploma in Byzantine Music with Distinction and First Prize (2011, Orfeion Conservatory, Athens) • Violin Diploma with Distinction (2016, Kolova Conservatory, Trikala).
His scholarly and research experience stems, among other things, from his participation in: • the cataloging of musical manuscripts at the Library of Patriarchate of Jerusalem (2014–2017), under the supervision of Professors Dimitrios Balageorgos and Flora Kritikou (NKUA) • the cataloging of musical manuscripts at the library of the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai (2016), under the supervision of Professor Flora Kritikou (NKUA) • the documentation of documents from the monasteries of Mount Athos, within the framework of the EU-funded research program "Athonite Digital Ark" (2018), under the supervision of historian Kriton Chrysochoidis.
He serves with distinction at the chanter's stand: from 2009 to 2015 as Lampadarios at the shrine of Saint Barbara (Saint Barbara, Athens) and from then until the present, as Protopsaltes (Lead Chanter) at the Cathedral of Saint Therapon (Zografos, Athens). Concurrently, he is artistically active as a member of the Byzantine chant ensembles "The Masters of Psaltic Art" and "Trikkis Melodoi" and "Ilisiotes Psaltes," with performances in Greece and abroad (Romania, Korea, Italy, Germany, Israel). He also served as a violinist with the "Athens Youth Symphony Orchestra" and the Symphony Orchestra of the Department of Music Studies (NKUA) (2010–2015).
He taught Byzantine Music at Music Schools for three years, and Music at junior high and primary schools for another three years. During the summer semester of the 2020-2021 academic year, he taught - as an academic fellow in the Department of Music Studies (School of Philosophy, NKUA) - Professor Achilleas Chaldaeakis’s course "Musical Transcriptions in Byzantine Notation." Since 2025, he has been teaching the course "Heirmologion" of the specialization of Psaltic Art at the Department of Music Studies, NKUA.