Dr. Tikey Zes
October 10, 1927 – May 7, 2025
It is with deep sorrow yet with hope in the Resurrection that the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francsico shares that Dr. Tikey Zes reposed in the Lord on May 7, 2025 at the age of 97. After years of faithful service as a leading composer and arranger of Greek Orthodox Liturgical music, Tikey was welcomed into the Lord’s arms and has joined the angelic choir, ceaselessly praising God.
“Tikey was one of the most unassuming people I knew, and though he was a true musical giant in our Metropolis and Archdiocese, he simply offered his very best gifts to God, as a conductor and composer, until just hours before his peaceful repose,” stated His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos. “This truly marks the end of an era, and while I know Tikey’s passing deeply affects his loving family and the innumerable people who sing his Liturgical music, his legacy will live on far beyond his 97 years for he has left us with a treasure through his thousands of hymns which will resonate in the hearts and voices of faithful for generations to come.”
The Trisagion will be prayed on Monday, May 19 at 7:00 p.m. with a reception following. On Tuesday, May 20, Orthros and Divine Liturgy will begin at 8:15 a.m. His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco will preside at the Funeral which will begin at 11:00 a.m. All services will be held at Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 1260 Davis Street, San Jose, California. The Interment will follow at Oak Hill Memorial Park, 300 Curtner Avenue, San Jose, after which all are invited to the Makaria at Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.
May his memory be eternal!
Obituary for Dr. Tikey Zes
October 10, 1927 – May 7, 2025
Dr. Tikey Zes, esteemed composer, educator, and leader in Greek Orthodox liturgical music, passed away peacefully in his home in San Jose, California.
Born in Long Beach, California, on October 10, 1927, Tikey was the son of Athanasios and Anna Zes, who nurtured his early love of music. He began studying violin and piano at the age of five and regularly attended the Greek Orthodox Church, where he developed a lifelong passion for liturgical music. He began composing in high school, and then studied harmony and composition at Long Beach Community College under Jerrold Strang, a disciple of Arnold Schoenberg and Johannes Brahms. At the age of nineteen, Tikey arranged his most well-known hymn, Soma Christou, and it was officially published in 1950.
While in junior college, he served as organist and choir conductor at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption in Long Beach.
In 1952, Tikey was drafted to serve in the Korean War where he served one tour of duty and used the G.I. bill to help pay for his education. He went on to earn both a Master of Music in Violin and Composition and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition under Ingolf Dahl at the University of Southern California.
In 1955, Dr. Zes moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and became choir director at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, then at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension in Oakland, where he met his wife, Teddi Zes. They married on September 8, 1963, and raised three children—Athan, Evan, and Anna-Matina—in a home filled with faith, creativity, laughter, and love.
In 1964, Dr. Zes joined the faculty of San Jose State University as a professor of music, teaching theory and composition until his retirement in 1991. He was also concertmaster of the Musicke Faire Chamber Orchestra for many years, and during a sabbatical in 1976, traveled to Greece to study the notation and transcription of Post-Byzantine chant. After his retirement in 1991, he redoubled his devotion to Greek Orthodox church music for the next 34 years until the very moment of his passing.
Dr. Zes directed Greek Orthodox choirs across the country from 1950 onward and served as director of the St. Nicholas Choir in San Jose from 1971. He was a frequent guest conductor and clinician for Greek Orthodox choir federations nationwide and composed and arranged extensively for Orthodox liturgical services—including five complete liturgies, one in English—as well as numerous choral and piano works inspired by Greek folk and Byzantine music.
In recognition of his contributions, he was named an Archon of the Great Church of Christ by Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios in 1976. In 1993, he was appointed Music Minister for the Greek Orthodox Diocese of San Francisco, where he led many Church Music Institutes. In 2005 and 2006, he inaugurated the first-ever Conductor Training Academy for the Greek Orthodox Church in the United States.
Dr. Zes was a devoted Greek Orthodox Christian, a passionate educator, a pioneering composer, a dedicated husband, a beloved father and proud papou. His contributions to church music continue to inspire and uplift congregations, with the beauty and depth of his work resonating in the hearts and voices of faithful communities everywhere.
He is preceded in death by his beloved wife, Teddi Zes (2021). He is survived by his children: Athan Zes and his wife Christine, and their children Alex and Evan; Evan Zes and his wife Nicole; and his loving daughter, Anna-Matina Zes.
May his memory be eternal!
Choir Sign Up
For those who wish to participate in the choir for the funeral services, please fill out the Google Form with the required information.
Memorial Donations
In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations be made in Tikey’s memory to any of the following organizations:
- Tikey Zes Legacy Project a website honoring Tikey's incredible and vast body of work which will help make his sheet music, manuscripts, and audio recordings easily accessible to Orthodox communities across the United States and around the world. Help spread Tikey's music far and wide so that he may live in our hearts forever.
- St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
- Cappella Romana
- Doctors Without Borders