MIXED CHOIR
Director: Professor Nikos Maliaras
This is an activity of the Department that implements the necessary practical-artistic experience useful for musicology students and young musicologists, and which they cannot acquire from other types of music studies outside the university, which many of them follow at the same time. Participation in this action is completely on a voluntary basis. Instead of another description, a brief history of the activity of the Mixed Choir since its foundation in 1998 is quoted below.
The Choir was founded in November 1998 and forms the expression of the strong will of the Department of Music Studies to create a rich artistic movement in the Department and the University of Athens in general. It consists of students of the Department who are strongly interested in the international choral repertoire, but also the Greek music repertoire. Students outside the Department of Music Studies, as well as graduates can become members. The Choir has dealt with works of Greek composers of both the Ionian and National Schools and the modern period, and has performed important works of the classical repertoire, such as Bach's Liturgy in B minor and Magnificat, and the Requiems by Mozart, Fauré and Brahms, Mozart's Coronation Liturgy, Kalomiris' Leventia Symphony, Haydn's Nelson and Sancti Nicolai Masses, works by Skalkotas, Antonios Samaras and other Greek composers, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, Shostakovich's 2nd Symphony, Orff's Carmina Burana, Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Mendelssohn's Elias oratorio, Carrer's Marcos Botsaris and Fior di Maria operas, and a large number of choruses of Verdi’s operas etc.
The Choir has collaborated with the Athens State Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of ERT, the Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Athens, the Athens Philharmonic Orchestra, the State Youth Symphony Orchestra of Cyprus, the Athenian Symphony Orchestra under conductors such as V. Fithetzis, M. Logiadis, El. Kalkanis, M. Oikonomou, P. Sergiou etc. Apart from the university premises, the Choir has given concerts at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the Athens Concert Hall, the Royal Theater of Thessaloniki and in Cyprus.
In April 2006, the Choir visited the Universities of Munich and Heidelberg, where it gave concerts of Greek choral music. In this way, it started its contacts with major European Universities, which continued with the trips to the University of Venice in the summer of 2008, and the University of Vienna in May 2010. The Choir has also participated in the International Aegean Festival in Syros in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and the "Greek Music Festival" in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Since its foundation until 2017 the Choir made visits to Cyprus for every single year as part of the educational visit of the School of Philosophy of the University of Athens. The outcome of this experience in the martyr island is a volume with Songs of Cyprus edited for a mixed four-part choir (in score and in recording), which the Choir offers free to all friends of choral music in Greece, Cyprus and abroad.
In October 2013, the Choir in collaboration with the Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Athens performed for the first time worldwide Pigi Lykoudi’s "Joy in, white country", based on the "Hymn of Athena" by Kostis Palamas. In April 2017, the Choir presented for the first time worldwide the performance of the "Liturgy for the Sleeping" (Requiem) by Dimitrios Lialios, a work that had never been performed since its composition 130 years ago.
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Director: Associate Professor Pavlos Sergiou
The chamber orchestra has been operating since the establishment of the Department and consists of male and female students who specialize in symphonic instruments and participate systematically in the relevant rehearsals and concerts. The chamber music orchestra aims to develop the collaboration and team spirit among students while, at the same time, it has a significant number of appearances to its credit. The orchestra often participates in the public presentation of works by students or graduates, as well as in collaboration with the Mixed Choir of the Department. Since the academic period 2000-2001, a permanent public appearance was attempted with at least two concerts annually, the first as a Christmas Concert and the second on the Friday before Palm Sunday. In this context, various works for orchestra concerning both the classical repertoire and the contemporary creation (Greek and international) have been presented in collaboration with renowned soloists. The Chamber orchestra has also made first performances of works by Greek composers in the Ceremony Hall of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and in the Hall of the Philological Association "Parnassos", also collaborating with the Children's Choir "Manolis Kalomiris".
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Director: Associate Professor Pavlos Sergiou
The Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens collaborates with the Athenian Youth Symphony Orchestra-ASON, under the direction of the Associate Professor Pavlos Sergios. ASON consists, to a large extent, of students of the Department of Music Studies, as well as many other departments of EKPA or other Academic Institutions. Its aim is the performance of Greek music works, often for the first time, but also works of the international repertoire written in any kind or idiom. Since its foundation in 1997, ASON's concerts amount to about two hundred. Many of them have been presented at the Concert Hall and the Aula of the School of Philosophy, while several have been recorded in the studio of the Department of Music Studies.
Following the summer of 2012, ASON presented a number of projects. The following are indicative:
• Lina Tonia “Fur Elise” for Piano and Orchestra, November 2012, Athens Concert Hall.
• Alfred Schnittke “(K)ein Sommernachtstraum” for Orchestra, March 2013, Athens Concert Hall, first performance of the work in Greece.
• Panagiotis Kokoras "Fanfara Magno Arcano" for Orchestra, March 2013, Athens Concert Hall.
• Giannis Konstantinidis "Asia Minor Rhapsody", March 2013, Athens Concert Hall.
• Concerts, under the direction of graduates of the Department of Music Studies of EKPA, such as George Galanis and Petros Stylianos, were presented in January and March 2016, respectively.
• Giannis Christou "The Lady with the Strychnini" and "The Pianist", June 2016, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.
• Themis Vassilios "Migrants" & Vassilis Mantzorakis "Leyenda", May 2017, Aula of the School of Philosophy EKPA. Both composers are graduates of the Department of Music Studies of EKPA.
• W. A. Mozart "Concerto for piano and orchestra", April 2017, within the festival "The piano in its Forte", under the direction of Alexandros Diamantis, graduate and doctor of the Department of Music Studies of EKPA.
To the concerts of ASON we may add the concerts of ASONieta, which performed with prominent Greek soloists, such as Christos Zerbinos, Angeliki Kathariou, Stathis Mavromatis, Christina Panteli, Virginia Amargioti, works of the international and Greek repertoire, such as the first performances of Theodoros Antoniou and Panagiotis Kokoras, a first world performance of the Israeli Eliezer Elper, works by Savvas Zanna, Vassilis Tenidis, Manos Hatzidakis, and others.
Live Electronic Music Ensemble [leme] *
The electronic music ensemble [leme] is a musical ensemble open to the members of the University of Athens and consists of experimental organ players, DJs, sound programmers, hackers, laptopists, circuit benders, and generally people who are interested in creating, editing and displaying sound and contemporary music using electronic media.
* The Live Electronic Music Ensemble [leme] is open to members of Athens University and consists of experimental instrumentalists, DJs, audio programmers, hackers, laptopists, circuit benders and in general people who are interested in creating, processing and diffusing sound and music using electronic means. *
The Ensemble participated in the ‘‘KOINONO’’ Festival on the island of Tinos, creating an interactive installation with looms at the old textile factory in Chora (19/7) and an open-air electronic music concert (21/7).
Members 2018-2019
Fotini Tryferopoulou: fx, loops, synthesizer
Stavroula Matrozou: Max / MSP
Maximilian Pavlakis: guitar, oscillator - modulator pedals
Bosinaki Irini - Woman: Max / MSP
Eleni Manioti: Max / MSP
Gorilla Stella: SuperCollider, controllers, Max / MSP
Angelos Karelias: SuperCollider, sampler
Nasos Kretsis: guitar, fx, loop station
Orestis Karamanlis: SuperCollider, controllers
JAZZ MUSIC ENSEMBLE
Coordination: Dimitris Vasilakis and Antonis Ladopoulos
The Jazz Music Ensemble consists of postgraduate students of the MPS "Music Technology and Contemporary Practices" specialized in "Jazz Improvisation with New Technologies" and undergraduate students who have dealt with Jazz improvisation.
