meet the musicians
Despina Panagiotou
Despina Panagiotou comes from a musical family and received her Monody Diploma from the Internafonal Conservatoire of Athens (2015).
She was trained at the Greek Nafonal Opera’s Youth Opera programme (first arfsfc season, 2017-2018) and performed the parts of ‘Ilia’ in W.A. Mozart’s Idomeneo (Alternafve Stage), of ‘Sorella Cercatrice’ in Suor Angelica and of one of the ‘amanf’ in Giacomo Puccini’s Il tabarro (Stavros Niarchos Hall).
She worked at the Opera and Ballet Theatre in Perm, under Teodor Currentzis’ arfsfc direcfon (2018-2020), and performed at internafonal stages and theatres as a member of the MusicAeterna choir.
Among the solo parts she performed were: of ‘Noémie’ in J. Massenet’s Cendrillon (director: Georgy Isaakyan, conductor: Valenfn Uryupin, November 2018); of ‘Despina’ in W.A. Mozart’s Cosi fan tu6e (director: Remus Ma„hias, conductor: Teodor Currentzis, May 2019); of ‘Susanna’ in W.A. Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (director: Philipp Himmelmann, conductor: etr Belyakin, June 2019).
Katalin Kertész
Katalin Kertész was born in Budapest (Hungary) into a family of musicians, she received her first violin lesson from her father at the age of 7. After four years at the Béla Bartók Conservatoire, she studied in Germany with Eckhard Fischer (at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold) and Annette-Barbara Vogel (at the Folkwang Universität der Künste, Essen). Additional studies with André Gertler, Tibor Varga and Nelly Söregi-Wunderlich also provided important musical influences.
In the UK she has performed on both period and modern violin in a multitude of chamber groups and ensembles, including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment,
the London Handel Orchestra, the Hanover Band, the Brook Street Band (including two Handel trio sonata albums on the Avie label) the City of London Sinfonia, the Philharmonia, and Ensemble Burletta.
Katalin is leader of the Kertész Quartet, a string quartet performing eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century repertoire on period instruments. With this ensemble she made a premiere recording of the four string quartets by the nineteenth-century Czech composer Wenzel Heinrich Veit for Toccata Classics, which earned high praise from reviewers on international platforms.
Katalin has performed in such prestigious venues as the Wigmore Hall, the Southbank Centre, the Royal Albert Hall (at the BBC Proms) and the Barbican. She has played multiple times in Windsor Castle, at the Queen’s official residence, where she performed in front of the Queen and Princess Ann. She has given concerts in Europe, South Africa, New Zealand, China and South America. She has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and Austrian radio, ORF.
Katalin’s interest in the music of Hans Gál has led her to give numerous pioneering performances in the UK and South Africa, including the Scottish premiere of Gál’s 1933 violin sonata. She recorded Hans Gál’s sonatinas and piano quartet with pianist Sarah Beth Briggs and an album of chamber music for clarinet by Gál with Ensemble Burletta for Toccata Classics. Katalin recently moved to Greece.
Since living in Greece she formed a baroque chamber group with recorder player Yorgos Pavlakos and performs in various chamber configurations with pianists Katja Brandl Koehlen, Lucas Georgias and Maria Papapetropoulou. She also performed with Athens based baroque orchestra, Armonia Atenea (George Petrou, Markellos Chryssicos) and was invited to take part at the International Kalamata Music Days.
Fanie Antonelou
The Greek soprano Fanie Antonelou has been awarded the Grand Prix – first prize at the international competition Maria Callas in Athens in the category oratorio/ lied, as well as the Frankfurt Mendelssohn-Prize. She was finalist at the Lied-competition Schubert und die Musik der Moderne in Graz. Fanie recorded the role of Susanna (Mozart, Nozze di Figaro) with the MusicAeterna Orchestra and conductor Teodor Currentzis in his much-discussed recording. She has made guest appearances in the Stuttgart State Opera, the Perm Opera House, the Athens Concert Hall, and has also sung at festivals such as the Baden-Baden Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Bad-Wildbad Rossini Festival, and the Handel Festival in Halle. Collaborations with conductors such as Diego Fasolis, Hansjörg Albrecht, Wofgang Katschner, Jörg Halubek, Kay Johannsen and with ensembles including LauWen Compagney Berlin, Il Gusto barocco, Ensemble la Fenice, and Munich Bach-Choir. Her first Solo-CD “Affinities” includes recording of Greek and German art songs (Label BIS).
Sofya Gandilyan
Sofya Gandilyan is a harpsichordist, fortepianist, and PhD musicologist (dissertation on J.J. Froberger and his keyboard music). She won 2nd place in the oldest Early Music competition, the Musica Antiqua in Brugge and an Honorary Mention Prize in the Prague Spring harpsichord competition. Sofya received awards from the Austria Barock Academy and Shostakovich Foundation. Sofya has performed in concerts together with prominent baroque players and singers, such as C. Schornsheim, A. Steck, L. Duftschmid and J. van Elsacker. She has been a harpsichordist and organist at the show Flying Bach. She has performed a repertoire ranging from Frescobaldi to Martinu and Nyman in various European countries, as well as in Brazil, China and USA. Sofya is currently teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich and at the University of Music Saarbrücken. Sofya articipated in world premiere recording (CD) with motets of I. Leonarda (Label Toccata Classics).
Ivan Oliveira
Graduated in Historical Plucked Strings at Conservatório Dramático Musical Dr. Carlos Campos de Tatuí (Brazil) and currently studying a degree on the lute at Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo – ESMAE in Porto. In Brazil, he began his studies on the lute in 2012 at Conservatório de Tatuí under the guidance of professor Dagma Eid, and in 2013, he joined the Historical Performance Group at the same institution, under the coordination of professor Selma Marino, where he worked for 3 years as a thorough bass player of the group. In 2016 he joined Orquestra Barroca do Brasil, conducted by João Guilherme Figueiredo. In 2017 he played in the opera L’ Orpheu, by Claudio Monteverdi, in Goiânia-GO, under the direction of the Italian maestro Roberto Zarpellon. In 2018, he performed with the group Trupe Barroca Vivaldi’s 4 seasons at São Pedro Theater, in São Paulo. In 2019 he joined the group Barca Dell 700, where he participated in recitals of Membra Jesu Nostri by Buxtehude and Messias by Handel under the baton of maestro Martinho Lutero Galatti. In 2020 he joined ESMAE and began his degree on the lute under the guidance of professors Ronaldo Lopes and Hugo Sanchez, in addition to participating in internal orchestra projects with professor and harpsichordist Ana Mafalda Castro and with professor and gamba player Xurxo Varela. In 2022, in Portugal he begins his activities at Encadeamentos Project, where he performs historical music on the lute and baroque guitar. In 2023, he attended the Easter concert of the Coral de Letras of the University of Porto as a thorough bass player, and participates as a guest musician with the group O Bando de Surunyo. In addition, he is member of the Iberian Ensemble group, performing the theorbo. He has also taken classes and masterclasses with Daniel Morais, Dolores Costoyas, William Carter, Regina Albanez and Kajsa Dahlbäck. Currently he has his external activities for the study and practice of basso continuo with instruments such as the theorba, the baroque guitar and the archilute.
Stamatis Pavlous
Born in Rhodes, the countertenor Stamatis Pavlous initially studied Economics. After receiving a Masters Degree in International Business, he turned to music and studied classical singing with Christina Giannakopoulou and Aris Christofellis at the Kodály Conservatoire of Athens, where he was awarded the soloist diploma and first prize. With Michael Chance’ s encouragement he moved to the Netherlands to specialise in Early Music at the Hague Royal Conservatoire. There, he studied with Michael Chance, Jill Feldman, Peter Kooy and Rita Dams on a full Alexander S. Onassis Foundation scholarship. Stamatis also became a member of the Flanders Operastudio in Ghent participating in masterclasses with Dame Ann Murray, Sir Thomas Allen και Malcolm Martineau.
With repertoire ranging from renaissance songs, baroque cantatas and sacred music (Bach’s Passions, Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus, Handel’s Messiah etc) to operatic roles (Ottone, Bertarido, Farnace, Fulvio et al.), lieder and contemporary works (The Last Supper by P. Tsalachouris, Hamlet by A. Kizoulis et. al.), Stamatis has appeared at the Flemish Opera Houses of Ghent and Antwerp, Opera de Baugè, the Utrecht Early Music Festival, the Athens Baroque Festival, the Belgrade Early Music Festival, Cecil Sharp House in London, collaborating with various music ensembles and orchestras. Stamatis occasionally gives masterclasses and also works as an air traffic controller.
Ioannis Konstantinos Giovanos
He was born in Athens and began his musical studies at the Cello at the Athens Conservatory, in the class of Mr. Nikos Kotzias, where he graduated with a Diploma in 2005, with a grade of “Excellent”. In 2005 and with a scholarship from the Academy of Athens, he continued his studies at the Academy of Music in Münster, Germany with professors Matias de Oliveira Pinto in classical and Susanne Wahmhoff in baroque cello. He has partcipated in classical and pre-classical music seminars in Greece and abroad, including Antonio Meneses, Peeter Paemuru, Gesa Bifio, Nomos Quartet, Nicholas Selo, Neue Düsseldorfer Hofmusik, Werner Matzke and others. Since 2006 he is a substitute member of ERT Music Ensembles, Collegium Musicum String Ensemble, member of chamber music ensembles, as well as in 2011 a member of the Athens State Orchestra. As a collaborator of the Art Group “Parodos”, he has an active participation as a musician, in actions and theatrical games for children. Since 2011 he has been teaching in conservatories of Attica and the Region, such as the Piraeus Association, the Orfeio Conservatory of Athens, the Music Association of Aegina, the Municipal Conservatory of Ioannina and at the Athens Conservatoire College of Music . Also as a teacher, since 2016 he has been collaborating with the Fle[x] String Ensemble.
Anastasia Miliori
Anastasia Miliori moves stylistically between early and contemporary music. She holds a diploma in violin (class of Dimitri Semsis) and classical singing (class of Magdalini Tzavella) and graduated from the department of Modern and Medieval Greek Literature of the Athens School of Philosophy.
She continued her musical studies at the State Music Academies in Trossingen and Stuttgart, where she studied early music, specializing in baroque violin and singing, with Anton Steck and Jan Van Elsacker respectively, and classical singing with Frederique Friess. She has performed with ensembles, orchestras and baroque orchestras, including: B-A-C-H ensemble-Stuttgart (under MonicaVasquez), Collegium Musicum Stuttgart, Cappella Principale, European Union
Baroque Orchestra (under Lars Ulrik Mortensen), Bern Consort – (under Jorg Ritter), Orchestra Patras (under George Petrou), ASON, Unesco World Youth Orchestra Jeunesse Musicale (under Josep Vicent), All Souls Orchestra (under Noel Tredinnick), La Symphonique Chrétienne (under Sabine Diaz). She has participated in recordings for MDG, Mulatina Records and Logos Music. She is a founding member of the baroque ensemble Ensemble Diverse and Bizarre with which she has performed – among others – at the Alternative Stage of the S. Niarchos Foundation, at the Philip Nakas Hall, at the Piraeus Association, at the Athens Baroque Festival, on tour in the Dodecanese under the auspices of the South Aegean Region, and at the Finska Kyrkan in Stockholm. Since 2017 he has been the artistic director of the international baroque music festival Athens Baroque Festival. She teaches music in Primary Education and is a violin professor at the Municipal Conservatory of Korydallos.
Georgios Angelakis
Georgios Angelakis is a trombone graduate of the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki, in the class of G. Kokkoras.
He is also a graduate of the School of Music Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He currently works as a permanent music teacher in Primary Education and as a trombone teacher at the Municipal Conservatory in Trikala, as well as at the Music School in Trikala.
He has attended trombone Master Classes by Zoltan Kiss, Dirk Ellerkamp, Jiggs Whigham, Jay Friedman, Spyrou Farougias, Kostas Avgerinos, and others. He is a member of the Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Larissa.
As a PhD candidate in the School of Music Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, supervised by professor Theodoros Kitsos, his research concerns the reconstruction of the sound of the trombone and its role in the works of Italian composers of the early Baroque.
Yiannis Efstathopoulos
Yiannis Efstathopoulos is a devoted interpreter and researcher of Spanish music and its guitars, spanning from the renaissance era to the 21st century. In 2019, he made his recording debut with the album “Seis Caprichos-Spanish guitar music around 1930,” which showcases works from the Spanish modernist period and was released by the renowned “Passacaille” records. His tutors and mentors have been world-renowned guitarists Elena Papandreou, Thanos Mitsalas, Antigoni Goni, Oscar Ghiglia, Carles Trepat, and lutenists Xavier Diaz-Latorre, Nicolas Achten, and Dirk De Hertogh. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Arts from the esteemed Free University of Brussels, as well as two Master’s degrees in classical and early music from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. In his homeland, Yiannis obtained his Soloist Diploma from the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki and his Bachelor’s degree in Music Science and Art from the University of Macedonia, both with an “Excellent” distinction. To further enhance his guitar skills, he has attended masterclasses by esteemed performers including Rolf Lislevand on the lute, Gerardo Nuñez on flamenco guitar, and Sergio and Odair Assad, Zoran Dukic, Margarita Escarpa, Costas Cotsiolis on classical style, and classes under the guidance of Rafael Andia in Paris. Through his recordings and performances Yiannis has gained recognition as one of the most innovative performers on historical Torres-type guitars. His dissertation “The concert guitar in Spain 1920-1939 recreating a lost performance practice”, stands out as the first of its kind, as it delves into interpretive challenges associated with period guitars and strings. He travels with his authentic guitar and has performed concerts throughout Europe (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, UK, Austria, Italy, Spain and Greece) in prestigious venues such as Palais des Beaux Arts and Flagey in Brussels, Palacio Chigi in Siena, Seu Vella in Lleida, Theocharakis Foundation & NGO in Athens as well as the Megaron Concert Hall in Thessaloniki. Yiannis has collaborated with various ensembles such as The New Baroque Times, Scherzi Musicali, Balkan Express, Omicron Ensemble, Lira Orfeo Miquel Llobet, and renowned soloists like Carles Trepat, Javier Mas and Mario Mas. His recordings have been broadcasted on esteemed radio stations including the Spanish National Radio (RTVE), France Musique, Klara (Belgium), Sverige Radio (Sweden), Radio Television Suisse (Switzerland), and WFMT-Chicago (USA). As a guitar teacher, Yiannis is leading the guitar class at the Music Studies Department of the University of Ioannina in Greece. Earlier, he imparted his knowledge and expertise at various institutions such as the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (assistant of Antigoni Goni), where he also taught Historically Informed Performance Practice. He has also taught at the Stedelijk Conservatorium Brugge, the Instituto Cervantes Bruselas as well as masterclasses in Belgium, France, Austria and Greece focusing on topics around HIPP. As a lecturer he has delivered conferences at prestigious universities including Melbourne, Hong-Kong, Dublin, Surrey, Granada, and Brussels and he has published articles on international magazines. Yiannis performs on guitars crafted by Telesforo Julve (1926) and contemporary luthiers such as Christopher Dean and Dirk De Hertogh.
Alexandre Andrade
Born in Souto, municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, he is a Professor at ISEIT-Viseu, Instituto Piaget (Portugal), Guest Professor at the Federal University of Alagoas and Federal University of Bahia (Brazil) and Professor of Flute at the Conservatory of Music – JOBRA (Portugal). He graduated in Flute Teaching (University of Aveiro) in 1995, in the class of Pedro Couto Soares, completed his Master’s in Performance in Ireland (Waterford Institute of Technology) in 1997. He received his PhD in Music (University of Aveiro) in 2005, dedicating his thesis The presence of the transverse flute in Portugal from 1750 to 1850, his repertoire and performance. In September 2016, he completed the Master’s in Interpretation – Early Music – Baroque Flute, at ESMAE (Porto) in the class of prof. Olavo Barros. He also worked in Baroque Orchestra with Pedro Sousa e Silva, Ana Mafalda Castro, Benjamim Chénier and Marco Ceccato. Founding member of Ensemble Ars Iberica, Iberian Ensemble and Ventos do Atlântico, he has performed concerts and training in the area of Early Music in mainland Portugal, Azores, Spain; England, Croatia, Czech Republic, Serbia and Brazil.
Sevastianos Motorinos
Sevastianos Motorinos specializes in the harpsichord and historical keyboard instruments. He is a member of several chamber music ensembles with which he performs mainly in the Netherlands and Greece, such as Albionoria, Dialoghi trio, ensemble Diverse & Bizarre, Decameron ensemble, and others. In addition to performances with smaller ensembles, he participated as an organist in the co-production of the Athens Concert Hall and the Athens State Orchestra “St. Matthew Passion by J. S. Bach” in April 2024. As a harpsichordist, he participated in the comic intermezzo La Diridina, produced by the Athens Baroque Festival in October 2023, in Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas in collaboration with the Thessaloniki Municipal Orchestra in 2019 (concerts in St. Petersburg, Veroia, and Serres), and in the production De Passie, which was presented in various cities in the Netherlands in April 2023. In 2023, he founded the baroque orchestra Camerata Utricia, of which he is the artistic director. The orchestra made its debut in June 2023 with the program “In Furore”, and later it performed Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, also concerts from Hacquart’s Harmonia Parnassia collection and the production “A summer’s tale”. He collaborates with choirs such as Kamerkoor Canteklaer and Cantatekoor Wageningen. In November 2025, he will collaborate with the Toonkunstkoor Euterpe choir. In 2020, he graduated from the Department of Music Studies at the Ionian University, specializing in harpsichord under the guidance of Katerina Michopoulou. He also studied at the Utrecht Conservatory and later at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague as part of the Erasmus student exchange program. In 2022, he completed his master’s degree at the Utrecht Conservatory under Professor Siebe Henstra. He has attended seminars with Pierre Hantai, Skip Sempe, Wilbert Hazelzet, Menno van Delft, Peter Seymour, Ana Mafalda Castro, among others. He has performed in venues and events such as: Athens Concert Hall, Alternative Stage – Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Athens Baroque Festival, Utrecht Early Music Festival – Fringe, St. Petersburg Chamber Opera, TivoliVredenburg, as well as in concert series in churches and theatres mainly in the Netherlands and Greece, such as: Musica Antica series, Casteel concerten, Zaterdagmiddagconcerten Deventer, Daelenbroeck concerten, ‘t Huis te Poort Schiedam, Huize Gaudeamus, etc. He was a finalist in the Gianni Gambi Harpsichord Competition 2022 in Pesaro. He was in the final of the Rheinsberger Hofkapelle competition 2022 as well as in the final of the Tel Aviv international recorder competition 2022 in the chamber music category. He also participated in the semi-finals of the Van Wassenaer Competition 2022 and 2024. He conducts, composes music, is involved in traditional and folk Greek music, and improvises in a variety of styles.
Maria Svarna
Born in Litohoro, Pieria, she began studying music theory and piano at an early age. She studied at the Department of Music Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and in 2023 she received her diplomas in solo singing and melodrama in the class of Professor Grigoris Pyrilakos with a grade of “excellent unanimously” and first prize in both. Since 2022, she has been a regular member of the female vocal ensemble “Voci Contra Tempo.” Also in 2022, she distinguished herself in the Panhellenic Orpheus Soloists Competition with first prize in the “Song” category and the Audience Award. In the same year, after an audition process, she was selected to participate in the concert series organised by the Thessaloniki Music Friends Association “New Talents of Classical Music” at the Thessaloniki Megaron Concert Hall. In September 2023, she performed the role of Dirindina in D. Scarlatti’s opera La Dirindina as part of the Athens Baroque Festival 2023 concerts. Since September 2024, she has been collaborating with the choir of the Greek National Opera and the choir of ERT.
David Cruz
Graduated from the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra in the class of cellist Paulo Gaio Lima, he continued his musical studies in the United States of America at the University of Indiana, where he studied with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Janos Starker. Here he teaches at the String Academy of the same University as an assistant to cellist Susan Moses. From 2001 to 2003 he was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, performing in some of the main European concert halls and performing under the direction of conductors such as Sir Colin Davis and Vladimir Ashkenadzy. In June 2014, he completed his Doctorate in Music at Boston University,
under the direction of cellists Michael Reynolds and George Neikrug. At the same University, he works with the string quartet with Raphael Hillyer, a founding member of the Julliard Quartet. As a thesis, he carries out an analytical study on the works for cello by the Portuguese composer Fernando Lopes Graça. At the same University, he was Assistant Professor to Michael
Reynolds and was awarded membership in the Phi Kappa Lambda Honor Society. Several works are dedicated to him, highlighting the work “Passo Cruzado” (suite for solo cello), by the Polish composer Igor Iwanek, premiered at the “Boston Portuguese Festival”, in 2012, and the work “Circumloquios Enrevesados” by the Mexican composer Alejandro Castillo, premiered in
August 2009, in Bloomington, USA. As part of his PhD studies, he includes studies in the area of early music interpretation, and performance of baroque cello and viola da Gamba. He works at the level of instrumental performance, baroque cello with Sara Freiburg (Boston Baroque) and viola da gamba with Laura Jeppeson (Boston Baroque). He also Participates in masterclasses with Phoebe Carrai (Julliard School of Music) and Stanley Ritchie (Indiana University). He performs solo and chamber music concerts as a baroque cellist and viola da gamba player with ensembles such as Boston University Baroque ensemble (performing as soloist and under the direction of Martin Perlman), ensemble Add Libitum, and solo with harpsichordist Frederick Jodry (Brown University). From 2013 to 2018 he was music director of the Violoncelos de Sta. Cristina / Sta Cristina International Cello Festival, a project involving some of today’s most prestigious musicians and educators. He is currently a professor at the University of Aveiro, at the Instituto Superior Jean Piaget de Viseu and at the Catholic University. In the field of early music, he is a member of the Iberian ensemble as a Baroque cellist and Gambist. In Portugal, he was principal cello of Atlantic Coast symphony orchestra. He performs regularly in solo and chamber music (as a member of the SuggiaQuartet) and regularly performs masterclasses at festivals and universities in Portugal, Spain, Brazil and the USA.
Nikos Ziaziaris
Nikos Ziaziaris is a performer with experience in opera, operetta, musical theatre, and drama, having appeared in productions across Greece and internationally (Italy, Austria, China, Vatican City). His roles include Menelaus (La belle Hélène, Greek National Opera), Danilo (The Merry Widow, Municipal Theatre Maria Callas), and Lord Farquaad (Shrek the Musical, Greek National Theatre). He has collaborated with distinguished composers, premiering their works (D.Trypani, D.Maramis, G.Kouroupos, and F.Tsalachouris). He is also a regular guest artist with early music ensembles such as “Ex Silentio” and “Lycabettus Ensemble”. In the field of music education, he has worked with El Sistema Greece, the British Council, UNICEF, and the Greek National Opera, as a music educator and vocal coach. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). In addition to his music education, he also holds a degree in Law.
Rebecka Karlsson
Rebecka Karlsson studied violin with Anna Lindal and baroque violin with Ann Wallström at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. She has been an exchange student at the Conservatorio di Musica G. B. Martini in Bologna, Italy, where she studied violin with maestro Carlo Ricci and has studied baroque violin at the master level with Professor Anton Steck at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen, Germany. Besides this, Rebecka has participated in masterclasses with Stefano Montanari and Rachel Podger. Rebecka is a freelance violinist, based in Stockholm. She has played with ensembles like Hofkapelle München and Hassler Consort and plays regularly with Drottningholm Theatre Orchestra, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, Göteborg Baroque, and Karlsson Baroque. Since spring 2012, Rebecka is a permanent member of the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble and she has the baroque ensemble “Freedom, Baroque and Sisterhood” together with the viola player Karin Ahnlund and the cellist Mirjam Pfeiffer. Rebecka is also often engaged as a soloist and concertmaster.
Romanos Papazoglou
Romanos Papazoglou collaborates as a guest conductor with distinguished musical ensembles in Greece and abroad, conducting a wide range of symphonic and operatic repertoire spanning from early music to the present day. He has conducted all the major symphony orchestras in Greece, with which he maintains regular collaboration. In 2018, he distinguished himself in the auditions for new conductors of the Athens State Orchestra and, after his very successful debut, he was invited back the following season and has been collaborating with them regularly ever since. In the same year, he was a finalist in the competition for the position of assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Since 2017, he has been collaborating as a conductor with the international opera festival Teatro Barocco in Austria, receiving rave reviews from the German and Austrian press. Since 2016, he has been working with the Vienna Boys’ Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben) as rehearsal conductor and assistant conductor in opera productions at MuTh and in choral works at the Hofburg Palace with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In the same year, he conducted W. A. Mozart’s Requiem in three concerts with the Orchester 1756 ensemble on period instruments at the famous Karlskirche in Vienna and made his debut with the Thessaloniki State Orchestra. As a conductor, he has collaborated with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Athens State Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of ERT, the Thessaloniki State Orchestra, Orchester 1756, Teatro Barocco Festival Orchestra, South Coast Youth Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Sängerknaben, Thessaloniki Municipal Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Pro Arte Orchestra, etc., and has participated in opera productions at the Teatro Barocco Festival, Oper rund um (Vienna), Opera na Zamku, and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He has taught the principles of orchestral playing and chamber music at Orchestral Clinics of the South Coast Youth Symphony Orchestra and choir workshop and opera at the Summer Academy of Early and Traditional Music (Arnaia). He studied conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, in the class of Uros Lajovic and opera accompaniment (Korrepetition) with Konrad Leitner, obtaining two master’s degrees (Mag.art.) in the respective fields. He also had the opportunity to study closely with internationally renowned conductors such as B. de Billy, F. Luisi, S. Rattle, R. Weikert, and K. Trikolidis. He holds a degree in Harmony and has studied in the departments of Music Theory and Composition, and Choir Conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, as well as in the Music Science and Art department at the University of Macedonia.
Kira Saplachidou
Kira Saplachidou received her first musical inspiration at a very young age from distinguished flutists in Greece, such as Iwona Glinka in Athens, Ilie Macovei, and Matoula Hatzis at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki. She graduated from Iwona Glinka’s flute class at the Musical Horizons Conservatory with a soloist diploma with honors. She continued her musical education in the class of Professor Gülsen Arife Tatu at the Trossingen University of Music in Germany. In 2012, she graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree, specializing in flute, and began teaching at conservatories in the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany. From 2014 to 2016, she continued her studies in the Master’s program in the Early Music Department of the Trossingen University of Music, specializing in the transverse flute and historical interpretation – class of Dr. Linde Brunmayr-Tutz, and graduated with a Master’s degree in Early Music. She attended a series of continuing education seminars in Germany on Music for People with Special Needs, as well as flute and transverse flute seminars with professors P.L.Graf, F. Renggli, R. Brown, K. H. Schutz, L. M. Tanguy, and P. Hantai. She teaches flute at the Volos Music School and the Volos Municipal Conservatory and is a member of the baroque ensemble Ensemble Diverse and Bizarre.
Elektra Papasimaki
Elektra Papasimaki grew up in Ikaria, where she took her first music lessons from Efi Birtacha. She then studied classical singing at the Athens Conservatory and the N. Mantzaros Conservatory, where she received her singing diploma under the tutoring of Mechtild Stamatakis. At the same time, she studied recorder and early music performance with Dimitris Kountouras and holds degrees in harmony, counterpoint, and fugue. In 2013, she continued her studies in Early Music in Germany at the Trossingen University of Music (Hochschule für Musik Trossingen) with the tenor Jan Van Elsacker and received a master’s degree in singing (Master of Early Music in Singing) in 2015. As a second major, she studied Medieval music with Kees Boeke, Claudia Cafagni, and recorder with Susanna Borsch. She considers the courses she took with mezzo-soprano Rosa Dominguez and baritone Clemens Morgenthaler to have had a significant influence on her singing technique.
In 2021 , she received the Singing Teaching Certificate (Gesangspädagogisches Zertifikat /GPZ) after successfully completing a one-year postgraduate course at the German Singing Teachers’ Association (BDG), where she acquired expertise in voice physiology, methodology, and singing teaching. Since the beginning of her studies, she has participated in numerous productions and concerts as a chorister and member of vocal and musical ensembles, and was a founding member of the early music ensemble Ritornello. She is also a member of the Quasimodo ensemble, which specializes in Italian frottola, while at the same time she is the artistic director of the Musick Room ensemble, which specializes in the theatrical music of H. Purcell. In recent years, she has been living in Konstanz, Germany, and is active as a soloist in productions and concerts of early and Western religious music (oratorio) in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, while also working as a singing teacher and choir conductor.
Motectum Vocal Ensemble
The Motectum Vocal Ensemble was founded by conductor Yannis Vryzakis in 2013 and is active in the study and performance of vocal music, mainly polyphonic, with a secular and religious repertoire from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and early Baroque, a cappella or in collaboration with instrumental ensembles.
It has performed concerts in selected venues and themes:
- June 23, 2013, at the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Plaka, religious and secular Renaissance repertoire.
- December 20, 2013, at the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Plaka, “Christmas from the Middle Ages to the Baroque.”
- April 4, 2014, First Evangelical Church of Athens, Easter concert with the Athens Municipal Symphony Orchestra and the NTUA Choir.
- June 13, 2015, in the garden of the Archaeological Museum of Thebes, at the Saint Omer Tower, on the occasion of the reopening of the monument, with a repertoire from the era of troubadours and knights.
- September 25, 2016, Kerameikos ArchaeologicalSite, as part of the Ministry of Culture’s initiative “Persecutions, old and new stories”: Dramatic moments experienced by figures from mythology, ancient tragedy, and divine drama, as depicted in compositions from the era of the troubadours to the early operas of Renaissance Italy.
- June 8, 2016, Celebration for the opening of the new Archaeological Museum in Thebes, opera performance on the theme: Greek Mythology and Tragedy at the Lyric Theater with Jenny Drivala, Katerina Kouri, Kassandra Dimopoulou, and Filippos Modinos.
- June 28, 2017, War Museum, Choral Festival “Join our dream.”
- August 31, 2019, Tinos Festival – Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Exomvourgo, Tribute to Claudio Moneverdi.
- September 19, 2019, at the “65th birthday of the Third” in a live broadcast of the Third Program of ERT with Monteverdi’s six-part mass: Laetania de la Beata Vergine.
- May 5, 2023, Catholic Church of St. Dionysius Areopagite, Easter Concert with the choirs of Panteion University and the National Technical University of Athens.