The Athens State Orchestra and the Department of Music Studies of the School of Philosophy
The collaboration between the Athens State Orchestra and the Department of Music at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens will be continuing this year at the undergraduate level. Following a proposal made by the Director of the Music Department, Dr Anastasia Georgaki, the Senate consented to the teaching programme with a view to students acquiring an artistic specialization in orchestral instruments. The teaching of the instruments is undertaken by members of the ASO in the capacity of visiting professors. This commendable initiative helps to raise the level of music education in Greece, while actively strengthening the link between music studies and orchestral performance. At the same time, selected students participate in the lectures that precede Athens State Orchestra concerts at the Athens Concert Hall.
Administration
DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER
Aliki Fidetzi
ARTISTIC PLANNING AND PRODUCTION
Senior Artistic Administrator
Petros Apostolidis *
Production Administrator
Alekos Vretos *
Social & Educational Programmes Administrator
Malama Sevastou *
International & European Affairs, Sponsorships
Kyveli Kouvela *
Librarian
Eleni Anastasiou
Officers for the Athens State Orchestra’s Pilot Contemporary Music Workshop and outreach productions **
Areti Dandaki
Dimitris Kariofillis
Technical support
Thodoris Athanasiadis *
Stage Managers
Nikos Bourtzis *
Grigoris Kyriazopoulos *
PROMOTION AND COMMUNICATION
Head of Communication and Press Office
Anna Tseimazidou *
Programme Editor & Artistic Administration
Titos Gouvelis *
Website Management
Giorgos Papasotiriou
Recordings Administrator
Manolis Lorentzos *
Press Office
Thodoris Iosifidis *
Eliza Terzidi *
Group sales
Maria Volonaki *
ADMINISTRATION
Senior Administrator
Antonia Kakavelaki
Public Relations & Administration
Chryssa Liakopoulou
PA to the Artistic Director
Irini Giatra
Administrator
Stella Kardari
Rehearsal Hall Janitor
Spiros Argirakis-Mourlas
FINANCE
Chief Financial Officer
Sofia Sotirhou *
Cashier
Evgenia Mpizimi
Assistant Financial Officers
Katerina Mantzorou *
Konstantinos Tziritas *
* Employees of the A.S.O.’s Special Fund for Concert Organization
** The project is co-funded by the Region of Attica NSRF for 2021-2027.
The Athens State Orchestra's Pilot Laboratory for Contemporary Music (2024-)
As it continues to expand its multi-level educational work, the Athens State Orchestra inaugurated its Pilot Laboratory for Contemporary Music in Spetses in 2024. Addressing young conductors and composers, the Workshop provides participants with a complete artistic experience along with the opportunity to work in a creative environment. The Pilot Workshop of the current season will be held from the 18th to the 28th of August, with intensive masterclasses along with group and one-on-one sessions held over a truly hectic ten days.
The amazing venue, the renovated Anargyrion & Korgialenion School of Spetses, provides the ideal incubator for the project, laying the foundations for a new educational and artistic institution at which young musicians can engage in a fruitful exchange and dialogue with both their professionally established colleagues from the Athens State Orchestra and with internationally renowned conductors, soloists and composers. Participants are also given a unique opportunity to perform and conduct both new and iconic works from the repertoire, both with and without an audience. The Workshop permits the Athens State Orchestra to open up a world of collaboration and engagement, but also to facilitate live performances that allow test-runs for both compositions and conductors. The already enormous benefits are further enhanced by the professional audiovisual recordings that are made of its complete proceedings. The Conducting and Composition masterclasses are led, respectively, by the conductor Lukas Karytinos and the composer Yannis Kyriakides. The Workshop is conducted in English.
Through its Pilot Workshop for Contemporary Music, the Athens State Orchestra opens up a new world of collaboration and engagement and facilitates live performances that allow composers and conductors to test their material.
The already enormous benefits are further enhanced by the full and professional audiovisual recordings of all the workshops that are made of its complete proceedings.
The Conducting and Composition masterclasses are led by the conductor Lukas Karytinos and the composer Yannis Kyriakides.
Job Openings
The Athens State Orchestra is not proclaiming any audition at this period.
Information about previous vacancies, which are now covered, are available in the following links:
Competition to fill four (4) vacancies of permanent artistic personnel.
Applications had been submitted until May 8th, 2025. For further information, click here.
Competition to fill four (4) vacancies of permanent artistic personnel.
Applications had been submitted until January 2nd, 2024. For further information, click here.
Competition to fill six (6) vacancies of permanent artistic personnel.
Applications had been submitted until February 14th, 2023. For further information, click here.
Audition in order to cover positions of Musicians - Tutti in violins
Applications had been submitted until November 14th, 2022. For further information, click here.
Competition to fill six (6) vacancies of permanent artistic personnel.
Applications had been submitted until July 5th, 2022. For further information, click here.
Audition in order to cover the position of a Concertmaster
Applications had been submitted until Monday December 9th, 2019. For further information, click here.
Audition in order to cover the position of a Principal B’ in the family of Clarinets
Applications had been submitted until Monday December 9th, 2019. For further information, click here.
Audition in order to cover the position of a Principal A’ in the family of Cellos, with a service contract for each concert.
Applications had been submitted until November 2nd, 2018. For further information, click here.
Competition to fill twelve (12) vacancies of permanent artistic personnel.
Applications had been submitted until March 9th, 2018. For further information, click here.
Audition in order to cover the position of a Principal B’ in the family of Trombones.
Applications had been submitted until Friday, December 1st, 2017. For further information, click here.
Audition in order to cover the position of a Principal A’ in the family of Flutes.
Applications had been submitted until Monday, November 6th, 2017. For further information, click here
Administration
DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER
Aliki Fidetzi
ARTISTIC PLANNING AND PRODUCTION
Senior Artistic Administrator
Petros Apostolidis *
Production Administrator
Alekos Vretos *
Social & Educational Programmes Administrator
Malama Sevastou *
International & European Affairs, Sponsorships
Kyveli Kouvela *
Librarian
Eleni Anastasiou
Officers for the Athens State Orchestra's Pilot Contemporary Music Workshop and outreach productions **
Areti Dandaki
Dimitris Kariofillis
Technical support
Thodoris Athanasiadis *
Stage Managers
Nikos Bourtzis *
Grigoris Kyriazopoulos *
PROMOTION AND COMMUNICATION
Head of Communication and Press Office
Anna Tseimazidou *
Programme Editor & Artistic Administration
Titos Gouvelis *
Website Management
Giorgos Papasotiriou
Recordings Administrator
Manolis Lorentzos *
Press Office
Thodoris Iosifidis *
Group sales
Maria Volonaki *
ADMINISTRATION
Senior Administrator
Antonia Kakavelaki
Public Relations & Administration
Chryssa Liakopoulou
PA to the Artistic Director
Irini Giatra
Administrator
Stella Kardari
Rehearsal Hall Janitor
Spiros Argirakis-Mourlas
FINANCE
Chief Financial Officer
Sofia Sotirhou *
Cashier
Evgenia Mpizimi
Assistant Financial Officers
Katerina Mantzorou *
Konstantinos Tziritas *
* Employees of the A.S.O.’s Special Fund for Concert Organization
** The project is co-funded by the Region of Attica NSRF for 2021-2027.
Our Musicians
DIRECTOR
Lukas Karytinos
FIRST VIOLINS*
Apollon Grammatikopoulos
(concert master)
Katerina Chatzinikolau
(concert master)
Nikos Mandilas
Giorgos Mandilas
Dimitris Agelidis
Dimitra Agelopoulou
Juleta Avetyan
Joanna Gaitani
Stella Georgiou
Nelly Ikonomidou
Anait Kanatzian
Olga Kim
Vaggelis Kosmas
Anilda Liakou
Emorfia Papadimitriou
Giannis Petrakis
Vasilis Soukas
Mirella Triantafyllou
Panagiotis Tziotis
SECOND VIOLINS*
Triantafyllos Loukas
Faidon Miliadis
Nikolaos Haliassas
Laertis Kokolanis
Marina Haralambides
Kostas Karageorgopoulos
Christoforos Karathanasis
Eleftherios Katsiferis
Nikos Kiakos
Alexandros Papanikolaou
Margarita Plesti
Elena Tavantzi
Dimitra Triantafyllou
Konstantinos Vlavianos
Petros Vlassis
Maria Zambeli
VIOLAS*
Paris Anastasiadis
Ilias-Ion Livieratos
Enkela Kokolani
Tania Charitopoulou
Alkistis Anastasiadou
Lilia Giousoupova
Manos Gouvelis
Konstantinos Karaboulat
Polina Koumi
Iris Louka
Gerta Sinai
Michail Smirnov
Antilochos Tranos
Irena Tsamadioti
Marios Tzoumanis **
VIOLONCELLOS*
Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin
Asterios Pouftis
Angelos Liakakis
Hristina Koutrou
Vania Papadimitriou
Ivi Papathanasiou
Ilias Sakalak
Isidoros Sideris
Olga Stratigopoulou
Dimitris Travlos
DOUBLE BASSES*
Takis Kapogiannis
Nikos Tsoukalas
Angelos Repapis
Haris Pazaroulas
Charalabos Arkatinis
Ioannis Babaloukas
Evgenios Bratouska
Viatseslav Martinkevits
Seraina Seidou
FLUTES
Chrysi Pilaftsi
Nikolaos Nikopoulos
Michalis Ramos
Evangelos Stathoulopoulos
Frank-Georg Yarke
OBOES
Dimitris Vamvas
Giannis Ikonomou
Christina Pantelidou
Stella Nikolaidi
Xenia Thomaidou
CLARINETS
Spyros Mourikis
Panagiotis-Marios Giannakas
Galinos Kiosoglou
Konstantinos Tzekos
Merkourios Karalis
BASSOONS
Alexandros Ikonomou
Vasilis Liodakis
Efstathios Martzoukos
Ioannis Evangelatos
Odysseas Bassios
HORNS
Kostas Siskos
Christos Salvanos
Dimitris Fronimos
Grigoris Asonitis
Ilias Barkas
Ioannis Gounaris
Spyros Kakos
TRUMPETS
Panagiotis Kesaris
Ioannis Karampetsos
Panagiotis Balamos
Leonidas Bairaktaris
Lucas Kerman
Fanis Vernikos
TROMBONES
Andreas Pylarinos
Kostas Avgerinos
Andreas-Rolandos Theodorou
Evaggelos Karabas
Achilleas Liarmakopoulos
Panagiotis Zafiropoulos
TUBA
Georgios-Theodoros Rarakos
TYMPANI
Spyros Labouras
Dimitris Desyllas
PERCUSSION
Andreas Farmakis
Katerina Koskina
Athina Kapsetaki
Theodoros Milkov
Charalabos Taliadouros
Stella Triantafyllou
HARPS
Gogo Xagara
Ileana Crutserou
* The string sections' tutti players rotate through all the seating positions
** Orchestra inspector
Brief History of the Athens State Orchestra
The Athens State Orchestra is the oldest orchestral ensemble in Greece. Founded in the late 19th century as the Athens Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, it went through various names as well as forms of operation. Its first concert as the Athens State Orchestra was held on February 28th, 1943.
Ever since its foundation, the Athens State Orchestra has been offering to the Greek audience the opportunity to get acquainted with the masterpieces of the world’s repertoire, while it’s the main interpreter of the local music. It has achieved a consistent presence on the Greek cultural scene, performing more than fifty concerts per year. Besides Athens, the Athens State Orchestra regularly appears in many Greek cities, as well as in prestigious venues and festivals abroad. Its social and educational program throughout Greece is quite significant.
Over its long history, the Athens State Orchestra has performed under the direction of eminent conductors such as Richard Strauss, Felix Weingartner, Hans Knappertsbusch, Bruno Walter, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Eugen Jochum, Igor Markevitch, Lorin Maazel, Clemens Krauss, Yuri Temirkanov, Michel Plasson, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Vladimir Fedoseyef and has accompanied outstanding soloists, among whom Arthur Rubenstein, Wilhelm Kempff, Alfred Cortot, Fritz Kreisler, Jacques Thibaud, Pablo Casals, Vadim Repin, Gidon Kremer, Mstislav Rostropovich, Alfred Brendel, Daniel Barenboim, Martha Argerich, Elisabeth Leonskaya and Leonidas Kavakos.
Former Artistic Directors of the Orchestra have been Filoktitis Oikonomidis, Theodoros Vavagiannis, Andreas Paridis, Manos Hadjidakis, Giannis Ioannidis, Alexandros Symeonidis, Aris Garoufalis, Byron Fidetzis, Vassilis Christopoulos and Stefanos Tsialis. Since October 2020, Loukas Karytinos is the Artistic Director of the Athens State Orchestra.
The Athens State Orchestra Young Musicians’ Academy (2016-)
The "Athens State Orchestra Young Musicians’ Academy" began in 2016, with generous support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation over its first two years in operation. The mission of the Academy and the outstanding orchestral musicians, soloists and conductors who teach its courses is to train instrumentalists to take up positions in orchestras around the world and to participate in international auditions and competitions. At the same time, its students have the opportunity to play with the full Athens State Orchestra in its performances at the Athens Megaron Concert Hall, in chamber music concerts, and in the educational programmes the KOA runs around Attica.
All of which is to say that the Athens State Orchestra Young Musicians' Academy offers young artists the valuable opportunity to prove, first and foremost to themselves, that they really want to commit themselves to this tough but infinitely rewarding and captivating profession, and to see whether and to what extent they can handle the demands of an artistic career at this level. At the end of the two-year programme, students that have attended the seminars and compulsory activities conscientiously receive a certificate of attendance.
