Pilot Laboratory for Contemporary Music of the Athens State Orchestra
This summer, from August 26 to September 5, the Athens State Orchestra presents the Pilot Laboratory for Contemporary Music, in Spetses island, following its drive to expand its multi-level educational work. An action aimed at young conductors and composers, who are offered a comprehensive experience and the opportunity to work in a creative environment; an ideal incubator for the project, which will be hosted in the beautiful, renovated premises of the Anargyrios and Korgialenios School of Spetses. The Pilot Laboratory for Contemporary Music will lay its foundation for a stable educational and artistic institution of cultural exchange, and fruitful dialogue between young musicians both with their established colleagues from the Athens State Orchestra, as well as with internationally distinguished conductors, soloists and composers.
It will be a fiery 10-day intensive set of masterclasses, in groups but also one-on-one, when required, where what is offered is a unique experience of interpreting and directing new and emblematic works of the classical repertoire, both with and without audience. Unlocking a world of synergies and of live performance, that allows the test of a new composition and of a conductor under real conditions, the Athens State Orchestra can guarantee a level of organization that will produce a high achieving setting, paired with the additional advantage of a full and professional audiovisual recording. The Orchestra Conducting Masterclass and the Composition Masterclass are signed by chief conductor Loukas Karytinos and composer Yiannis Kyriakides.
For further information, please click here.
2024 12 23 Pilot Laboratory for Contemporary Music of the Athens State Orchestra, 2025
This summer, from August 18 to August 28, the Athens State Orchestra presents the Pilot Laboratory for Contemporary Music, in Spetses island, following its drive to expand its multi-level educational work. An action aimed at young conductors and composers, who are offered a comprehensive experience and the opportunity to work in a creative environment; an ideal incubator for the project, which will be hosted in the beautiful, renovated premises of the Anargyrios and Korgialenios School of Spetses. The Pilot Laboratory for Contemporary Music will lay its foundation for a stable educational and artistic institution of cultural exchange, and fruitful dialogue between young musicians both with their established colleagues from the Athens State Orchestra, as well as with internationally distinguished conductors, soloists and composers.
It will be a fiery 10-day intensive set of masterclasses, in groups but also one-on-one, when required, where what is offered is a unique experience of interpreting and directing new and emblematic works of the classical repertoire, both with and without audience. Unlocking a world of synergies and of live performance, that allows the test of a new composition and of a conductor under real conditions, the Athens State Orchestra can guarantee a level of organization that will produce a high achieving setting, paired with the additional advantage of a full and professional audiovisual recording. The Orchestra Conducting Masterclass and the Composition Masterclass are signed by chief conductor Loukas Karytinos and composer Yiannis Kyriakides.
For further information, please click here.
Participating to the National Mourning, we postpone the concert "Journey to the centre of Music - the Symphony"
The Athens State Orchestra, participating to the National Mourning, postpones the concert of Friday 3 March "Journey to the centre of Music - the Symphony" on Saturday 4 March at 17:00.
The concert of 4 March at 20:30 will be held as scheduled.
Ticket owners will be informed by phone or email.
2023 03 01 The Symphony: humankind’s greatest musical achievement
The new podcast from the Athens State Orchestra in collaboration with LIFO is dedicated to the Symphony. In Part One, Matoula Kousteni presents the historical and social context in which the most demanding, multi-faceted, magnificent and complex form of orchestral music was born, while Part Two explores the Symphony's subsequent development.
On Saturday 4 March, in the concert-performance "Journey to the Centre of Music: the Symphony", Maria Efthymiou, Christos Papageorgiou and Loukas Karytinos (on the podium) will guide us through the complex world of humankind's greatest musical achievement.
You can listen to Part One of the podcast here and Part Two here.
2023 02 03 Symphonic Music: Stories in Lifo
The Athens State Orchestra has joined the world of Lifo podcasts. In the new series entitled "Symphonic Music: Stories", Matoula Kousteni reveals the interesting, funny and even tragic stories behind the great works of the symphonic repertoire which the Athens State Orchestra perform at the Athens Concert Hall. The series begins with Mahler's "Titan", the composer's First Symphony. In what way did the composer who lived for symphonic music change it? Listen to the podcast here and discover what the stories behind Mahler's monumental creation reveal about the passions, inner conflicts and models of a symphonic composer who would dominate serious music in the 20th century. They shed an eloquent light on the composer's life-long struggle with his medium, which would ultimately earn him the adulation of audiences and critics alike, but not happiness.
2023 01 16 Postponing of the concert "Beethoven's septet", scheduled for 16 January 2023
We inform you that the concert "Beethoven's septet", which was scheduled for January 16 2023 in Parnassos Litterary Society is postponed due to health reasons.
2023 01 03 Postponing of the concert "G.A. Papaioannou, a kaleidoscopic creation" scheduled for January 9 2023
We inform you that the concert "G.A. Papaioannou, a kaleidoscopic creation", which was scheduled for January 9 2023 in Benaki Museum, is postponed due to health reasons.
Audition for Musicians - 5th category (Tutti) in violins, November 2022
The Athens State Orchestra is proclaiming an audition in order to cover its special requirements in violins (Tutti - Musicians 5th category), with the intention to conclude at least two (2) contracts of an eight-month period.
These engagements comply with the regulations of the current Greek legislation (see page in Greek for details).
The audition will take place in the rehearsal hall of the Athens State Orchestra (Megaron – the Athens Concert Hall) on Saturday, November 19th, 2022 at 10:00. The Committee of the organization of the audition maintains the right, also depending on the number of candidates, to hold the audition also the next day or in two phases, in its own judgment. A detailed program of the audition will be announced after the end of application submission.
Candidates will be examined in the following programme:
a. The first movement of a great romantic concerto for violin, with the cadenza, where there is one.
b. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: One of the concerti for violin No. 3 in G, No. 4 in D and No. 5 in A, the first movement with the cadenza.
c. Chosen excerpts from orchestral pieces, copies of which are available for the candidates at the administration offices of the Athens State Orchestra from Monday, October 24th, 2022. Orchestral excerpts are available for download by clicking here.
d. Prima vista, if requested by the Committee.
Each candidate should provide his or her piano accompaniment; permanent residents outside Greece may ask from the Athens State Orchestra to provide the accompaniment. Applications, attached to a brief CV, must be submitted until Monday November 14th, 2022, either at the administration offices of the Athens State Orchestra (Vassilissis Sofias & Kokkali 1, 11521, Athens) or by email to the address (papostolidis@koa.gr).
You can download the application form here.
Permanent Chamber Music Seminar 2022-2023
The Permanent Chamber Music Seminar, which aims to initiate young students and professional musicians into the particular challenges posed by the chamber music repertoire, is run by the cellist Angelos Liakakis and the pianist Titos Gouvelis. As always, the seminar's primary focus this year will be chamber music ensembles in which the strings play alongside the piano. Since the seminar is an Athens State Orchestra educational activity, the classes will be held in the Athens State Orchestra's rehearsal room in the Athens Megaron Concert Hall, while the final concert performed by the ensembles formed for the Seminars will be given in the Dimitris Mitropoulos Hall at the Athens Concert Hall in the spring of 2023. The Athens State Orchestra is exploring additional venues to afford the ensembles further opportunities to showcase their work; any further concert appearances will be announced in due course.
INFORMATION
- A total of seven classes are planned, each lasting one and a half hours. They will take place between December 2022 and April 2023 on these dates: 03/12, 17/12, 14/01, 28/01, 25/02, 11/03 and 08/04.
- The workshop is aimed at advanced students in conservatories and university Music departments as well as young graduates of both, but also existing chamber music ensembles.
- In order to make the ensembles as functional and homogeneous as possible, participants may be asked to take part in a short, ten-minute audition, playing repertoire of their choice. If such auditions are considered necessary, they will take place in the latter half of October.
- Each ensemble will be taught by both teachers in parallel, so as to highlight as many technical, expressive and aesthetic issues as possible, and to make it possible for performers to receive individual hands-on feedback. The repertoire is chosen by the teachers, taking into account both the wishes and abilities of the students.
- For more information or application forms, interested musicians can contact Titos Gouvelis by telephone on 2107257601 or by email at tgouvelis@koa.gr.
The deadline for applications is 14/10/2022. The participation fee is 280 Euros per person for the whole seminar.
2022 08 11 Contest for the facebook friends of the Athens State Orchestra
Until 31 August 2022, friends of the official facebook page of the Athens State Orchestra may apply for a ticket contest: Five auditors will win an invitation for two in a distinguished seat to all three concerts dedicated to Serghei Rachmaninoff (15.02.2023, 17.03.2023 & 07.04.2023). The sweep will take place in Septeber 1st, and the winners will be notified with a personal message.
To apply to the contest, just leave a comment below the post, following the instructions.