Postponing of events held by the Athens State Orchestra
The Athens State Orchestra, complying to the directions given by the Ministry of Health and in common with the cultural institutions with whom it collaborated, postpone the programmed events for the next days.
Specifically, the following concerts will not take place:
- 16.03.2020: Chamber Music Concert “Musical promenades at the Museums VIIΙ - In G…” in Parnassos Literary Society.
- 19.03.2020: Concert at Onassis Stegi.
- 24.03.2020: Concert "Heroes ΙΙ, The Athens State Orchestra and the Philharmonic Society of Corfu" at Megaron – the Athens Concert Hall.
- 28.03.2020: Chamber Music Concert " Musical promenades at the Museums IX - Works for flute and percussion" at the Acropolis Museum.
- 3/4/2020 at Megaron – the Athens Concert Hall.
- 6/4/2020 at Megaron – the Athens Concert Hall.
- 6/4/2020 at the Benaki Museum.
- 15/4/2020 at Megaron – the Athens Concert Hall.
For any other change affecting the programme of the Athens State Orchestra, there will be issued relevant information.
Auditors are kindly requested to contact the relevant Cultural Institutions to get a refund for their tickets.
The contact information are as follows:
Parnassos Literary Society: 210 3221917 - 3225310
Ticketservices: 210 7234567, www.ticketservices.gr
Onassis Stegi: 210 9005800, infotickets@onassis.org
The box office of Megaron - The Athens Concert Hall: 210 7282333, tickets@megaron.gr
The Acropolis Museum: 210 9000900, http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr
The Benaki Museum: 210 3671000, https://www.benaki.org
For further information auditors are kindly requested to contact the Athens State Orchestra at 210-7257601-3 or at info@koa.gr
Postponing of the concert "Breakthroughs and Pioneers IV - Beethoven: 250 years"
Understanding the general ambiance of concern and for absolutely preventive reasons, unfortunately we postpone the concert of the Athens State Orchestra that was scheduled for next Friday, 6th March 2020.
Auditors are kindly requested to contact the box office of Megaron - The Athens Concert Hall (210 7282333, tickets@megaron.gr) to get a refund for their tickets.
Vladimir Ashkenazi withdraws from the active concert action
Following Vladimir Ashkenazi's recent decision to withdraw from the active concert action, which has caused us feelings of sadness, emotion and respect, we announce his replacement by the internationally acknowledged Belarusian conductor Vyatcheslav Volich, first conductor of the Odessa National Academic Opera, who will be conducting the Athens State Orchestra during the concert in 28th of March 2020.
Auditors who wish to get a refund for their tickets, are kindly requested to contact the box office of Megaron - The Athens Concert Hall (210 7282333, tickets@megaron.gr).
Linus Roth soloist at Beethoven's violin concerto
Due to force majeure, the internationally acknowledged violinist Areti Zoula will not collaborate with the Athens State Orchestra at the concert 'Beethoven: 250 years', in 28th February 2020. The awarded violinist Linus Roth will be the soloist at Beethoven's violin concerto.
Finally, instead of the awarded piece for new Greek composer in 'Nikos Skalkottas' competition, the concert's programme include the Overture concertante from Nikos Skalkottas's Symphonic Suite No. 2.
Postponing of the concert "Musical promenades at the Museums III - America"
Due to a minor health issue, which affected one of the members of the Woodwind quintet of the Athens State Orchestra, we had to postpone the concert "Musical promenades at the Museums III - America", which was scheduled for December 16th at the B & M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music.
We will inform you for the new date of the concert.
Audition for a Principal B' in Clarinets, December 2019
The Athens State Orchestra is proclaiming an audition in order to cover the position of a Principal B’ in the family of Clarinets (with obligation to both bass clarinet and first clarinet), for a six-month contract with the possibility of renewal.
This engagement complies with the regulations of the current Greek legislation
The audition will take place in the rehearsal hall of the Athens State Orchestra (Megaron – the Athens Concert Hall) on Thursday, December 12th, 2019 at 14:00 (a detailed program of the audition will be announced after the end of application submission).
Candidates will be examined in the following programme:
Clarinet:
a) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major K 622 (1st part without Cadenza)
b) Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Sonata no. 1, opus 120 (2nd movement)
c) Claude Debussy: 1st Rhapsody for Clarinet
Bass Clarinet:
a) Henri Rabaud: Solo de concours for bass clarinet, opus 10 (introduction and slow movement without finale-allegro)
They will also be examined in chosen excerpts from orchestral pieces, copies of which are available for the candidates at the administration offices of the Athens State Orchestra from Tuesday, November 26th, 2019. Orchestral excerpts are also available for download here.
The Committee maintains the right, also depending on the number of candidates, to hold the audition in two phases, in its own judgment.
Each candidate should provide his or her piano accompaniment. Applications, accompanied by a brief CV, must be submitted until Monday December 9th, 2019, 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 (in Greek) here.
Young Musicians’ Academy of the Athens State Orchestra, new academic year 2019-2020
It is with remarkable success that the third year of the ‘Young Musicians Academy of the Athens State Orchestra’, has come to an end. We fair well seventeen more talented young musicians, confident that we contributed to their formation to participate in auditions and competitions all over the world and to enroll in professional orchestras.
Eminent musicians of the Athens State Orchestra, distinguished soloists and conductors assumed this inspiring work.
All students have proven themselves worthy of the particularly demanding conditions, participating in regular concerts of the Orchestra, in Athens and in other cities, as well in chamber music concerts; they were embraced with the best comments by the audience and by musicians of the Orchestra, soloists and conductors.
Thanks are due to the foundation granter of the Academy, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, as well as to Athens Concert Hall Organization, which eagerly embraced this initiative since its beginning, offering the necessary additional venues for the programme.
For the year 2019-2020, we are in the pleasant position to invite six (6) more new musicians to enroll the Young Musicians’ Academy of the Athens State Orchestra, while the until lately freshmen of the Young Musicians’ Academy of the Athens State Orchestra in the classes of strings, percussion and harp, will continue in the second year of their studies.
Obligations of the second-year students (in Greek).
More specifically, the new members for the period 2019-2020 will be:
- 1 flute musician
- 1 oboe musician
- 1 clarinet musician
- 1 bassoon musician
- 1 horn musician
- 1 trumpet musician
Applications for this year will be accepted until Friday, 13/9/2019.
The auditions will take place in Thursday 19/9/2019 and in Friday 20/9/2019.
The application and the documents required may be sent either by post at the Athens State Orchestra (Vas. Sofias & Kokkali 1, 11521, Athens) or by email to the address academy@koa.gr
Obligations of first-year students and conditions for admission (in Greek)
AUDITIONS – REPERTOIRE
The procedure of the auditions will be held identically to the official auditions of the Athens State Orchestra for hiring its permanent artistic personnel.
For the audition of the soloist parts, each applicant should provide for his or her piano accompaniment.
Following you may find the repertoire for each instrument:
FLUTE
To download the soloist and orchestral excerpts for the flute (in Greek), click here.
OBOE
To download the soloist and orchestral excerpts for the oboe (in Greek), click here.
CLARINET
To download the soloist excerpts for the clarinet (in Greek), click here.
To download the orchestral excerpts for the clarinet (in Greek), click here.
BASSOON
Candidates for the bassoon will not be auditioned in orchestral excerpts.
To download the soloist excerpts for the bassoon (in Greek), click here.
TRUMPET
To download the soloist excerpts for the trumpet (in Greek), click here.
To download the orchestral excerpts for the trumpet (in Greek), click here.
HORN
To download the excerpts for the horn (in Greek), click here.
Dimitis Toufexis soloist at the concert 'Tribute to Skalkottas's Year'
Our beloved, internationally acknowledged Greek pianist, Dimitris Toufexis, has been extraordinarily invited to replace the eminent Nelson Freire who, due to health reasons, canceled his participation at the concert 'Tribute to Skalkottas's Υear', which will be held οn Friday, February 15th, at 20:30 in Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall.
Dimitris Toufexis will interpret Sergei Rachmaninoff`s Piano Concerto no. 2, one of the most popular pieces of all times, distinguished for its melodic richness, the honesty of its feelings but also for its brilliant demanding score.
To replace or refund tickets, you are kindly requested to contact the Box Office of Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall (210-7282 333).
A commitment that remains valid
The Athens State Orchestra is in the particularly unpleasant position to postpone the benefit concert for the victims of recent wildfires, scheduled to be held on Thursday, November 8th, 2018. Unfortunately, the virus that troubles hundreds of us, also affected the conductor of the soiree, Stefanos Tsialis.
We will soon let you know how the undeviating commitment of the Orchestra to support our fellow citizens, victims of the devastating wildfire in Eastern Attica, will be fulfilled.
Ticket holders are kindly requested to contact the Box Office of Megaron - the Athens Concert Hall (tel.: 2107282333) for information about the refund of their tickets.
Ten new students for the Young Musicians’ Academy of the Athens State Orchestra
After two years of an extraordinary successful presence and having already bid farewell to the first fourteen students of the Young Musicians’ Academy of the Athens State Orchestra, we are in the very pleasant position to welcome ten more students, who passed with success the auditions that took place on Monday, September 8th and on Tuesday October 10th, 2018.
Very warm congratulations to:
Bourgiotis Platon-Nikolaos (violin)
Revithis Evangelos (violin)
Rousochatzaki Phivi (violin)
Papapanagiotou Vasilios (viola)
Kostourou Semeli-Sophia (cello)
Sidiropoulos-Vellidis Errikos (double bass)
Karatsolis Petros (trombone)
Brendanos Eleftherios (tuba)
Madikas Georgios (percussion)
Peleki Ilektra (harp)