Schedule of examinations of permanent Musicians
Following the announcement of examinations for the competition to fill twelve (12) positions of permanent artistic personnel, the Athens State Orchestra announces the final schedule of the examinations.
The schedule of the examinations will remain as follows, unless modifications are necessary due to a higher than expected number of candidates. You are invited to visit the web page of the Athens State Orchestra after the end of the applications period.
MARCH 2018
17 / 3 / 2018 Oboe, 2nd Principal (with obligation to cor anglais)
18 / 3 / 2018 Bassoon, 2nd Principal (with obligation to contrabassoon)
26, 27 and 28 / 3 / 2018 2nd Violin, tutti
29 / 3 / 2018 2nd Violin, 2nd Principal
30 / 3 / 2018 Cello, 2nd Principal
MAY – JUNE 2018
16 / 5 / 2018 Viola, tutti
17 / 5 / 2018 Double Bass, tutti
18 / 5 / 2018 Viola, 2nd Principal
18 / 5 / 2018 Double Bass, 2nd Principal
19 / 5 / 2018 Viola, 1st Principal
19 / 5 / 2018 Double Bass, 1st Principal
6 / 6 / 2018 Percussion, 2nd Principal (with obligation to timpani)
Competition for permanent artistic personnel
The Athens State Orchestra is announcing a competition to fill twelve (12) vacancies of permanent artistic personnel. Applications must be submitted from February 8th, 2018 to March 9th, 2018.
The twelve (12) vacancies of permanent artistic personnel are the following:
a. One (1) position of 1st Principal in violas
b. One (1) position of 1st Principal in double basses
B. Category IV
a. One (1) position of 2nd Principal in second violins
b. One (1) position of 2nd Principal in violas
c. One (1) position of 2nd Principal in cellos
d. One (1) position of 2nd Principal in double basses
e. One (1) position of 2nd Principal in oboes (with obligation to cor anglais)
f. One (1) position of 2nd Principal in bassoons (with obligation to contrabassoon)
g. One (1) position of 2nd Principal in percussion (with obligation to timpani)
C. Category V
a. One (1) position of Musician in second violins
b. One (1) position of Musician in violas
c. One (1) position of Musician in double basses
Candidates must comply with the following criteria:
1. In terms of citizenship they must be:
a) Greek citizens or
b) citizens of a member state of the European Union or
c) Northern Epirotes, Greek Cypriots or Greek ethnics from Istanbul, Imvros or Tenedos; certificates of Greek ethnicity are not required, on the condition that the quality of Greek descent and consciousness is demonstrated in other ways according to the Greek legislation.
d) Naturalized Greeks who have been Greek nationals for over a year by the application deadline can also apply, unless they were citizens of a member state of the European Union until their naturalization.
2. The must have completed their 21st year of age or, in the case of musicians of acknowledged talent, their 15th accordingly.
3. They must be physically suitable to undertake the duties that come with the position for which they are applying, according to the Greek legislation.
4. There should be no hindrance relative to criminal convictions or legal proceedings pending against them according to the Greek legislation and they should not have been judged partially or fully unfit to represent themselves in court according to the Greek legislation.
5. They must hold a diploma or degree in their instrument issued by a certified institution of musical education in Greece or an equivalent diploma by an educational institution abroad.
The competitions will take place in Athens, in the rehearsal hall of the Athens State Orchestra in the Megaron – the Athens Concert Hall.
The starting date for the competitions is March 17th, 2018.
Candidates must submit their signed application until March 9th, 2018, in a special application form, either themselves at the administration offices of the Athens State Orchestra (Vassilissis Sofias & Kokkali 1, 11521, Athens) or by registered post with a sender’s receipt, or by email sent to papostolidis@koa.gr.
The application form as well as the official announcement of the competitions are available to download in the following links:
a) for the application form, click here
b) for the official announcement of the competitions (available only in Greek), click here.
c) for the official summary of the announcement of the competitions (available only in Greek), click here.
d) for the programme in which candidates will be examined, including the orchestral excerpts of the instruments.
Candidates must attach to their application a Curriculum Vitae as well as every other document which could contribute to depict their artistic personality and capability.
Candidates claiming to be considered as musicians of acknowledged talent, must indicate their claim in the relative field of the application form and must submit documents justifying the quality of acknowledged talent.
The validation of this quality will be decided by the Committee of the competition, appointed according to the Law. The Committee, after having examined the relative documents of each candidate of this category (acknowledged talent), will approve the existence of evidence constituting the acknowledged musical talent and will allow to these candidates to participate in the competition.
Candidates of this category who will not attach relative documents to the application for the competition will not be allowed to claim this quality (acknowledged talent) in any later stage.
The examination of the candidates takes place in front of the Committee, without the presence of an audience. Only the presence of Musicians of the Athens State Orchestra and of the same family of instruments with the one in examination is allowed, according to the Greek Legislation.
The lists of successful candidates, by category and instrument, will include an amount of successful candidates equal to the amount of the announced vacancies and will be nailed in the office and on the announcement board of the Athens State Orchestra, in the presence of two (2) employees; relative reports will be redacted, and thereafter sent to the Direction of Administration and Development of Human Resources of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
Successful candidates will be requested in writing by the Direction of Administration and Development of Human Resources of the Ministry of Culture and Sports to submit all legal documents.
From the Management of the Athens State Orchestra
Cancelled: Music for violin and viola
Due to a health issue of one the artists, the Athens State Orchestra has to cancel the concert "Music for violin and viola", programmed for Monday January the 22nd, at the Benaki Museum - Islamic Art. We apologize for the cancellation and we promise to renew soon our meeting in the Museum.
Audition for a Principal B' in Trombones
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 Wednesday, December 6th, 2017 at 15:00 (a detailed program of the audition will be announced after the end of application submission).
Candidates will be examined in the following programme:
A. F.David > Concertino for trombone, op.4, 1st part (tenor)
B. E.Sachse > Concertino for bass trombone, 1st part (bass).
They will also be examined in chosen excerpts from orchestral pieces, copies of which will be available for the candidates at the administration offices of the Athens State Orchestra from Monday, November 20th, 2017. You may also download the same documents by clicking the following links:
1) Tenor trombone
2) Bass trombone
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 Friday December 1st, 2017, 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.
Audition for a Principal A' in Flutes
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 Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017 at 16:00 (a detailed program of the audition will be announced after the end of application submission).
Candidates will be examined in the following programme:
A. W.A.Mozart > Concerto No.2 for flute and orchestra in D major, KV 285d (314), 1st and 2nd part (without cadenzas).
B. J.Ibert > Concerto for Flute, 1st and 2nd part.
They will also be examined in chosen fragments from orchestral pieces, copies of which will be available for the candidates at the administration offices of the Athens State Orchestra from Monday, November 6th, 2017.
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 Friday November 17th, 2017, 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 an application form in Greek here.
New scholars of the Young Musicians’ Academy
New scholars, according to the category of instrument (in alphabetic order) are the following:
FLUTE
- Ventouri Roussou Konstantina
- Golia Martha
- Zineli Anna
- Bourla Anastasia
HORN
- Lagou Evaggelia
- Motsenigou Nafsika-Anna
- Poulimenos Spyridon
- Sapounas Miltiadis
TRUMPET
- Emexezidis Christos
- Noulas Apostolos
CLARINET
- Andreadis Petros
- Giannakas Panagiotis
- Ioannou Stylianos
- Fotis Zaharias
BASSOON
- Koufalakos Dimitrios
- Spyropoulos Andreas-Emmanouil
- Fotopoulos Anastasios
OBOE
- Troulou Makrina
The Young Musicians’ Academy of the Athens State Orchestra operated for the first time during the Artistic-Academic year 2016 – 2017 and is presently moving towards its second one, thanks to the kind grant of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
Congratulations to all young musicians who took part in the auditions. We wholeheartedly wish them a great success.
Call for expressions of interest
For Marketing companies
The Athens State Orchestra is calling for expressions of interest for Marketing companies, who could assume the reinforcement of the advertising of the identity of the Orchestra as well as of its events, during, primarily, the upcoming, winter artistic period 2017-2018 with the possibility of renewal of the collaboration.
Applicants should take into consideration the following:
1. The contribution of the Company which will finally be chosen to collaborate with the Athens State Orchestra will concern mainly a) the reinforcement of the advertising of the identity of the organization and b) diverse ways of advertising each concert of the Athens State Orchestra.
2. The next winter artistic period, the Athens State Orchestra will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its foundation.
3. Besides its regular concerts in its permanent home, which is the Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall, as well as its chamber music concerts in collaboration mainly with the most important Museums of Athens, these last years the Athens State Orchestra has developed a very impressive social and educational program with concerts and ateliers inside and outside Athens.
4. A distinct part of this program is the Young Musicians’ Academy of the Athens State Orchestra, the very promising program for professional tuition of musicians, which the Orchestra started implementing progressively from last year, thanks to the kind grant of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
5. A basic characteristic of the next artistic period is the development of the conquests of the previous three-year period: With the recently renewed mandate of its Director, Stephanos Tsialis, the Orchestra looks towards the future, being aware of its role (as the first in order Orchestra in Greece) and its mission (which consists in the interpretation of the great symphonic repertory, but also the support of the Greek artistic potential). At the same time, it aims at the formation of a constantly increasing and more devoted audience, especially at the young generation.
6. The diligence of the visual identity of the artistic period 2017-2018 (printed programs, posters, banners) has been assigned in G Design Studio, with which the concessionaire company will owe to be in a perfect collaboration, as well as with the Press Office of the Athens State Orchestra.
7. The whole planning of the advertising campaign of the Orchestra for the upcoming season should not primarily exceed in total the amount of 40,000 euros (final cost, including, among others, the advertising space and time as well as all legal charges).
Considering all the above points, applicants should:
Submit in written form until Monday, August 31th, 2017 their detailed proposal or proposals (including the detailed cost per action or per advertising activity) as well as their company’s information and identity. The relevant applications may be submitted either by email at info@koa.gr, or by postal mail at the Athens State Orchestra office, inside the Megaron - The Athens Concert Hall (Vas. Sofias & Kokkali, 11521, Athens); in both cases applications need to indicate “For the Athens State Orchestra call for expressions of interest”.
From all submitted applications, the three most interesting and compatible to the activity of the Athens State Orchestra will be chosen and applicants who will proceed to the next phase will be asked to participate in a meeting with the Direction of the Orchestra on Thursday, September 7th, 2017, in which a complete presentation of the proposal will take place and possible necessary explanations will be given.
Further information on the activities of the Athens State Orchestra may be requested by calling the Athens State Orchestra, +30 210 7257601-3.
Cancelled: Martha Argerich concert
Due to serious health issues, the internationally acclaimed soloist Martha Argerich will be unable to perform at the Athens State Orchestra concert that was scheduled to take place on July 15, 2017, at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. Consequently, the Athens & Epidaurus Festival and the Athens State Orchestra have decided to cancel the concert, hoping to reschedule at some point in the near future and wishing the artist a speedy recovery.
The audience is entitled to a refund as follows:
For tickets purchased with cash: Please visit the Festival central box office (Panepistimiou 39, inside the Pesmazoglou arcade, work days 09:00-16:00 and Saturday 10:00-15:00).
For tickets purchased with credit or debit cards: Cancelled tickets are automatically refunded.
Visual Communication Contest of A.S.O.
The Pink Box (of Solidarity)
Thus, the next step of our cultural synergy will take place during this period: Taking advantage of the first revenue gathered in our “Pink Box”, music ensembles of the Athens State Orchestra will be visiting schools of Attica region hosting young refugees, so as to give mini concerts and music workshops. Besides, Music is a magical “Esperanto”, a common language which is not subject to separations and barriers of any kind. Musical contribution, listening and performing is a way of communication more than direct; it’s genuine and free. Only a few notes are enough to turn Greek kids and Refugee kids, under the same baton and the same scores, in one soul, one coordinated breath. This is what we want. To offer the most direct bridge of communication and delight and, perhaps, to add a tiny link to the big chain of Solidarity and Hope.
Let us remind that the first contribution for our “Pink Box” came from the revenue of the event we organized in collaboration with the Fluxum Foundation and the Flux Laboratory on November 27th, at the Athens Concert Hall. There was a projection of Charlie Chaplin’s movie “The Immigrant”, accompanied by the original music of the Greek-French composer Stefanos Tsapis, interpreted by the Athens State Orchestra with the participation of the first students of the recently founded Young Musicians’ Academy of the Athens State Orchestra as well as of a Jazz ensemble (Dimitris Tsakas-saxophone, Dimitris Korontzis-electric guitar, Marc Buronfosse-electric bass and Arnaud Biscay- drums). Prior to this event, one of our music ensembles had visited the Refugee Reception Center in Lavrio and gave a concert for, but also with children hosted there. In the afternoon of the very same day, Charlie Chaplin’s film “The Immigrant” was projected, under the same musical “conditions”, at the Lavrion Technological and Cultural Park where refugees’ families were invited.
The essence of the experience gained from this co-organization was so touching for all of us that we decided to “turn on official” our cultural synergy with the Fluxum Foundation and the Flux Laboratory, planning much more to come besides our visits to schools…
May we have a nice trip!