News – Updates

The Athens State Orchestra is proclaiming an audition in order to cover the position of a Principal A’ in the family of Flutes, 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 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.

It is with great pleasure we welcome the 18 new scholars of the Young Musicians’ Academy of the Athens State Orchestra, who completed successfully the procedure of auditions that took place on September 20th and 22nd, 2017.
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 of the Athens State Orchestra
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.

The Athens State Orchestra announces the holding of a visual communication contest aiming to choose partners (designers as freelancers or designing companies) who will assume the designing of its advertising campaign and of all its printed material (annual program, program of each concert, posters, banners, advertising publications etc.) for the following winter artistic period 2017-2018.

Applicants must take into consideration that the Athens State Orchestra’s campaign should be based in a general idea which could be remodeled and feed with a different illustration the printed material of each one of the concerts. Detailed information about the “physiognomy” of the next artistic period of the Orchestra, which also must be taken into consideration by the applicants, as well as general information on the contest, may be requested by email at pressoffice@koa.gr or by phone, calling the Athens State Orchestra in +30 210 7257601-3.

Applications must be submitted in a written form (maximum 500 words) until June 30th, 2017, together with applicants’ information and identity and (if existing) their company’s information and identity. Relevant applications may be submitted either by email at pressoffice@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 visual contest”.

Of all submitted applications, the three most interesting and compatible to the activity of the Athens State Orchestra will be chosen and applicants who will participate in the next phase of the contest will be asked to submit a complete designing aspect of their proposition.

We named it “Pink Box”, because pink was, accidentally, the color of the box in which the first contributions were gathered, because later we thought that pink is a color that rimes with childhood, love, innocence and carefreeness and, last but not least, because… we liked it: It’s the open moneybox which we, in the Athens State Orchestra, created together with the Fluxum Foundation and the Flux Laboratory, binding a collaboration which, aiming at the offer of some, even small, assistance to the refugees, started a few months ago with the Immigrant Project, but in no case ended then.
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!

The “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”, also known to the public as Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, with the Syrian soprano Racha Rizk as soloist and the collaboration of Musicians of the Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra (SEPO) with the Athens State Orchestra, under the baton of Daniel Raiskin, one of the most prominent conductors of the new generation, marks the beginning of the musical events of documenta 14.

With this touching, symbolic concert that binds the Passion of Christ to the Human Tragedy, Megaron chose to inaugurate this year its most popular Cycle “Adagio”-Music for Easter, its well known, spiritual “journey” through the paths of classical and contemporary religious music (8-10/4). For the same- symbolic- reasons, Athens State Orchestra also chose this to be its established Easter concert.

Part of the concert proceeds will be given in favor of the Doctors Without Borders program for refugees, as well as in favor of the "Pink Box», Athens State Orchestra’s initiative, that is, to support the children of refugees hosted in our country.

This is actually a project by documenta 14 artists Ross Birrell and David Harding, based on the famous Third Symphony of Henryk Górecki. The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is the Polish composer’s best known work. It’ s a poignant lament for orchestra and soprano in three movements, each focusing on the sense of hopelessness, separation, and loss, experienced by parents and children as a consequence of war.

The concert opens with Fugue by Ross Birrell and Ali Moraly, a tetrastich for violin solo, based on the poem Death Fugue by Paul Celan. Moraly will also be the soloist.

Documenta 14 is definitely the most respected exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany, presenting all the new artistic tendencies to an international public. This year it takes place for the first time in Athens (8/4-16/7) apart from Kassel (10/6-17/9). Part of the performances in Athens is a number of concerts that will be held at the Megaron.

A free introductory talk for ticket holders will be held prior to the concert.

Tickets available electronically at the website of Megaron and at Megaron's box office.

The Concert Hall of Ateneul Roman in Bucharest, Romania.