Ludmila Limorova
Ludmila was born in Moscow and at the age of 6 started her music studies (violin) at the music school named after V.Muradeli and the music college named after M.Ippolitov-Ivanov. She graduated with excellent degree (her professors in quartet class were Semion Bezrodni and Valentin Berlinski, a chellist, People’s Artist of the Soviet Union* and soloist of Borodin’s quartet), the quartet of the college where she played the first violin was granted an award at the All-Russian quartets’ competition *(the highest honorary title of the artist in the USSR).
Later she studied and graduated from the State Moscow Music Academy named after P.I.Chaikovsky with professor Dmitry Tsyganov (first violin of Beethoven’s orchestra, Dmitry Shostakovich dedicated his quartets to this orchestra), People’s Artist of the Soviet Union, and Zoria Shichmourzaeva who was granted 4 awards at international violin competitions.
At the same time for 4 years she attended classes of symphony orchestra conducting in the class of Dmitry Kitaenko, People’s Artist of the Soviet Union.
After she completed her studies she became a member of Moscow chamber orchestra (granted an award at Berlin festival).
Since 1984 she played the second violin and was the soloist of the orchestra “Musica Viva” under the direction of Alexander Rudin and made numerous recordings and in the Soviet Union and toured in numerous countries of Europe and Asia.
From 1987 to 1993 she worked in State Academic orchestra of the Soviet Union under the direction of Evgeni Svetlanov and as a soloist toured with the Bolshoi ballet.
Since 1993 she has been living and working in Greece.
In 1993-2005 she was a member of State Orchestra of Athens where she played the role of the first violin.
She played the second violin at the 3d programme Orchestra and the Patras orchestra. She has taken part in Megaro mousikis productions.
She teaches the violin at the National conservatory and the conservatory “Anagennisi”.
She is the founder of the orchestra “Hellenic Musica Viva”.
For 20 years she was the conductor of the symphony orchestra of the National conservatory.
From 2007 to 2013 she worked in the Orchestra of Greek National Opera. Since 2015 she works in the State Orchestra of Athens.
Nikos Mandilas
In 1990, he received his violin diploma with honours, first prize and a medal of distinction at the Hellenic Conservatory, where he studied with the distinguished professor Stelios Kafantaris and continued studies with him until 2000. In 1991, he did postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, with the financial support of the “Mousigetis” foundation. In 1993, he continued his studies, under an IKY (State Scholarships Foundation) scholarship, at the Stuttgart Hochschule für Musik and received the postgraduate diploma in chamber music, in the Melos String Quartet class, the post-graduate violin diploma with honours in 1997 and the soloist diploma (Solisten Klasse) in 1999, in Wilhelm Melcher’s class. He participated in violin seminars with Z. Bron and H. Harutyunian, in chamber music seminars with H. Buchberger at the Frankfurt Academy, as well as string quartet seminars held by members of the Amadeus, Alban Berg, Bartholdy and Cleveland String Quartets. He was born in Corfu and he studied violin at the Philharmonic Society and the Conservatory of Corfu.
He has given recitals and chamber music concerts in Greece, England, Germany, Switzerland. He has collaborated as a soloist with various orchestras, including Athens State Orchestra, Thessaloniki State Orchestra, London Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Academy Symphony Orchestra, Nafplion Festival Orchestra, York University Orchestra, Corfu Symphony Orchestra, Patmos Festival Orchestra, Orchestra of Corfu Philharmonic Society, Athens Municipal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Music Teachers’ Association of East Macedonia-Thraki and others. He was awarded the third prize at the Bubenreuth string quartet International Competition (Germany, 1993) and the first prize at the HELEXPO chamber music competition (Thessaloniki, 1994). He had been member of the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Saint Gallen Symphony Orchestra. He received a viola diploma with “Excellent” and a first prize in 2007 at Phaethon Conservatory in Alexandroupoli. He has recorded music for the Third Programme of the Greek Radio. He is member of the piano-trio Diapason and of the string quintet Quintarco. Since 2003, he is first Principal and Associate Concertmaster in Athens State Orchestra.
Ηe has been violin and viola professor for twenty years (2002-2022) at the Municipal Conservatory of Argos. Since 2002, he is violin and viola professor at the Corfu Ionian Conservatory. In 2013 he taught violin at the School of Arts-Music of the University of Surrey in England. Since 2015 he is teaching violin and viola at the Filippos Nakas Conservatory and since 2018 at Deree-The American College of Greece. His students have repeatedly been awarded at competitions in Greece.
Vasilis Soukas
Vasilis Soukas was born in Athens, Greece in 1993. He started to play the violin at the age of 5. In June 2012 he graduated with a violin diploma with Excellent performance and 1st prize award from the Conservatory of Petroupoli’s Municipality in Athens, with Nikos Despotopoulos as a teacher. The two years of practicing under the guidance of Simos Papanas played a significant role for Vasilis and introduced him to the baroque violin playing. In 2016 he completed the Bachelor degree of violin performance programme in ‘’Sibelius Academy’’ University of the Arts Helsinki, in Finland, with Pekka Kauppinen and Minna Kangas (baroque violin).
Vasilis has participated in numerous concerts in Greece and abroad. He has been concertmaster of the Greek-Turkish Youth Orchestra (GTYO) and the Camerata junior of the society ‘’Friends of Music’’ where he also was a teacher assistant in 2017-2019. From 2014 until 2016 he has been a member of Kirkkonummi Chamber Music Orchestra (Finland) and Sinfonieta Lentua (Finland-Russia), having also performed with Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Jean Sibelius Orchestra and Helsinki Sinfonietta. His professional debut as a soloist took place in October 2016 in Finland, where he performed Paganini’s 1st violin concerto with Kirkkonummi Chamber Music Orchestra. In December 2023, he performed all the Ysaÿe sonatas for violin solo in a single recital. Vasilis is a permanent member of Athens State Orchestra since 2017 and a member of the ‘’Aenaon Quartet’’.
He has participated in violin and chamber music masterclasses/workshops with: Leonidas Kavakos, Ilya Gringolts, Yuri Zishlin, Olivier Charlier, Yair Kless, Dimitri Semsis, Simos Papanas,, Christos Kanettis, Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen, Martti Rautio and Herwig Zack.
Faidon Miliadis
He has been a member of the Athens State Orchestra since 2017, where he served as concertmaster since 2021 and is now leading the second violin section (as of 2023). Faidon began his violin studies at the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki with professors Kostas Vozikis and Irina Dragneva. He then studied with Adrian Levine at the Royal College of Music in London and Kati Sebestyén at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, acquiring a Bachelor and a Master of Arts degree, supported by a full scholarship by the National Scholarship Foundation. He was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, with whom he repeatedly toured Europe and America, while at the same time he focused on chamber music, performing in venues and festivals across Europe. Since 2014, Faidon resides in Athens where he regularly collaborates with artists and ensembles in a wide range of projects, from early music concerts to avant-garde staged performances and was appointed a co-principal first violin at the National Opera of Greece. As a soloist, he has performed with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra and the Athens State Orchestra. He is a founding member of trio elGreco, one of Greece’s leading chamber music ensembles in recent years.