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.
Enkela Kokolani
Enkela Kokolani started taking her first violin lessons at the age of six years in the Music School of Gjirokastra, to continue later with viola lessons. She graduated in the Academy of Arts in Tirana, in the class of professors Gjergj Pekmezi, Arben Llozi.
In 1995 and 1996, she was member of the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra, based in Aix-en Provence, France.
From September 1996 she was guest member as tutti musician of Athens State Orchestra and in 2001 she became its permanent member. She has also collaborated with other Orchestras in Greece, as the Greek National Opera Orchestra and the City of Athens Symphony Orchestra, where she has been a principal viola member for a period. She has followed various seminars in Greece and abroad, under the tutelage of Professors Bruno Pasquer, Rainer Moog and Grigori Zhislin.
She appeared as soloist with Athens State Orchestra, the Intrarti Orchestra, performing in compositions such as: Hoffmeister – Concert for Viola and Orchestra (first performance in Greece).
She participated in various groups of Chamber Music in Greece, Austria and Germany, as the Ensemble Modern, Kyklos Ensemble, Intermezzo String Quartet and others. She participated at Festivals of Music in Syros and Paxi, Greece and in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary.
From 2007 to 2010 she was teacher of violin and viola at the Municipal Conservatory of the city of Zografos and in Santorini, Greece.
During 2011-2013, she accomplished post-graduate studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria, in the class of Professor Christian Euler, where she obtained the Acamedic degree of Master of Arts.
From 2016 she is second Principal viola at Athens State Orchestra.
Demetra Angelopoulos
Demetra Angelopoulos was born in Greece, and raised in Canada, studying both piano and violin. Awarded her Diplôme from the Athens Conservatory under I. Carter, she received her Master of Music Degree in 1988 from the University of Toronto, under the tutelage of Professor Lorand Fenyves. Having participated as member of many International Youth Orchestras, including the E.C.Y.O., she also taught at two Athens Conservatories for 20 years. She has been a member of the first violin section of the Athens State Orchestra since 1990.