THE ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI – THE CONTEMPORARY MUSIC LAB (PARTNER)
The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is among the most highly ranked tertiary education institutions in Greece. It is the largest university in Greece and in the Balkans. Its campus covers 230,000 square metres in the centre of Thessaloniki, with additional educational and administrative facilities elsewhere.
The Contemporary Music Lab (C.M.L.) of the School of Music Studies at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was founded in 2009 in order to accommodate the research, educational and artistic requirements of the Composition Department of the School at an undergraduate, masters, and doctoral level. Furthermore, one of the main focal points of the C.M.L. activities is the promotion, growth, and development of contemporary music in Greece. Since its foundation C.M.L. has organized several contemporary music activities sponsored by cultural institutions such as the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, I.Kostopoulos Foundation, Thessaloniki State Orchestra among others.
PROF. MICHAIS LAPIDAKIS (PROJECT LEADER)
Michalis Lapidakis was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1960. He began his musical studies at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki where he studied piano with G. Thymis, harmony, counterpoint and fugue with Th. Mimikos and K. Nikitas. In 1988 he earned a Master‘s degree (M.M) in Composition at Boston University where he studied with Th. Antoniou and B. Rands and in 1993 a Doctoral degree (D.M.) in Composition at Northwestern University where he studied with A. Stout and W. Karlins. He has attended composition seminars with O. Messiaen, P. Boulez, T. Takemitsu and I. Xenakis among others.
His compositional output includes works for orchestra (Five Pieces, Three Portraits, ΔIAΔPOMH (Route E-75), Narration: to compose the serenity, In a Sate of Flux IIa, Improptu Noir), various instrumental ensembles (Vera Quartet, Entweder Oder, the “Diary” series, Triptych, Howl), solo intruments (Five Preludes, Prespectives, Comments on a Theme, Akira‘s Dream, Ein andrer Hauch, Taxims), voice (Days, Un soleil noir, Go End There), instruments with electronics (Die Niemandsrose, Pop erotique) that have been performed in Greece (Athens and Thessaloniki Concert Halls) and internationally (Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Wien among others). He has received commissions by orchestras and contemporary music ensembles like Camerata, Symphony Orchestra of Bulgaria, Orchestra of Colours, dissonArt ensemble, Alea III, IAMA trio, UMS ‘n JIP, Interface ensemble e.t.c. and institutions like Athens Concert Hall, Cultural City of Europe 1997, Greek Radio e.t.c. His works have been published by the music house „Philippos Nakas“ and have appeared with various labels (Capstone Records, Lyra, Dissonance Records, e.t.c.). M.L. has also written music for multi-media productions, theater (Tempest by Shakespeare, The new Adventures of Don Quixote by V. Ziogas, The Return of Che by J. Chrissoulis) and contemporary dance (Attractors for the dance ensemble Dancers). He has written several articles about contemporary music at Greek musicological journals and has given lectures at various conferences.
A large part of his music is based on literary and other exramusical sources whereas in all his music one can trace the composer’s tendency to integrate the strict organization of musical structures with a deep respect for the unexpectedness of true improvisation. As a review indicates “Lapidakis displays an intoxicated and elemental fascination with what in German would be called Stoff (a more polysemic term than “material”), and hearing him generate and manipulate it was like watching elaborate wooden curios being hand-turned.”
Michalis Lapidakis has been the artistic director of the Municipal Conservatory of Petroupolis in Athens (1993-2001) and taught advanced theory and composition at the Department of Musical Studies of the Ionion University (1996-2000). In 2000 he has been elected Assistant Professor of Composition at the School of Musical Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Since 2015 Michalis Lapidakis is Professor of Composition. In 2009 he founded the Contemporary Music Lab of A.U.Th. 2013-2015 he was the Head of the School of Musical Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is a member of the Greek Composers’ Union.
ASS. PROF. DIMITRIS PAPAGEORGIOU
Papageorgiou’s music has always had a certain predilection towards various forms of similarity and structural reiteration. In such a context, structural redundancy and parsimony stand at the epicenter of his work, as recurrences of patterns that share the same underlying structure unfold in time, elaborating centripetally on the same structural complex or similar structural features again and again, creating, maintaining and exalting one or various states from a single or from a variety of perspectives.
Dimitri majored in composition with Hermann Markus Pressl and Andreij Dobrowolski at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts at Graz in Austria. From 1998-2002 he held a Presidential Fellowship of the University of Iowa, U.S.A., for a Ph.D. in Composition with Donald Martin Jenni, Jeremy Dale Roberts, and David Karl Gompper. In Iowa, Papageorgiou has taught composition, instrumentation, and orchestration, served as assistant to the director of the Center for New Music (https://uiowa.edu/cnm/), David Gompper, and organized the Composers’ Workshop.
Since 2007, he is appointed as assistant professor of composition at the Department of Music Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
In December 2016 he served as visiting composer at the University of Iowa School of Music and the University of Nevada at Reno, in April 2017 he was visiting composer at the University of Music, Drama and Media at Hanover and in June 2017 as a faculty member at the Delian Academy for New Music (https://www.delianacademy.com/), an international summer academy for composers and sound artists, which is curated under the auspices of Georges Aperghis and is located on the island of Mykonos, Greece. In August 2017 he held a master class in composition in Tehran, Iran.
His works have been aired several times by the ÖRF (Austria), the Greek National Radio (3rd Program and 95.8), and several U.S. Radio Stations. He has appeared in festivals, conferences, and concerts in Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Spain, Russia, Greece, Cyprus, Croatia, Turkey and several States of the U.S.A. (NY, CA, FL, MI, IL, IA, OH, GA).
For numerous of his works he has received awards in composition competitions and won call for scores, such as the Concert Etudes for Piccolo Composition Competition (2016 1st Place, Colorado, U.S.A.), Phasma-Music call for CD recording (2016, Poland/Athens), Matan Givol International Composers Competition (finalist 2016, Israel), SCI/ASCAP Student Composition Commission (2003 2nd Prize, New York, NY), Ensemble iiiiiiiii Internationally Call for Scores ’15 (Seoul, Korea), Ensemble Etcetera International Call for Scores (2013 San Diego, U..S.A.), etc. He is also the recipient of the Doris Wolff Prize (Austria, 1991) and the Hancher-Finkbine Student Leader Award (University of Iowa, 2002).
He has received commissions by several institutions — such as SCI/ASCAP (U.S.A.), Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics of the University of Music and Drama at Graz, Austrian National Radio (ÖRF) and Literature Forum Graz, Kultur Zentrum bei den Minoriten Graz, Thessaloniki Concert Hall — and performers and ensembles — such as Dimitri Polisoidis (violist of the ensemble Klangforum, Austria), Ensemble Interface (Germany), Zeitfluss Ensemble (Austria), UMS & JIP (Switzerland), Trio IAMA (Greece), Ensemble Etcetera (USA), duo Goliardi (Greece), etc.
In 2008 he was composer-in-residence at the festival 4020.mehr als Musik Linz and in 2006 the Minoritensaal Graz programed Papageorgiou’s composer’s portrait. In summer 2012, his work “Effluences” has been heard at the 46th International Summer Course for New Music Darmstadt and in March 2013 Klangforum Vienna performed his work In the Vestige of the Present at the Vienna Konzerthaus, while in 2014 the string players of the Ensemble Klangforum have premiered his string quartet, Quasi (ébauche), at the Ligetisaal of Mumuth Concert Hall, Graz. In 2014, two of his works have been selected with high ratings at the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC/SMC 2014). In October 2016, he was back in Graz with a new piece for the molecular organ (Musikprotokol 2016).
He appeared in the discography in 2005 with the CD “Musing” by Capstone Records, NY, featuring his work “…d’ogne luce muto“. In 2009 his work “In the Vestige of the Present” appeared on the CD “Present Perfect, Vol. 1” by Trio IAMA, which was released by Dissonance Records, and in 2016 his Etude in Quarter Tones for piccolo flute was part of the CD One Minute by Sarton Records, Poland.
For five years, from 2012 to 2014 he worked in two artistic research projects of the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics of the University of Music at Graz, Algorithmische Komposition in Kontext neuer Musik and Patterns of Intuition. These collaborations have led to publications at Graz, Austria: Institut für Elektronische Musik und Akustik, Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Graz, 2012 and New York: Springer, 2014, respectively.
He is the co-founder of the dissonart ensemble, which he served from 2005 to 2014, and he is the co-director of the Contemporary Music Lab (http://cml.web.auth.gr) at the Department of Music Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
His scores are available by BabelScores.
DR. DIMITRIS MARONIDIS (T.T.F.)
Dimitris Maronidis was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1980. He composes acoustic, electroacoustic, mixed media and interactive music. In his most recent works he tries to bring together those fields and he extensively explores algorithmic processes for organizing his musical material. He uses technology to experiment, explore and expand the properties of sounds.
He has studied Composition at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki, musicology at the Music Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Computer Music at the Institute of Psychoacoustics (IPSA). There he was introduced to the techniques of computer assisted composition (CAC), sound synthesis and electronic music theory. He pursued a PhD in music composition at the University of York with Thomas Simaku. His doctoral studies were fully funded by the State Scholarships Foundation of Greece (IKY). In 2011 he moved to United States of America and pursued a post-doc research as a visiting Fulbright scholar at Harvard University. He has been a visiting artist also at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology at the university of Zurich.
His works have been performed in many places and festivals around the world by various ensembles and orchestras (Lorraine Symphony Orchestra (FR), State Orchestra of Thessaloniki (GR), State Orchestra of Athens (GR), Nieuw Ensemble (NL), dissonArt ensemble (GR), Piandemonium (Gr), ContraTempo Chamber Orchestra (GR), Diotima Quartet (FR), Chimera Ensemble (UK), devotioModerna (RO), Construction Ensemble (SRB), Trio Orbit (GR), Ums ’n Jip (CH), Arena Festival (LV) etc.). His electronic works are also regularly performed in many venues across the world (MusLab (Mex), MusicaViva SoundWalk (POR), Open Festiva Venice Biennale (IT), Ars Electronica Forum Wallis (CH), Monaco Electroacoustic Days (MON), Espacio Sonoro (MEX), Forum Neue Musik (DE) e.t.c.
Dimitris is the artistic director of Iannis Xenakis International Electronic Music Competition and a leading member of Contemporary Music Lab A.U.Th. He is a tenure teaching fellow at the music department of Aristotle university where he teaches the courses of music theory and computer music.
PARTICIPANTS
Antonis Rouvelas (student)
Antonis Rouvelas was born in 1987 in Papadianika (Greece). He studied composition in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and continued his Master studies in the University of Music and Performing arts of Graz under the supervision of Beat Furrer. He currently lives in Graz, while working on his Phd degree in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki under the supervision of Dimitri Papageorgiou.
Webpage: www.antonisrouvelas.com
Mihali Paleologou (student)
Mihali is an award winning composer with a varied musical output that includes music for Film, Concert, Theatre, Installation and Dance. Mihali’s music has been commissioned and performed by ensembles and artists such as: the Brussels Philharmonic, Chroma ensemble, Ergon ensemble and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; with performances in Europe, USA, South America, Australia, Japan and China. His recent compositions for Film include the original scores for the Documentary Film ‘Fade to Black’ , winner Impact Docs Award of Excellence 2017, the TV series ‘Lodgers’, winner Best Short at the AFRIFF 2016 (Pilot episode); and ‘Monica’, Best Experimental Film at Short of the Year Mihali is a member of the judging panel for the Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest for Emerging composers (NY, USA) since 2015 and a Jury member at the Scruffy City Film and Music Festival (Knoxville USA). He is the founder of the Fusion Film Scoring Workshops and the Artistic director of the Berlin International Film Scoring Competition 2018.Mihali’s publications and awards include among others, A Different Green for solo flute (by Arcomis), Chinese Notebook (in collaboration with poet D.Agrafiotis) on Readings Web Journal of Birkbeck University of London, finalist for the SABAM Award for Best Young European Composer and First Prize Winner of the Frank Prindl Prize for Best Orchestral Score. He is currently completing his PhD Studies in Contemporary Instrumental Techniques and Composition, at the Aristotle University of Greece with Prof. M. Lapidakis.
Zesses Seglias (student)
Born in Edessa, Greece in 1984.
Studies in Composition and Music Theatre with Dr. Michalis Lapidakis at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2002 – 2008, Bachelor Degree) and with Beat Furrer at the University for Music and Performing Arts of Graz, Austria (2009 – 2011, Masters Degree). PhD candidate at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, under the supervision of Dr. Dimitri Papageorgiou. Selected as an active participant to master classes such as Voix Nouvelles Royaumont 2014, Tzlil Meudcan 2014, Centre Acanthes 2011, Tschaikovsky Academy 2012 and more (Darmstadt Summer Academy 2010, Impuls Academy 2011, 2013) with G. Aperghis, P. Billone, G. F. Haas, C. Czernowin, Μ. Andre, M. Stroppa, Ph. Hurel, K. Lang, P. Ablinger, J. Schölhorn, D. Kourliandski among others. Performed in various cities in workshops and festivals by various ensembles and performers, such as D. Michel-Dansac, P.-S. Meuge, Klangforum Wien (AT), Diotima Quartet (F), MCME (Ru), the DissonArt Ensemble (Gr), the Helsinki Chamber Choir (Fi), L’Instant Donné / Opus XXI Akademie (D – F), Ensemble Berlin PianoPercussion (D), Schallfeld Ensemble (AT), Trio Amos (AT), Vertixe Sonora Ensemble (S), UMS ‘n’ JIP (Sw), and others. In May 2014, his chamber opera hystéra was performed in Graz under the baton of Beat Furrer. In September 2014, his piece ΣΤΕΑΡ was performed during the Voix Nouvelles Royaumont academy by Quartet Diotima; the realisation of the live electronics was made by the composer and Greg Beller at IRCAM. In July 2012, his piece [α-] for chamber choir won him the 1st prize at the International Einojuhani Rautavaara Chamber Choir Composition Workshop and Competition 2012. In 2012 he was also prenominated for the Impuls Competition. After attending Impuls Academy 2013, he was awarded with the Ernst. Composition prize, receiving a residency at the Ernst Krenek Institute in Krems and a commission for the Klangforum Wien. He is/was a finalist at the 6th and 7th Joseph Fux Opera Composition Competition. In August 2017, his opera To the Lighthouse (libretto by Ernst Binder) was given its premiere at the Bregenzer Festspiele, receiving rave reviews by newspapers such as Süddeutsche and Frankfurter Allgemeine. All of his studies have been funded by Greek Foundations, namely the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY), the Onassis Foundation and the Greek Composers Union.
Petros Leivadas (student)
Petros Leivadas was born in Thessaloniki in 1990. He began his musical education at the age of five. He studied at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue and he received his Bachelor Degree in Composition from Aristoteles University of Arts in Thessaloniki (Prof. M. Lapidakis, D. Papageorgiou). In 2015, he completed his Master Degree in Composition with Rebecca Saunders and Joachim Heinz at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. Currently, continues his studies as Solo Klasse Komposition student at the Hochschule für Musik Hannover with Ming Tsao, Gordon Williamson and Joachim Heintz as a scholar of “Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft”. Furthermore, since 2017 he is a PhD candidate of Aristoteles University of Arts in Thessaloniki (Prof. M. Lapidakis). His music has been performed by ensembles such as Ensemble Mosiak Berlin, Ensemble Garage Κöln, Ensemble Sur-Plus and Neue Vocal Solisten Stuttgart.