The work of the composer and conductor Christina Athinodorou (b.1981, Cyprus) has been described as “rich”, “intensively interpreted” by international press. Upon completion of her music studies in the UK and France, she pursues activity as a composer-conductor developing a varied list of compositions and a wide repertoire with a particular interest in 20th century and contemporary music.
Her compositions have been presented in various classical and contemporary music festivals, concert series and venues, including the Biennale di Venezia 2011, MITO Settembre Musica Festival 2008, Italia Classic-Wave Florence 2007, Spaziomusica Cagliari 2008, Rebus Festival 2010, Musica Nuova per Natale 2006, Teatro dal Verme Milano, (Italy), Festival Forfest 2006 (Czech Republic), Young Rising Artists’ Series 2008 (Cyprus) Labyrinthmaker Project (tour in twelve countries), Viitasaari Musiikin Aika Festival 2008, New Music Festival PeriFÈRIA 2009 (Finland), the Reading and Dartington Halls, The Lauderdale House, The Warehouse London, British Music Information Centre ‘New Music Mart’ 2008 (U.K.), Kulturhaus Lüdenscheid, Düsseldorfer Tonhalle, Musikclub Konzerthaus Berlin (Germany), Kanagawa Art Hall (Japan), Chamber Concert Series of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra 2009 (Belgium) and elsewhere.
Christina has collaborated with notable performers such as: Pierrot Lunaire Ensemble Wien (Simul: Lumini, Sombri trio for clarinet, cello and piano), Ensemble Sentieri Selvaggi (Aktaí for chamber ensemble), Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra (Reverse Rivers’Images of Euboea’ for Symphony Orchestra, Naked Branches I for String Orchestra), St Albans Symphony Orchestra/City of London Sinfonia (Overture for the Red Rain for Symphony Orchestra), Jyväskylä Sinfonia Finlandia (Quatre Silences for Chamber Orchestra), Borealis Brass Ensemble (Cantus Cyprius for Brass Octet), Endymion Ensemble with Stephen Gutman and Richard Benjafield (Midnight Pulses II for chamber three clarinets, piano and percussion), Guildhall Percussion Ensemble (Sword Dance for Six Percussionists), trumpet player Paul Archibald, Contemporary Consort, Okeanos Ensemble, Timo Kinnunen (Virgules for Solo Accordion), oboist Piet Van Bockstal, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra (Black Circles for Orchestra), Camerata Europaea, violinist Alda Dizdari (Aosmon for solo violin), conductors such as Jean Deroyer and Paul Cosh, choreographer Jamie Boylan (In Vein, for vocalist, chamber ensemble and six dancers, performed at the London Contemporary Dance School), Duo Disecheis (Saxum for Alto-Saxophone and Piano), clarinettist Mikko Raasakka, New Noise, guitarist Nikos Zarkos, clarinettist Cristo Barrios (Pyrophane, premiered at the Festival de Música Contemporánea Keroxen10 of Tenerife) who then joined the Elias String Quartet in the première of Sterna, a clarinet quintet commissioned by the Pharos Arts Foundation.
As a conductor Christina has worked with the London Sinfonietta, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto, Jyväskylä Sinfonia Finlandia, International Ensemble Modern Akademie Frankfurt with whom she has recorded for broadcast on the SWR, Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra, St Albans Symphony Orchestra and others. She actively participated in masterclasses led by Pierre-André Valade (King`s Place, London 2011), Jorma Panula (‘Maestros do Futuro’, Portugal 2010), Peter Eötvös and Zsolt Nagy (Germany 2009) and Peter Stark (University of Oxford 2008). Apart from music by other composers, she often conducts her own works. Highlights included Ita Vivam, her one-act Opera commissioned by the GSMD, and orchestral music in the UK and Finland. She has also appeared in concerts with the Southampton Wind Orchestra, the Guildhall Percussion Ensemble, the Royal Holloway Sinfonietta and other ensembles at the Notting Hill MayFest, The Place and elsewhere.
She actively participated in the Ateliers de Composition with the Orchestre Nationale de Lorraine in Centre Acanthes studying with Philippe Hurel (Metz, France 2011), in the Orchestral workshop led by Tapio Tuomela during Time of Music Festival 2008, in the composition masterclass with James MacMillan (at Piccolo Teatro, Milan, 2006), Sarah Walker (Creative Voices, ‘Composing for the Voice’ classes, London 2004-5) and attended seminars given by Philippe Leroux, P.Sculthorpe, I.Frounberg, A.Goehr, A.Solbiati, S.Bussotti and others.
Her distinctions include the Aristotle University Chamber Music Composition Prize (Thessaloniki 2005), the Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra Young Composers’ Award (U.K 2006-7) which led to three commissions and performances with the composer conducting, the Second ‘Premio GERMI’ (Rome 2009), the “Dame Felicity Lott” Award (given to a promising young musician in the field of performance/conducting) and various scholarships (Solti Foundation, Royal Holloway, Cyprus Ministry of Culture and others).
Christina graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where she studied composition with Julian Philips and conducting with Alan Hazeldine (BMus and MMus degrees). She spent a period of integrated study in France where she took courses in orchestration, composition and electronic music with Robert Pascal, Olivier Kaspar and Denis Lorrain at the Conservatoire National Supèrieur de Musique et Danse de Lyon. Christina spent a year in Paris as a Resident Composer at the Cité Internationale des Arts (2009-10) and in early 2011 she completed her PhD in Composition from the Royal Holloway University of London, under the supervision of Prof. Michael Zev Gordon. She currently works as a freelance composer and conductor, as well as an educator in both private and university sectors.