CHRISTINA ATHINODOROU

The work of the composer and conductor Christina Athinodorou has been described as “rich”, “intensively interpreted”,“engaging” by international press.

Her compositions have been presented in various classical and contemporary music festivals, concert series and venues, including:  MITO Settembre Musica Festival 2008, Italia Classic-Wave Florence 2007, Spaziomusica Cagliari 2008, Musica Nuova per Natale 2006, Teatro dal Verme Milano,  Spazio MIL (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, London Contemporary Dance School (U.K.), Small Music Theatre Athens, 21st  Century Greek Music for Guitar Project (Greece), 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’s music has been played by 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 and others.

She has also worked with many young talented artists: violinist Alda Dizdari (Aosmon for solo violin),  members of the Liquid Architecture Chamber Ensemble, choreographer Jamie Boylan (In Vein, for vocalist, chamber ensemble and six dancers), Duo Disecheis (Saxum for Alto-Saxophone and Piano), Soprano Katerina Minà, guitarist Nikos Zarkos (Wasted Window for solo guitar), clarinettist Mikko Raasakka, New Noise 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 lead to three commissions and performances with the composer conducting, the Second ‘Premio GERMI’(Rome 2009) and various scholarships.

She has attended masterclasses, workshops and seminars by Philippe Leroux, Peter Sculthorpe, Sarah Walker (Creative Voices, ‘Composing for the Voice’ classes), Ivar Frounberg, Alexander Goehr, James MacMillan (at Piccolo Teatro, Milan, 2006), Peter Stark (Conducting Masterclass at the University of Oxford), Alessandro Solbiati, Sylvano Bussotti, Tapio Tuomela (Orchestral workshop, Time of Music Festival 2008).

As a conductor, Christina Athinodorou has led various professional and amateur ensembles and orchestras and she develops a wide repertoire, while being particularly drawn to 20^th century and contemporary music. She has worked in masterclasses with Jorma Panula and the Orquestra Nacional do Porto in Casa da Música in 2010, and with Peter Eötvös, Zsolt Nagy and the International Ensemble Modern Akademie Frankfurt 2009 with whom she has recorded for broadcast on the SWR. Apart from music by other composers, she often conducts her own works. Highlights included her one-act opera Ita Vivam that was commissioned by the GSMD, and orchestral music, in the UK and Finland.

Christina studied composition and conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, with Julian Philips and Alan Hazeldine respectively, and obtained BMus and MMus degrees. She has also studied orchestration, piano and composition at the Conservatoire National Supèrieur de Musique et Danse de Lyon, France (with Robert Pascal, Denis Lorrain and Olivier Kaspar) and at the University of North Texas at Denton, U.S. (Joseph Klein, Nikita Fitenko).

Christina is currently a doctoral candidate in Composition under the supervision of Dr Michael Zev Gordon at the Royal Holloway University of London, where she has previously taught undergraduate students. Recently she completed her artist residency (2009-10) as a composer at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.