Sofia Kamayianni is a composer, musician, and educator. Her musical journey reveals a wide range of musical interests, heartfelt collaborations, unexpected experimentations and constant quests. Her philosophical, inner, and social reflections have a strong influence on her artistic path. Timbre and rhythm are core elements in her compositions, whether they are intended for natural instruments and voices or include electronically processed sounds.
Her music has been performed throughout Europe (including London, Val Tidone and Piacenza in Italy, and many locations in Greece, Holland, Germany, and Luxembourg) as well as in the USA (2011 Livewire Festival at UMBC, 2011 IAWM Congress, Arizona, and 2015 Baltimore). She has worked with numerous musical ensembles (including the Kreutzer Quartet, the Camerata Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Athens, UMBC Symphony Orchestra, Rosarte Choir, Ruckus Ensemble, Greek National Radio Contemporary Music Orchestra of Greek National Radio, L'Anima, and the Kroussis Ensemble) as well as with a diverse range of solo performers.
Her electroacoustic works have also been performed abroad at festivals such as the International Women's Electroacoustic Music Festival (2006, 2008, 2009). Her electroacoustic work Words Without Words was selected by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Ars Acustica for inclusion on the double CD released to celebrate its 20th anniversary (2009).
Stagemusic, whether experimental multimedia works or musical theatre, is a constant interest of hers that has evolved through the years in a process of constant exploration. This special interest in musical theatre can be seen in her first opera The Cloud In Love, based on the works of the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet, with its innovative use of a children’s choir in a central role, which completed a sold-out run at the Alternative Stage of the Greek National Opera (2022) and was repeated in December 2023 with equal success. A similar highlight is her work I Went Through…, which is based on the work of the renowned Greek poet Kiki Dimoula, with whom Kamayianni collaborated in the creation of recordings of the poet which feature centrally in the work. This use of recorded sound in combination with acoustic instruments has become a notable feature of her work.
Highlights of Sofia’s earlier activity in music and multimedia works include her play Rabila Co (contemporary music, dance, poetry, and images) which was staged in the Hororoes Theatre (Athens, 2003) and her experimental project MESA sto mesa of 2006 (actress, video, flute, cello, and recorded tape). In 2006 Sofia Kamayianni also took part as a composer and performer in the music theatre work The Storytelling Project, which was commissioned and funded as part of the 'European Capital of Culture: Patras 2006', Greece.
She has composed many songs and music for theatre (National Theatre, State Theatre of Northern Greece, Elefsis Cultural Capital 2023, etc.), short films and video art, dance performances, and visual and sound installations.
She composed the music for the ancient Greek tragedies Persians (KTHVE, 2014) and Agamemnon, both by Aeschylus (Kozani Theatre, 2013) and directed by Nikaitis Kontouris. These performances toured and were presented, among others, at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus (Persians) and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (Agamemnon).
She has taken part in many music ensembles and performances and appears as a musician and performer in concerts, events, festivals, music stages and theatres.
Sofia has worked as a musician across a wide range of fields in Greece and abroad. Between 1992 and 2000 she was a member of the Plucked String Orchestra of Patras, performing throughout Greece and around the world (Italy, Germany, Austria, Japan etc.). She made many of the arrangements of Greek songs which were performed and recorded by the ensemble. In 1996 she was appointed to arrange Mikis Theodorakis's cycles of songs for piano and voice by the composer himself (published by Romanos Editions). At the same time she also began longstanding collaborations as a pianist with a variety of different singers and ensembles in Greece appearing as a musician and performer in concerts, events, festivals, music stages and theatres. Together with the harmonica virtuoso Manos Avarakis they form a special musical duo.
From 2003 to 2007 Sofia Kamayianni was commissioned together with Dora Panagopoulou to write, produce, and present the program Twenty First Century: Trends and Experimentations for Greek National Radio (ERT Radio 3) - a weekly program exploring and discussing the newest of contemporary music.
An important part of her life is "Spiza," of which she was a founding member. Spiza closed in 2023 a very long circle, as an association. For many years, difficult and complex projects were implemented thanks to the perseverance, passion, and unstinting cooperation of its members. www.spiza.gr
Teaching is also a powerful pole of creativity for her, where knowledge, research, and experience come together. She was appointed in 2005 to lead the educational programs organized by the Music Ensembles of Greek National Radio. She has undertaken similar assignments in schools, conservatories, and theatrical groups, always with an educational interest focusing on musical expression within practical team activities (Onassis Foundation, Orff Music and Movement School of the Moraitis School, Opera Studio Patras, Municipal Conservatory of Nafplion, etc.).
She has a particular love of group music making, and this regardless of the age of the participants. In her career she has coached groups of all ages, from infant to 80+, in informal or formal education settings. In recent years she has taken a particular interest in music in the community which centers on connecting people through art, thus highlighting its social role.
Sofia Kamayianni's formal musical education includes piano studies at the National Conservatory of Athens, Greece, and classical percussion and harmony at the Municipal Conservatory of Patras, Greece. She also studied composition for theatre and cinema with the composer Dimitris Papadimitriou at the Phillipos Nakas Conservatory in Athens, Greece (1997-1999). In 2001 she graduated from Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK, with an MMus in Contemporary Composition under the supervision of Sadie Harrison. In 2004 she attended the composition seminars of C.A. Landini at the Conservatory of Piacenza, Italy, and in 1999 she participated in the international summer course 'Music and Dance Education: Orff-Schulwerk' in Salzburg, Austria. In 2021 she successfully completed the program "The Voice in Song" (E-learning) of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Sofia is also a graduate in mathematics (BSc) from the University of Patras, Greece, and in mathematical education (MMus) from the University of Leeds, UK.
Links
The following are links to external websites and will open in a new window:
Sofia Kamayianni's YouTube channel