Sofia Kamayianni

for Piano+ and percussion

Potawatomi, a Native American language of the Great Plains region, as described by Robert Macfarlane in his book Underland - A Deep Time Journey, includes the word ‘puhpowee’, which might be translated as ‘the force that makes mushrooms emerge from the ground overnight’. In all its technical vocabulary Western science has no such term, no words to encompass this mystery. In Potawatomi, by contrast, almost all words declare the animacy or in-animacy of that to which they refer. The language is predisposed to recognize life in otherness, and to extend the reach of that category of ‘life’ far beyond its familiar limits in Western thought. This concept fascinated and inspired me, motivating my imagination in the composition of this work. Given that the piece is greatly concerned with timbre and sound, the Piano+ system was ideally suited to take a major role in the piece, since it provides such a variety and range of new sounds from an existing instrument. This approach also continued over into the use of percussion, which was selected and designed in order to contribute to the timbral and then rhythmic world of the piece. 

Click here to view the score and listen to a recording.

Click here to view performance notes, which describe the Piano+ system.

Sofia Kamayianni

for piano and CD

The "dreamy textured" tape (electronic process by the composer) builds on improvisations by the great soloist Manos Avarakis, playing harmonicas, recorders, and the exotic kalimba, all recorded over a period of time especially to be used in creating this piece.

Sofia Kamayianni, piano

Tim Ward - sound engineering, video production

Click here to view the score.

Click here to listen to the recording.

Sofia Kamayianni

for youth symphony orchestra

ca. 2'50"

This piece was premiered in 2015 by the UMBC Symphony under the direction of E. Michael Richards, and the video recording is linked below.

Click here to view the score and listen to the recording.

Click here to view the performance.

Sofia Kamayianni

for cello and piano

In limbo: a state of uncertainty or unresolved status, in between a sense of fleeting moments.

Click here to view the score.

Sofia Kamayianni

for 3 trumpets, trombone, and percussion

ca. 8'30"

"The Steelworkers" was composed in the Autumn of 2012 and was inspired by the nine-month long Greek steelworkers strike that was then underway. This was a historical strike which will be remembered, among other reasons, for taking place at such a unique moment, in Greece being forced to enter the memorandum of understanding that bring extreme and inhuman measures into a society that was in a state of shock. In the work I tried to express my feelings and thoughts arising from this major conflict, the individual issues and fluctuations which were to remain with us for such a long time, and the images in my mind of the workers inside the factory. The steelworkers fought throughout all these months with incomparable strength, resistance, self-denial, collectivity, and solidarity - with huge costs to their own lives that were to become evident for those who continued to followed the story in the years that followed.

Dimitris Gkogkas, trumpet

Alex Mavropoulos, trumpet

Nikos Sarris, trumpet

Spyros Vergis, trombone

Panos Ζiavras, percussion

Click here to view the score.

Click here to listen to a recording of the piece.

Sofia Kamayianni

for soprano, bass, portative, hand gong, and electronics

Dedicated to Tobias Schlierf and Effie Minakoulis.

Performers in the recording:

Εffie Minakoulis, mezzo-soprano

Tobias Schlierf, bass and portatif

Dora Panagopoulou, hand gong

Click here to view the score.

Click here to listen to a recording.

Sofia Kamayianni

for 2-channel tape

ca. 4'30"

The piece explores the parallel world which exists while dreaming, the hidden secrets of the subconscious. We encounter a whole scenery of voices talking in a language full of emotions, feelings, messages--messages which are not clear in the everyday language of the conscious mind but are definitely perceived through other paths. The title was inspired by a short poem of Samuel Beckett “e’coute-les”. The piece is based on vocal samples created mainly by the composer herself, using extended vocal techniques. Source material recorded from performances by the singers Tobias Schlierf and Dora Petridi.

Words without Words was selected for the EBU Ars Acustica 20th anniversary CD.

Click here to view the score and listen to a recording. 

Sofia Kamayianni

for two cellos

This piece was performed by cellists Gita Ladd and Juan Sebastian Delgado at the Livewire Festival of Contemporary Music on 24 October 2024 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Recording and audio engineering was done by Alan Wonneberger.

Click here to view the score.

Click here to watch a video of the performance.

Sofia Kamayianni

for actress, flute, cello, video, and tape

Click here to view the score.

Sofia Kamayianni

for percussion (4 players) and pre-recorded synthesizer

The piece is part of the music theatre work "Rabila Co" mixing live music with speech, poetry, electroacoustic music, physical and digital imagery, and dance. Rabila Co was performed between 4th-6th October 2003 at the Theatre Xororoes, Athens, Greece. The concept, musical composition and overall direction was undertaken by Sofia Kamayianni, with choreography by Olymbia Agalianou.

The video is of a performance by the Kroussis ensemble under the direction of Kostas Sifakis. 

Click here to view the score.

Click here to watch a video of the performance.

Sofia Kamayianni

for double bass

ca. 3'40"

The recording is of Vangelis Zografos performing on double bass.

Click here to view the score.

Click here to listen to the recording (YouTube).

Sofia Kamayianni

for percussion (4 players), and tape

The piece is part of the music theatre work "Rabila Co" mixing live music with speech, poetry, electroacoustic music, physical and digital imagery, and dance. Rabila Co was performed between 4th-6th October 2003 at the Theatre Xororoes, Athens, Greece. The concept, musical composition and overall direction was undertaken by Sofia Kamayianni, with choreography by Olymbia Agalianou.

The video is of a performance by the Kroussis ensemble under the direction of Kostas Sifakis. 

Click here to view the score.

Click here to watch a video of the performance.

Sofia Kamayianni

for flute, clarinet, percussion, and electronics

ca. 11'27"

This piece has a narrative character obviously connected with time as all the stories. I cannot not specify the story that it tells, as it was more or less abstract in my mind during the composition of the piece. However, the path after some time revealed itself and became clear. The live instruments are always in a dialogue with the tape. It was part of the project “3x3 Contemporary Music from Greece and the USA”.

Clepsydra is the Greek word for hourglass.

Click here to view the score and listen to a recording.

Sofia Kamayianni

for solo piano

This piece was commissioned by the “Living Composers Project” (London, 2007) for a concert where all the pieces had the same commitment, 5 short miniatures for solo piano. “The Mirror” was inspired by a poem with the title “It is me” written by a Greek poet-psychologist, Eirini Protopapadaki. Vagueness, detection, conflicts, shadows, contradictions, senses: each miniature follows a path related to these terms.

Click here to view the score.

Click here to view the performance notes.

Sofia Kamayianni

for cello and tape

Mia fora ki enan kero... is an abstract story that gives space to the imagination of the audience. The Storytelling Project was an eclectic mixture of contemporary music and narration – a musical performance featuring elements of theatre mixed with instruments, vocals, electronics, improvisation, original texts and movement.

Storytelling Project, Spiza Patras, European Capital of Culture, 9 Μay 2006

Sofia Kamayianni: composition, piano, percussion

Rania Kelaiditi: actress

Dina Mantzari: soprano

Irina Dimaki: violoncello

Dora Panagopoulou: composition, piano, percussion,

Joe Tornabene: composition, saxophone, actor

Tim Ward: composition, tuba, live electronics.

Click here to view the score.

Click here to watch a video of the performance.

Sofia Kamayianni

for soprano, saxophone, tuba, cello, piano, and actress

ca. 10'30"

This piece is actually a cooking recipe, but one whose instructions are fantastical rather than realistic. It aims to trigger the listener’s imagination and alternative outlook through humor. The score is a graphic one with many ‘open’ elements that invite experiment and interpretation. This score was studied and realized cooperatively by the composer and the specific ensemble involved. The Storytelling Project was an eclectic mixture of contemporary music and narration – a musical performance featuring elements of theatre mixed with instruments, vocals, electronics, improvisation, original texts and movement.

Storytelling Project, Spiza Patras, European Capital of Culture, 9 Μay 2006

Sofia Kamayianni: composition, piano, percussion

Rania Kelaiditi: actress

Dina Mantzari: soprano

Irina Dimaki: violoncello

Dora Panagopoulou: composition, piano, percussion,

Joe Tornabene: composition, saxophone, actor

Tim Ward: composition, tuba, live electronics.

Click here to view the score.

Click here to watch a video of the performance.

Sofia Kamayianni

for flute, clarinet, cello, piano, and percussion

Written for amateur players, or players unaccustomed to contemporary music

Click here to view the score.

Sofia Kamayianni

for piano quartet (violin, viola, cello, and piano)

The piece, written in 2004, is built from three parts with bridge passages between each part in the form of solo piano sections. The mystery refers to my esoteric world at that time as well as to several abstract senses that I could not explain to myself. The ostinato of the third part is based on a Greek word meaning 'unsolved', with the mystery ending up in this way.

The linked video recording was performed by Airi Yoshioka (violin), Maria Lambros (viola), Gita Ladd (cello), and Audrey Andrist (piano).

Click here to view the score.

Click here to view the performance.

Sofia Kamayianni

for one violin, three cellos,  and two basses

In ancient times people discovered that the study of numbers and their relation between them could lead them to wisdom, to the knowledge of holy rules–the universal laws?–and to the growth of their mentality. ARITHMOSOFIA .

What are numbers for us today? An endless expression of quantity? What happened to their previous quality? It seems that we are living in a cataclysm among thousands of crazy numbers, which “allow” us to communicate. ARITHMOPLIXIA.

So, this piece had the meaning to show the huge distance between the wisdom of "number" (arithmos-sofia) in ancient times and its devolution nowadays where you use it and you hear it everywhere and all the time in a crazy, absurd way. The exaggeration of the text in the second movement shows this frenetic reality.

The piece was selected in 2004 for the annual contemporary music workshops held in the Athens Megaron concert hall and organized by the Greek Composers' Union under the direction of Theodore Antoniou. 

Click here to view the score (English).

Click here to view the score (Greek).

Sofia Kamayianni

for string quartet

ca. 4'45"

Click here to view the score and listen to a recording of the second movement.