Γιόrkin project

We are entering the New Year with a very special concert at Technopolis 20, on Friday 6th of January 2023 at 20:00 with the Γιόrkin project. The project was created by eight young cypriot musicians, with composers and performers alike. Bound together by their shared love for music and their homeland, they want to showcase contemporary cypriot music. The composers Apollon Kalamenios, Rafaellos Christofi, Voris Sarris, Veroniki Rezai and Alexandros Darna composed pieces for the ensemble consisting of Nikola Janjic on the clarinet, Marilia Andreou on the viola and Phaedra Mylona on the piano. In the concert, compositions of the young musicians will be presented, showing different ideas of contemporary classical music and perceptions of sound.

The ensemble will present the following compositions:

Three pieces (7’), Apollon Kalamenios

In Memoriam (4.5’), Alexandros Darna

Minalgia for piano solo (4’), Veroniki Rezai

Flame on Water (15’), Rafaelos Christofi

Piece for solo clarinet (4’), Veroniki Rezai

Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano(10’), Voris Sarris

Entrance: €10 / €5

Tickets available at Technopolis 20 art centre. Call for working hours.

Information/reservations: 70002420

A few words about the musicians:

Apollon Kalamenios was born on April 3rd 2003 in Nicosia, Cyprus. He is at the 2nd year of classical piano Bachelor degree at the Conservatorium Van Amsterdam, studying with professor David Kuyken. Since the beginning of his musical journey, Apollon was interested in becoming an all-round musician, pursuing his musical education around this goal. At the age of seven, he started piano private lessons and since 2014 he had a full scholarship for piano studies at the ARTE music academy from his teacher and director of the academy Pitsa Spyridaki. In September 2019 & 2021, he represented Cyprus in Società Umanitaria International Musical Competition in Milan with ‘’Duo 4RTE’’, performing piano pieces for four hands and as a soloist. Since 2015, he was a member of the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra as well as its academy, in which he had a scholarship for violin studies with Wolfgang Schroeder. Apollon had performances in 2018/2019 in Musikverein Vienna, in 2018 he took part in a concert in Cyprus 'SidebySide' with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam. He developed his aural skills using the Kodály method with Loizos Loizou, with whom he has had music theory, solfège and harmony lessons. Starting from a young age without guidance, Apollon composed mainly pieces for piano 4 hands. Along with his studies , he is having lessons with Meriç Artaç. In January 2019, his piece for wind band 'Impressive Journey' was performed as a world premiere by the Honors Wind Ensemble of Christopher Newport University in Virginia/USA. In 2020, his composition 'Echolalia', a short orchestral piece, was performed as a world premiere by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra as a tribute to his country’s 60 years of independence. In 2022, in collaboration with the dutch ballet dancer and visual artist Wisse Scheele, they created the collection ''Imitating the Old'', four moving image works, in which music imitates and matches the different kinds of motion. During September of the same year, his piece ‘’Ashερόμπασμαν’’ for carillon and electronics was performed during the Gaudeamus Festival in Utrecht.

Veroniki Rezai started her musical career at the age of 6 with cello lessons at the Papadokio Music School of Limassol and at the age of 12 she started piano lessons. She became a member of the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2013, where she had the opportunity to take part in several concerts and play at well-known venues, such as the Musikverein in Vienna. From 2015-2018 she attended the Music High School of Limassol and after her graduation, she continued her further musical studies in cello, at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden. Veroniki is currently studying composition, at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.

Rafaelos Christofi was born in Nicosia, the capital of the small island of Cyprus. He is a passionate award winning acoustic and electroacoustic composer, film scorer and sound designer. He studied classical guitar at the Music School of Nicosia, and he is currently finishing his bachelor’s degree in Classical Composition at Codarts University of Arts. He collaborated and wrote music for various music groups and organisations, including the Dutch National Opera and Ballet and the International Film Festival of Rotterdam, wrote music for short films, documentaries, opera, theatre, and many other interdisciplinary settings. He won the first prize of the International Youth Music Competition in 2021 and the first prize of the Cyprus National Commission UNESCO for a short documentary in 2021.

Influenced by his Cypriot-Cuban family heritage, New York– based composer Alexandros Darna explores his multicultural identity and creates works that are often a vibrant blend of Cuban dance rhythms and Cypriot musical idioms.  His latest symphonic work, Solus, was performed under the baton of Kyle Ritenauer at Neidorff-Karpati Hall in NYC, while a scene from his chamber opera, Meera’s Mask, was coached by life-long champion of contemporary opera Miriam Charney and performed at Ades Performance Space. His recent choral work, Melodies Unheard, was performed by the MSM Chamber Choir under the baton of Ronnie Oliver, and his Olukumi for wind quintet was recorded by Windscape Ensemble for their online concert in 2021. More recently, his Minnaloushe for violin, percussion and piano won the “NY Fed. Of Music Clubs Israel Prize” and was performed in a concert presented by The Society for New Music, at St. Paul’s church in Syracuse, NY. In Cyprus, Alexandros arranged music for twenty-eight-time gold and platinum album vocalist (IFPI Greece) Alkistis Protopsalti and the TrakArt Pops orchestra directed by Aris Antoniades, and most recently his Festivities for saxophone orchestra was performed under the direction of Yiannis Miralis at Strovolos Municipal Theater. Alexandros’ work for film includes Kamno Pilo—directed by Skevi Laou—an official selection of the International Short Film Festival of Cyprus and the West Side Mountains Doc. Fest. in Athens, Greece. Coming from a very small town in Cyprus, Alexandros is the first Cypriot composer to pursue a degree at The Juilliard School (MM). Alexandros holds a degree from the Manhattan School of Music (BM), from which he was recognized for his academic achievement on the Dean’s list. His principal teachers include Robert Beaser, Mark Stambaugh, Juan Piñera and Javier Iha Rodriguez for composition; Ronnie Oliver for conducting. Alexandros is honored to have been the recipient of the Vergottis, and the MSM International Advisory Board scholarship awards.

Voris Sarris is a Cypriot composer based in Milano. His music is influenced by the tradition of Italian opera, jazz, and Greek traditional music. He lived for a short period in Paris playing piano with the Iono quartet. In March 2021 he wrote the theatrical monologue “Λήθηνη Εποχή”, transl: “The Oblivion Age”, and composed the music for the play, which was presented at “theYard 2021” in Limassol. In September 2021 the renowned musical group “Chronos Ensemble” included his quintet “Paesaggi Invernali”, in two concerts in Limassol and Nicosia, dedicated to Cypriot composers. In April 2022, he conducted his chamber opera, “Antigone Entombed”, for string quartet, percussions, and mezzo soprano, in three concerts in Limassol and Nicosia. He studied at the Conservatory of Milan, under the guidance of maestro Marco Tutino and currently, he is completing his bachelor’s at Vilnius, with Raminta Šerkšnyte.

Marilia Andreou was born in Nicosia, Cyprus in 2001. Her musical studies began at the age of 7 when she had her first piano lessons. Later on, Marilia started the violin at the age of 10 and then switched to the viola in 2016 when she joined the academy of the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra with full scholarship. Later in 2016 she also joined the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra as a tutti player and in 2017 became principal violist of the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra. Since 2020, she is doing her bachelor’s degree in Classical Viola at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, in the class of Mrs. Asdis Valdimarsdottir. Apart from that, over the recent years she worked in masterclasses and lessons with Mrs. Diemut Poppen, Mrs. Jennifer Stumm, Mrs. Danusha Waskiewicz, Mr. Walter Reiter, Mr. Peter Barsony, Mr. Simos Papanas, Mr. Nikolas Efthymiou, Dr. Christos Ioannou and Mr. Sorin Horlea. Furthermore, in the past years she played in side-by-side projects with the Berliner Philarmoniker in Pafos, with the Concertgebouw Orkest in Limassol and with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. Moreover, during her studies she had the opportunity to play in the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, and the Netherlands Youth Symphony Orchestra. Marilia is also actively performing in a String Trio which recently participated in the European Chamber Music Academy seminars,performed in the Nocturne Festival in the Hague,  and in other concerts around the Hague. In addition, she took part in the Solon Michaelides competition where she was awarded with an honor prize and also participated in the Cultural Crossroads Festival in 2017,2018 and 2022.

Nikola Janic was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 2000. He first started clarinet lessons at the age of 9 at the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra Academy. In 2012 he joined the Youth Orchestra, where he was first clarinet from 2015 to 2018.He continued his education at the HFMT Cologne in the class of Michael Schmidt where he is currently studying. Nikola was awarded first prize in competitions such as `Solon Michaelides Pancyprian Competition` in 2015 and `International Woodwind Competition` in Pozarevac, Serbia, in 2017. Important musical experiences include playing solo with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra in 2017 as well as with the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2018. In 2019 he appeared as guest principal clarinettist with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, and from 2020-2022 was part of the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra. Nikola has received important impulses from masterclasses with teachers such as Ralph Manno, Kilian Herold, Nicolas Baldeyrou, Francois Benda, Veljko Klenkovski, Jordi Pons, and others.

Originally from Cyprus, Phaedra Mylona is a twenty-two-year-old pianist, who is currently studying at the Liszt Academy of Music, in Budapest, with of Professor Gulyás Istvánas, as scholar student, after she has been nominated with the Weingarten Scholarship in 2022. After she was offered a place with a four-year scholarship, in Bachelor of Music with Honours in Piano Performance, she has graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, in 2022, where she was under the guidance of Dr. Robert Markham and Professor Pascal Nemirovski. Phaedra began to show serious interest in music at the age of seven, when she started having her first piano lessons under the mentorship of Dr. Andri Hadjiandreou and she had been her student since then. Prior to her studies in the UK, at the age of fifteen she decided to expand further her studies by enrolling the Music School of Nicosia, in which she was offered a place with full scholarship after auditioning and passing written examinations with the highest scores. During her third year of studies in the UK, in 2020-2021, she spent a semester at the Liszt Academy of Music, in Budapest, under the guidance of Professor Andras Kemennesh and Professor David Ball as an exchange student, of the Erasmus program after her successful auditions in several Conservatoires in Europe and the USA. While she was in the UK, shehad participated in several concerts such as a chamber music concert with her piano trio in 2018 and a public concert for the “Beethoven Day” at the Beethoven’s festival, in March 2019. In her second year of studies she has been a finalist at the Renna Kellaway Piano Recital Prize and at the Denis Matthews Memorial Prize, in memory of David Brookes, at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. In 2022, she organised her own project, named “Classical Gig”, an unconventional classical chamber music concert, which has been based on her idea and interest in a different way of performing and presenting the classical music, in unconventional venues and different set ups in classical concerts. During her time in Cyprus, she has been participating in concerts and festivals such as, the 1st and 2nd Pancyprian Classic Beat Youth Festival, in 2015 and 2016. She has been a prize winner in distinguished competitions in her country, such as the “National Piano Competition Evangelia Tjiarri”, in 2010, where she received the first prize and in 2013, she participated at the “International Competition Evangelia Tjiarri” for which she was given praise. She has participated in masterclasses with renowned international pianists, such as Peter Donohoe, , Dmitri Alexeev, Katya Apekisheva , Juan Lago, Boris Slutsky, Pavel Nersessian, Simon Callaghan, Andre’ Gallo, Frank van de Laar, Elisso Bolkvadze, Mark Viner, Tania Economou, Irina Kirilova, Christodoulos Georgiades and Elena Mouzala. Phaedra is actively performing solo and chamber repertoire.