compilations
silent landscapes
between the silence
Between the Silence is a miniature work for solo piano commissioned by —and dedicated to— Greek pianist Erato Alikiozidou. It was written as part of Alikiozidou’s M.M.S. (Mediterranean Miniature Sketches) project, an initiative involving commissioning Mediterranean-inspired works by twenty-five composers of Hellenic descent. The world première of the work is to take place at the University of Aveiro (Hands-on Piano festival), in Aveiro, Portugal, in November 2019, with repeat performances at the Thessaloniki State Symphony Hall and the Athens Conservatory (Greece) and repeat performances in Spain, Italy, Serbia, and Poland.
—BRIEF PROGRAM NOTE:
…Music can sometimes be a small parenthesis between vast silence pillars. Such is the art of man who seeks to see the shadows of time and space in the beyond…
about erato alakiozidou
Erato Alakiozidou is a distinguished Greek pianist deeply involved in contemporary music, artistic exploration, and educational endeavours. Over the past few years, she has immersed herself in studying and promoting works by 20th and 21st-century Greek composers. She has earned recognition from renowned contemporary composers who have dedicated pieces to her and entrusted her with world-premiere performances.
Her repertoire is extensive and encompasses a broad spectrum of classical and contemporary compositions, with a particular focus on tango music. Her exceptional talent and contributions to the arts have garnered praise from various quarters, including accolades from the Greek Union of Greek Reviewers for Theatre and Music, as well as commendations from esteemed publications such as Gramophone Magazine, Classica French Magazine, and Piano News, along with international reviewers.
—after the storm
After the Storm is a single-movement work for piccolo and piano, it is included in the compilation Fair Weather, recorded and released (online only) by Piccolata Productions in 2018, featuring piccolo player Nan Raphael and pianist Brad Clark.
Commissioned by Raphael, the works is somewhat programmatic: it starts with a sonic representation of sparrow, swallow, and other bird sounds, as I remember them from the time I was a toddler during the spring and early summers in my family home garden. It then proceeds to a development that, even if quasi-rhapsodic, carries its earlier innocence and pureness—that of a young child observing nature's wonders through picture and sound. The piccolo, which depicts the young child, always adds imagination to the scenes, with runs, melismas, and octave displacements, with the piano part often playing the role of a ‘brother’s keeper,’ striving to bring the child back to reality.