Wednesday, 2 July 2008, Markideion Theatre, Pafos, 20:30
Thursday, 3 July 2008, Strovolos Municipal Theatre, Lefkosia, 20:30
Soloists: Victoria Mavromoustaki (violin), Eleni Mavromoutaki (piano)
Music Direction: Yiannis Hadjiloizou
Programme:
F. J. Haydn: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in D Major
B. Bartok: Roumanian Folk Dances
P. Sarasate: “Zigeunerweisen”, Op. 20
M. Ravel: “Tzigane” Rapsodie de concert for Violin and Orchestra
C. Saint- Saens: Symphony No. 2, Op. 55 in A Minor
Tickets available at the Theatres’ box office at €10 and at €5 for pensioners
Free entrance for students, soldiers, student card and EURO<26 card holders
Born in Lemesos, Cyprus, Victoria Mavromoustaki began studying violin at the age of three under Professor Andreas Konstantinou, and made her début recital at the age of seven in a concert series featuring music by Mozart. Showing a precocious talent, she won numerous awards and prizes including, in 1999, a scholarship to study at the Purcell School of Music in the UK. During her time there she studied under Maciej Rakowsky and performed in venues such as Wigmore Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, St. James’s Piccadilly, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. In 2001, she enrolled at the Royal College of Music to study under professor Itzhak Rashkovsky and graduated with a Bmus (Honours), 2005 and a Postgraduate Diploma in advanced performance, 2007. She was a RCM scholar and was supported by the MBF Myra Hess award, the Kit and John Gander Award and the Joan Weller award. Victoria was an award winner at the Royal Overseas League annual Music competition 2006, where she received the Philip Crawshaw memorial prize for a musician of promise from overseas. She has given performances in Africa, Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK and has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Commonwealth Resounds Arts Festival which took part in Uganda, as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Victoria has also recently got involved with charity work. She has donated several recitals to help raise money for different organisations and Trusts such as “Action on Addiction”. Engagements for 2008 include concerto performances as well as recitals with her sister and duo partner Eleni Mavromoustaki in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Spain and the UK.
Eleni Mavromoustaki is often praised for her innate musicality and sensitivity in performance and is hailed as ‘…an extremely accomplished pianist and a natural performer…an artist of deep understanding…’ Born in Cyprus in 1980, Eleni began piano lessons aged five first with her mother Novia Mavromoustaki and later with Pitsa Spirydaki. In 1997 she enrolled at the Royal College of Music to study with Yu Chun Yee and Yonty Solomon and completed her Master of Music degree at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow with Fali Pavri;, studying as the beneficiary of a generous scholarship by the Leventis Foundation. Whilst studying she won numerous awards and prizes for her interpretation of Scarlatti, Bach and Haydn, as well as the RSAMD Governor’s Recital prize. Recent international successes include 3rd prize and silver medal at the Maria Callas Grand prix in Athens 2008 and the Lorna Viol Memorial Prize and a Trophy commissioned by ROSL ARTS as well as the Philip Crawshaw Memorial Prize at the Royal Overseas League Competition 2007. Other achievements include prizes at the Patras International Piano competition and the George Themis Pan-Hellenic Piano Competition. She has also recorded for the CYBC radio and television on several occasions.Eleni has collaborated with a number of orchestras including the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, the Patras Chamber Orchestra, the State Orchestra of Thessaloníki, the Scottish Ensemble and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Iasi. Performances have taken her to Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Iceland, South Korea, the UK and USA, appearing in venues such as the Megaron in Athens and Thessaloniki, the Rialto in Cyprus, St.Martin-in-the-Fields in London, the Queens Hall in Edinburgh and the Seoul Concert Hall. Outside her soloistic activities Eleni is an enthusiastic chamber musician, often collaborating with violinist and sister Victoria Mavromoustaki and violinist Harry Kerr. Most recent appearances include The Ledra Music Soloists International Chamber Music Festival and the Pharos Trust Cyprus Artists Series.
Born in Lefkosia in 1976, Yiannis Hadjiloizou took his first piano lessons at the age of 4 from his father, composer and conductor Michael Hadjiloizou. From a very early age he joined his father at the Lefkosia Music Society as chorus accompanist and assistant conductor. He continued his music studies in the U.S. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the American Conservatory of Music (Chicago), a B.M. in Theory from Roosevelt University (Chicago), a Master of Music in Piano Performance, an M.M. in Orchestral and Choral Conducting (ACM), an M.M. in Musicology (RU), an M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Oklahoma, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from Boston University. He has attended masterclasses by renowned conductors such as Sir Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, and Lorin Maazel. Mr Hadjiloizou has performed as solo pianist, accompanist or conductor in countries such as Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, England, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Jordan, Lithuania, as well as China and the U.S. He is the founder of the Chicago Camerata (1999), Norman Civic Orchestra (2002), Boston Chance Orchestra and Chorus (2006), and the Melodramatic Stage of Lefkosia (2006), all of which he has led. He has appeared as a guest conductor with the Symphony Orchestra of the American Conservatory of Music, the Symphony Orchestra and the Opera of the University of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma City Ballet Company, and the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras as well as the Opera Institute of Boston University. His appearance with the world renowned contemporary ensemble ALEAIII has received special praise, while his debut with the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra (February 2008) has been a great success. He has conducted works such as Wagner’s Sigfried-Idyll, Stravinsky’s L’ Histoire du Soldat, Mozart’s Requiem, and Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. He has conducted the historic premier of the opera Epitaphios by Michalis Hadjiloizou (poetry by Antonis Pillas) with a cast entirely made up of Cypriot artists: the first opera by a Cypriot composer to be fully staged, and Michael Hadjiloizou’s oratorio 9th of July 1821, performed on the 9th July 2007. Mr Hadjiloizou is a producer for the classical music programs of the first radio channel of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. Since 2000 he has been the President and Artistic Director of the Cyprus Academy of Music. He is currently a Lecturer of Music at the European University Cyprus.
