[about us]
meta.ξ
is a collective of composer, artist, and design-curators formed in the Fall of 2018. Bi-laterally based between the United States and Greece, with members living and working everywhere in between, the collective aims to strengthen the voice of the post-crisis generation of Greek composers while embracing subversive and under-represented artists internationally.
As a principal component of our agenda, meta.ξ presents concerts/exhibits/installations of new and recent experimental compositions, in collaboration with North American and European performers, alongside and in dialogue with works of visual art, design, and video. As a collective, we are unanimously motivated to support young and emerging artists in the realization of bold ideas. In establishing an internal equity in our collective and space for a multiplicity of voices, we employ a system of alternating artistic directors which propose and ultimately realize various projects with fluctuating organizational concepts.
Artemi-Maria Gioti
‘Αρτεμη-Μαρια Γιωτη
meta.ξ curator, artist, friend
http://www.artemigioti.com/
http://www.intra-sonic.com/
https://soundcloud.com/artemis-maria
Artemi - Maria Gioti is a composer and researcher working across the disciplinary boundaries between art, science and technology. Her research interests include computational intelligence, musical robotics, sonification, as well as collaborative and participatory sound art. Her compositions include works for solo instruments, ensemble, live and interactive electronics and have been performed in Greece, Austria, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands and in the USA.
She studied Composition at the University of Macedonia (Greece), Electroacoustic Composition at the University of Music and performing Arts of Vienna, and Composition - Computer Music at the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) of the University of Music and Performing Arts of Graz. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at the same university.
Since 2018 she is the Principal Investigator of the artistic research project Inter_agency, hosted at the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) in Graz and exploring the potential of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for electro-instrumental composition. She is a member of the electronic duo intra-sonic (Artemi - Maria Gioti and Visda Goudarzi).
Alexandros Spyrou
Αλέξανδρος Σπύρου
meta.ξ board, curator, artist, founding member
https://www.alexandros-spyrou.com/
youtube
@delianacademymusic
Alexandros Spyrou is a Greek composer, founder and artistic director of the Delian Academy for New Music. In his compositional work, he questions the modernistic paradigm of dialectics and dualism and proposes an ontogenesis of a-centered multiplicities which are in a continuous morphallaxis, in a constant state of becoming. He composes chamber and orchestral music, music for stage and electronic media, and often collaborates with artists, writers, and scientists.
Alexandros’ music has been performed in Greece, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States by such ensembles as Klangforum Wien, London Sinfonietta, JACK Quartet, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, MDI Ensemble Milano, Ensemble SurPlus, the Contemporary Directions Ensemble, Ensemble Airborne Extended, Musica Nova Ensemble, Ensemble DissonArt, and many acclaimed soloists.
After undergraduate studies in composition and music theory in Greece, Alexandros studied composition with Michael Finnissy in the United Kingdom, with Beat Furrer in Austria, and with David Gompper and Josh Levine in the United States. Further, he attended masterclasses with numerous composers.
He has presented his music in several festivals and academies such as the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt, and the Schloss Solitude Akademie in Germany, the Composit Festival in Italy, the XVIII World Saxophone Congress in Croatia, the Ticino Musica Festival in Switzerland, the Midwest Composers Symposium and the Exchange of Midwestern Collegiate Composers in the United States, OutHear New Music Week and Off-Borders Festival in Greece.
Between 2013-2017 he taught music theory and composition at the University of Iowa (USA), and served as president of the local chapter of the SCI, as student senator for the School of Music in the Graduate Student Senate, and as president of the local Fulbright Student Association. He is a member of BMI classical, the Society of Composers Inc. (USA), and the Royal Musical Association (UK).
Alexandros has been a scholar of the Fulbright Foundation, the State Scholarship Foundation of Greece, the City Council of Ioannina, the University of Iowa, the Harry D. Triantafillu Foundation, the Stanley Foundation, the Austrian agency for international cooperation in education and research (OeAD), and has received prizes such as the Startstipendium for Music Composition (Austria), the Henry and Parker Pelzer Award for excellence in composition (USA), and the Ernst Mach Award (Austria). He holds diplomas in Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue from the Conservatory of Ioannina (Greece), a Bachelor of Music from the University of Macedonia (Greece), a Master of Music from the University of Southampton (UK), a Master of Philosophy from the University of Bristol (UK), a Postgraduate Diploma in composition from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz (Austria) and a Ph.D. in Music at the University of Iowa (USA).
Charis Karantzas
Χάρης Καραντζάς
meta.ξ board, artist, curator, founding member
https://blindstudio.gr/
@hariskapa
Interview
Who is Charis Karantzas?
He is not a Computer Science graduate.
At least not yet, contrary to his mother’s expectations.
He is a Graphic Design graduate, though.
Well, sitting in front of a computer was something he would never avoid after all.
He is also the co-founder of Blind Studio: A design agency with a portfolio that includes YouGoCulture, CERN, and a series of festivals.
However, if graphic design is Charis’ spouse, art is his mistress.
And both turn a blind eye to each other.
He co-created the online material for artfortheworld.net, and was also part of Armenity’s team (https://www.armenity.net/exhibition-team) an awarded exhibition that was part of The National Pavilion of The Republic of Armenia during the 56th Biennale Di Venezia back in 2015. He is also part of other endeavors, from publications (https://www.stefaniaorfanidou.com/BOOKS) to conceptual projects such as Codex Nautilus (www.codexnautilus.net).
He also has an alter ego. His name is Luigi Telo (https://ello.co/luigitelo) and he currently lives in Sicily. Please, not even a word to his mom. Charis’, not Luigi’s.
Finally, he is an avid buyer of impressive publications - some of which are in languages he cannot read - and a street paparazzo - focusing mostly on unsuspecting pedestrians.
Well, this is it. Or better said, this is Charis.
Dimitris Maronidis
Δημήτρης Μαρωνίδης
meta.ξ curator, artist, friend, founding member
https://maronid.webpages.auth.gr/wordpress/
https://soundcloud.com/maronidis
https://vimeo.com/channels/maronidis
@dmaronidis
Dimitris Maronidis was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1980. He composes acoustic, electroacoustic, mixed media and interactive music. In his most recent works he tries to bring together those fields and he extensively explores algorithmic processes for organizing his musical material. He uses technology to experiment, explore and expand the properties of sound.
He has studied Composition at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki, musicology at the Music Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Computer Music at the Institute of Psychoacoustics (IPSA). There he was introduced to the techniques of computer assisted composition, sound synthesis and electronic music theory. He pursued a PhD in music composition at the University of York with Thomas Simaku. His doctoral studies were fully funded by the State Scholarships Foundation of Greece (IKY). In 2011 he moved to United States of America and pursued a post-doc research as a visiting Fulbright scholar at Harvard University. He has been a visiting artist also at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) at the University of Zurich (ZHdK).
His works and installations have been performed|presented in many places and festivals around the world by various ensembles and orchestras (Lorraine Symphony Orchestra (FR), State Orchestra of Thessaloniki (GR), State Orchestra of Athens (GR), Nieuw Ensemble (NL), dissonArt ensemble (GR), Piandemonium (Gr), ContraTempo Chamber Orchestra (GR), Diotima String Quartet (FR), Chimera Ensemble (UK), devotioModerna (RO), Construction Ensemble (SRB), Trio Orbit (GR), Ums ’n Jip (CH), ART-i-Shock (LV), Altera Veritas (LV), Arena Festival (LV) etc.). His electronic works are also regularly performed in many venues across the world (MusLab (Mex), MusicaViva SoundWalk (POR), Open Festiva Venice Biennale (IT), Ars Electronica Forum Wallis (CH), Monaco Electroacoustic Days (MON), Espacio Sonoro (MEX), Forum Neue Musik (DE), MOMus (GR) e.t.c.
Dimitris is the artistic director of Iannis Xenakis International Electronic Music Competition and a leading member of Contemporary Music Lab A.U.Th. He is a tenure teaching fellow at the Music Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki where he teaches the courses of Music Theory and Computer Music.
George Katehis
Γιώργος Κατέχης
meta.ξ founder, board, curator, artist
www.georgekatehismusic.com
https://soundcloud.com/gkatehis
https://vimeo.com/gkatehis
@gkatehis
George Katehis is a Greek-American composer who specializes in high-density and complex works for small chamber ensembles and solo instruments. His interests include early music and early/modern performance practice, polyphony, complexity, issues in music engraving, complex performance techniques and their praxis, and the preservation of rare and apocryphal 20th century and contemporary scores. More recently, his research has expanded to the Byzantine music tradition.
Born in Manhattan in 1991, George Katehis received his B.A. in composition from the Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University (SU) magna cum laude, where he studied with Nicolas Scherzinger; and his M.M. in composition from the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) with Reiko Füting. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the CUNY Graduate Center as a student of Jason Eckardt and Jeff Nichols. A recipient of the 2013 Brian Israel Prize in composition (SU) and a Manhattan School of Music Composition Scholarship (MSM); among other academic achievements, Katehis remains interested in issues of composition, pedagogy, and performance of modern and historical plucked string instruments. Katehis has studied classical guitar with Kenneth Meyer, and early plucked strings (renaissance lute, baroque guitar, and theorbo) with Charles Weaver. As a composer, his work has been exhibited in masterclasses held by ensembles Loadbang, Dinosaur Annex, and ‘cellist Friedrich Gauwerky; and he has participated in lectures with ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl. As an engraver, he has worked for the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, and produced work for pianists Renate Rohlfing and trio Longleash - among countless other projects. In 2014, he received the first student commission prize from the American Guild of Organists (AGO) for a solo organ piece, and Tókso was featured in the Society of Composers’ 53rd annual journal of scores. In 2015, Katehis was invited to participate in Longleash trio’s first annual Loretto Project at the Loretto Motherhouse outside of Louisville, KY. In 2016, Katehis’ recent work for solo piano, white as ash, was premiered in Toronto, CA and subsequently performed at the Musiikin Aika “Time of Music” festival in Vitasaari, FN, the 2016 Darmstadt IMD Ferienkurse, and Sound Symposium Festival Newfoundland by pianist Jana Luksts. Furthermore, he received a commission from the American Accordionists’ Association (AAA) for a large-scale work for solo accordion for Finnish accordionist Matti Pulkki. become/dessicated, the resulting work, was premiered in New York (Benzaquen Hall, Dimenna Center) with subsequent performances in Toronto (Array Space, 2017), Helsinki (Camerata Hall, Musiikkitalo, 2018), Basel (Basel Music Academy), and Thessaloniki (Reedblocks Festival, 2018). In 2017, he received a Fulbright Research Grant to provide some of the first modern English documentations of the morphology of mainland Greek traditional music, and to likewise investigate issues of taxonomy, orality, and the construction of national identity in contemporary Greek composition with ethnomusicologist Eleni Kallimopoulou (University of Macedonia) and composer Dimitri Papageorgiou (Aristotle University). Upcoming projects include works for the JACK quartet (Spring, 2019), harpsichordist Wesley Shen, guitarist Anthony Lalena, Longleash, and Jana Luksts.
Katehis has taken lessons with Brian Ferneyhough, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, and Mark Andre, among others. Other instructors have included Joseph Downing in composition and tuning/temperamennt, Michael Calvert in early plucked strings, and Manos Georgandakis in Byzantine chant.
Stylianos Dimou
Στυλιανός Δήμου
meta.ξ board, curator, artist
https://stylianosdimou.com/
https://soundcloud.com/stylianos-dimou
@dimou_stl
Stylianos Dimou is a Greek composer born in Thessaloniki in 1988. Fulbright Scholar and participant of numerous International Composers Meetings, Festivals and Competitions, Dimou pursued advanced studies in Music Composition at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Music Studies (Greece, 2011, MM in Composition) in the class of Prof. Christos Samaras. He subsequently undertook Graduate Studies, as Fulbright Scholar, at the Eastman School of Music (USA, 2013, MA in composition) studying closely with Prof. Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Prof. Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez and pursued advanced courses on electronic music with Prof. Allan Schindler. Dimou is a Doctoral candidate at Columbia University in the City of New York (DMA in Music Composition) working with Prof. G. F. Haas, Prof. G. E. Lewis, Prof. F. Lerdahl and Prof. Gradon. Dimou has pursued advanced practical training in Electronic Music, at the Cursus program at the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM) in Paris, France (2017-2018). He is currently a Composer and Music Researcher at the OeAD organization working at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, holding an Ernst Mach Grant, Ernst Mach – worldwide grant financed by the Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research (OeAD-GmbH), Centre for International Cooperation & Mobility (ICM), under the artistic supervision of Prof. Beat Furrer.
Striving to achieve a balance between inspiration and raw intuition, one fundamental principle of his music is the conception of structure as a fluid and sculpted organism; this is achieved via microscopic manipulations of the timbral and gestural dimensions of the music. Blurred sonorities, harmonic fluidity and gestural formations are some of the ideas that he is elaborating on in his recent works. A spectral understanding that brings to the foreground of the musical surface a tone-color understanding of harmonic objects and pitch exploration pervades his music. Microtonality, primarily used in an intuitive way, helps him forge harmonic and gestural shapes. By adopting this concept in every microstructural and macrostructural level, he builds generalized structural shapes and promote a unified harmonic and gestural formation in his music.
As a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music, in the forefront of his research area is the topic of vibrant complexity and live interactivity utilizing technologies aimed at the ultimate blending among instrumental and electroacoustic entities. He is working towards artistic-technological frameworks where the technology is as equally involved as the human beings in the realization and final execution of a musical piece of art. The implementation of DSP (Digital signal processing) and amplification on the instruments, along with the combination of electroacoustic sonic entities, introduces the genesis of an electrified sonic world. The emergence of such sonic conglomerate behaves as the sonic extension of the acoustic instruments forging ahead to the assemblage of a “hybrid sonic twin”. This collision can arguably be expressed as the “ground zero” of the reconceptualization of “complexity” either as a sonic or as a performance experience.
Dimou has collaborated with numerous performers, ensembles and orchestras including the Ensemble InterContemporain (FR), the MULTILATéRALE ensemble (FR), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (FR), International Ensemble Modern Academy (DE), Insomnio Ensemble (NL), Slagwerk Den Haag (NL), The New European Ensemble (NL), EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble (UK), the Psappha ensemble (UK), Jenaer Philharmonic Orchestra (DE), Brussels Philharmonic (BE), The ICP Ensemble (UK, FR), Ensemble Contrechamps (CH), Orkest de Ereprijs (NL), Talea ensemble (USA), ICE ensemble (USA), Mivos Quartet (USA), Ensemble Nikel (IL), Namascae Lemanic Modern Ensemble (FR), dissonArt ensemble (GR), ALEA III (USA), Alarm Will Sound ensemble (USA), Stenhammar Quartet (SE), Greek ensemble of contemporary music (GR), Idee Fixe (GR), Orpheus Soloists (GR) and others.
Some of his awards, distinctions and nominations include the following: Award for artistic excellence as a Prominisng young Composer from the European-wide Ulysses Network / IRCAM 2018-2019, 1st Prize at the 2nd International Composition Competition “Amici della Musica di Cagliari“, 1st Prize at the International Prize for Composition “Luigi Nono”, 3rd edition, 1st Prize and the “Audience’s Prize” sponsored by the “Bärenreiter” Publishing Company at the Weimarer Frühjahrstage für zeitgenössische Musik 2012 (International Festival for New music), 1st Prize at the 3rd International Composition Competition ‘‘Synthermia’’2009, 2nd Prize at the International Composition Competition “Ton de Leeuw 2008”, 2nd Prize at the 2nd Festival of Children Opera in Thessaloniki 2008, 3rd Prize in the International Composition Competition “Musica Domani Prize”, Wayne Brewster Barlow Prize, excellence in composition – Eastman School of Music 2012, 3rd Prize at the 3rd Competition of Music Composition in memory of D. Dragataki 2008,Outstanding Award at the 10th Chengdu China SUN RIVER PRIZE Composition Competition – ISCM 2014, Honorable Mention at the International ilSUONO Contemporary Music, finalist at the Finalist The Young Composers Competition 2017, Merit Award at the Tribeca New Music, Young Composer Competition, Finalist at the ALEA III International Composition Competition 2011, Runner up at the 2011 RED NOTE New Music Festival composition competition, Finalist International Composition Competition Antonín Dvořák 2011 & 2010, Honorary mention Greek Festival of Chamber Music 2010, Honorary mention Greek Festival of Chamber Music 2009, and Honorary mention at the Greek Festival of Chamber Music 2007.
Dimou’s music has been premiered, commissioned and awarded by International Festivals, Institutions and Composition Competitions in Europe and the USA as part of residencies and commission projects such as impuls . 11th International Ensemble and Composers Academy for Contemporary Music 2019, ISACM / IKI Hamburg 2019, Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival 2019, Nomination at the New Classics Competition of Moscow Conservatory for young composers 2018, IRCAM – MANIFESTE 2014, 2016 & 2018, Gaudeamus Music Week 2018 – 2015, International Ensemble Modern Academy 2015, World Saxophone Congress 2018, International Computer Music Conference 2016 – ICMC 2016, DELIAN ACADEMY FOR NEW MUSIC 2017, Altitude University – Ensemble Multilatérale 2017, Curso de Composición Institut Français-Barcelona Modern Project 2017, MAtera INtermedia festival 2016, Moving Classics 2016, New Music Edmonton 2015 Hear This Now Festival, Firenze Suona Contemporanea 2014, Royaumont/ Voix nouvelles/ session de composition 2013, 5th [‘tactus] Young Composers Forum 2013, June in Buffalo, International festival and Conference 2013, Tzlil Meudcan 2013 International Festival & Summer Course for New Music Performance & Composition, Young Composers Meeting 2013, Mizzou New Music Summer Festival – University of Missouri, Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival – International Composers Pyramid, The 5th New Music Week in Shanghai 2012 and 13th Weimarer Frühjahrstage für zeitgenössische Musik 2012.
