Members

Jannis Anissegos
flute

bio anissegosSince 1999 Jannis Anissegos holds the position of co-principal flute in the Thessaloniki State Orchestra. He has a strong interest in contemporary music and the use of extensive techniques on instruments related to the flute. This interest has brought him into contact with numerous composers and has acquainted him with a varied repertory of works for the instrument. He is a member of the contemporary ensemble dissonArt and a member of the trio IAMA (flute, cello, piano).
 
He was born in Stuttgard. In 1993 he acquired a diploma in flute from the Thessaloniki State Conservatory in the class of Ilie Makovei. He continued studying in the soloist department of the Hochschule für Musik Köln in the class of Hans-Martin Műller graduating in 1998. During 1996-8 he held an Alexandra Trianti scholarship from the Friends of Music Association the Athens Megaron.
 
During 2004-5 he did a Postgraduate course at Trinity College of Music in London where he was taught by Anna Noakes, Lynda Coffin και Alan Baker (piccolo). He graduated with a distinction. His overall score (95/100) earned him the Silver Medal for Excellence in Performance from the Worshipful Company of Musicians.
 
Jannis Anissegos performs frequently in Greece and abroad, and has performed as a soloist with all major Greek orchestras.
 
He has recorded two CDs for Dissonance Records entitled IAMA – Present Perfect Vol. 1 and dissonArt live in Köln. He also participated in the Naxos CD PAPAIOANNOU, Y.A.: In the Depth of the Looking Glass / Associations / Erotic / Rhythms and Colours.





Alexandros Stavridis
clarinet

bio stavrisisAlexandros Stavridis was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1979.

Alexandros started learning the clarinet at the "Synchrono Conservatory of Thessaloniki" under Kosmas Papadopoulos in 1990 where he graduated from in June 1998.

He has participated in several competitions in Greece and abroad, receiving:
1st price in the category of wind instruments at Vertiskos International Music Courses (1996),
3rd price at the "National French Music" at Plovdiv in Bulgaria (1998)
2nd price at the "International Competition Of Chamber Music" in Thessaloniki (2001).
2nd price of the Pan-Hellenic woodwind Competition "TEXNH" and the
1st price of the "Wilfred Hambleton Clarinet Competition" of TCM in London.

Alexexandros graduated from Trinity College of Music, in the Postgraduate Advanced Diploma course with professor Joan Enric Lluna.

Since 2002 he plays the bass clarinet in the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki.





Chara Sira
viola

bio siraChara Sira, born in Athens-Greece, studied at the Hellenic Conservatory under Sofia Pimenides and Stelios Kafandaris and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris under Jean Sulem and Bruno Pasquier.

She was awarded a unanimous First Prize with a special distinction in viola in 1994, and went on to complete her training at the Bordeaux Conservatory under Tasso Adamopoulos.

Member of the New Hellenic Quartet from 2001 to 2007, she has recorded works from Skalkotas, Respighi, Nielsen and koshkin  for BIS and has appeared in several chamber music festivals in Europe, the US and Asia.

As a soloist she has appeared with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, the Athens Camerata, the National Radio Orchestra and the ‘Orchestra of Colours’.

A former principal violist of the National Radio Orchestra and the ‘Orchestra of Colours’ in Athens, she now holds the same position in the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki.

She is a member of the “DissonArt Ensemble” and teaches the viola at the Macedonia University of Thessaloniki.






Lenio Liatsou
piano
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Lenio Liatsou is a greek pianist specializes in new music having performed countless premieres of new works. She has worked with composers such as Manos Tsangaris, Niels Roensholdt, Christian Winther Christensen and Georges Aperghis. Her work and interests are particularly focused on the development of new forms of art which leads her to work not only with composers, but also with directors, actors and dancers.

 She has been invited to perform in concert halls and festivals, such as the Carnegie Hall, Purcell Room, ), Athens Megaron Concert Hall, , Onassis Cultural Centre (Athens) , Klang  (Copenhagen),  SPOR festival, the ancient theatre of Epidaurus, a.o. She has recorded for GodRec Records, WDR, ORF, Disc's Club  and she recently released a cd by Dacapo records featuring a piano work by Niels Roensholdt.   Lenio studied with Susan Bradshaw, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Georges Pludermacher (Goldsmiths College, Royal College of Music, Conservatoire National Superieur de Paris). She also holds a PhD from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and a postdoc by the University of Macedonia.  She is a founding member and pianist of the greek contemporary music ensemble dissonArt


www.lenioliatsou.com






Theodoros Patsalidis
violin

bio patsalidisTheodor Patsalidis concentrates almost exclusively on the performance of new music, with appearances in new music festivals such as Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Biennale, Steirischer Herbst, etc, radio recording in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Kroatia, etc. and collaborations with Ensemble Modern and Klangforum Wien.He has been a member of numerous ensembles such as the ART RESONANZ and Szene Instrumental, Corda Quartet and the group Free Call (audio-visual improvisations),

He started tuition at age 6 with his father, Kostas Patsalidis, at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki and received his diploma in violin in 1991 with Distinction. On scholarships by the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki, the State Orchestra of Cyprus, the Voudouri Foundation, and the Society of Friends of the Concert Hall of Athens, he continued his studies with Gunther Pichler (member of the Alban Berg Quartet) at the Music Academy of Vienna, and later, at the Music Academy of Graz, under the guidance of Ch. Polyzoides, receiving a soloist diploma (Konzertfach).

Solo appearances include performances Symphony Orchestra of the City of Thessaloniki, State Orchestra of Cyprus, and the Radio Orchestra of Bucharest, a concert that was broadcast live by the Rumanian Radio.  






Greta Papa
violin

bio papaGreta was born in Korca, Albania, in 1978.
She went to the " Tefta,Tashko,Koco" Primary and Secondary Music School in her native town where she studied violin with Hilda Skendi and theory.She continued her violin studies at the " Sychrono Conservatory of Thessaloniki" , Greece, with Mikis Michailidis. She obtained the Diploma of Violin with Distinction and First Prize in 2001. She went on to study music at the Music Department of the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki specializing on the violin with Professor Dimitris Chandrakis. She graduated in 2012 taking the Bachelor of Music Degree with the highest grade.
Greta has participated in master classes in Greece and abroad with Pierre Amoyal, Rudolf Koelman, Giorgos Demertzis and others.
In 2004 she was awarded the First Prize at the "Techni" National Violin Competition in Thessaloniki and the Third Prize at the L. Petrela International Violin Competition in Tirana.
Greta has performed as a soloist with the Thessaloniki and Athens State Symphony Orchestras.
She is a member of the "Kastalia" Piano Trio and regularly performs with various chamber music groups of Thessaloniki.
She has been a member of the first violin section of the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra since 2001.





Vassilis Saitis
cello

bio saitisVassilis Saitis was born in 1978 in Larissa, Greece, where he started his cello and academic studies. He obtained the Diploma of Harmony with Distinction in 1994 and the Diploma of Cello with Distinction and First Prize in 1996. In 1996 Vassilis was admitted to the Royal Academy of Music to study with David Strange. He graduated in June 2000 and was awarded the Bachelor of Music (London) degree with the grade of First Class Honours. He continued his studies at the Master of Music course under the tuition of Colin Carr receiving a scholarship from the Friends of Music of Athens. He graduated in June 2003 with the grade of merit.

During his studies he was awarded several prizes including the Herbert Wallen and Sir John Barbirolli cello prizes. He has participated in masterclasses and chamber music courses given by various soloists (including Aldo Parisot, Robert Cohen, Paul Watkins and the pianist Gyorgy Sebok). Vassilis has performed as a soloist with both the State and Municipal Orchestras in Thessaloniki, the Athens State Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Detmold in Larissa, Greece, and the Symphony Orchestra in Haskovo, Bulgaria. He has also performed in solo recitals and chamber music concerts in Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki and elsewhere) and England (London, Essex, Surrey, Kent, Cheltenham and Plymouth). In the summer of 1999 he was appointed principal cellist of the European Union Youth Orchestra and performed throughout Europe under Sir Colin Davis and Bernard Haitink in venues such as the Cite de la Musique in Paris, the Concertgebow in Amsterdam and the Royal Albert Hall in London, the last concert being broadcasted live on BBC television.

In October 1999 he was invited to lead the cello section of the United World Philarmonic Youth Orchestra and performed in the Beethovenhalle in Bohn for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, playing, among other repertoire, the solo part of Bachiana Brasiliera No.5 by Villa-Lobos. During the 2000-2001 academic year he took part in the London Symphony Orchestra String Experience Scheme, rehearsing and performing with the LSO.

Since June 2002 Vassilis has been holding the position of principal cellist of the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra.





Yiannis Chatzis
contrabass

bio chatzisHe studied contrabass at the National Conservatory of Thessaloniki under the guidance of G. Xenariou and G. Gralitsa. He continued his studies at the Conser vatoire National Superieur in Paris and with M. Aerts at the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels, where he graduated with Honors.

He held positions at the National Orchestra of Belgium and the Radio Symphony Or chestra of Brussels, as well as the Orchestra of the Royal Opera of Liege. Since 2002, he holds the position of 2nd Principal in the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki.

In the domain of chamber music, he has been active as a member of the OXALYS ESEMBLE (Brussels), who are engaging in a late romantic and contemporary repertory. In Thessaloniki, he was a member of the contrabass quartet Quatro Basso. He has appeared as a soloist with the Strings Orchestra of Mons and also with the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki.





Kostas Argyropoulos
percussion

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Kostas was born in Athens in 1985. He received his diploma of Percussion with Distinction from the Municipal Conservatory of Lamia. 
He continued his studies at the Detmold Academy of Music in the class of Peter Prommel where he obtained a Bachelor of Music and
thena Master of Music specializing in chamber music.

He has appeared with many orchestras in Greece and Germany. Among them the Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Nordwestdeutsche
Philharmonie, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, National Opera, ERT National Symphony Orchestra etc.
He is a member of the contemporary music ensemble "DissonArt ensemble", while he was a member of the German ensemble of
contemporary music "Ensemble Horizonte" and the baroque orchestra "La Rejouissance".
With Kazuyo Tsunehiro he has created the percussion duo "Kazukos Duo”, presenting mainly their own transcriptions for melodic
percussionin Europe and Japan.
He is a founding member of the Percussion Collective Detmold percussion ensemble.

He has attended Masterclasses and taken lessons from distinguished musicians including Keiko Abe, Jean Geoffroy, Nancy Zeltsman,
Marinus Komst, Peter Sadlo, Momoko Kamiya, Arend Weitzel.

Since 2020, he holds the position of the leading percussionist in the Thessaloniki State  Symphony Orchestra.