Alexis Agrafiotis

Alexis Agrafiotis (* 1970 in Salzburg ) is a Greek composer, conductor and pianist.

Life

Born as the son of the conductor Dimitris Agrafiotis and Evangelia Syngelakis. Soon after he was born in Salzburg, the family moved to Reutlingen, where his father became chief conductor of the Swabian Symphony Orchestra . 1978 move to Ettlingen, where he attended elementary school and the Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium . The last two years of high school he attended the German School Athens (Abitur 1989).

He studied piano at the Athens Conservatory "Athenaeum" and studied orchestral conducting with Uros Lajovic and composition with Erich Urbanner (magister artium 1995 and 1996) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna . He attended courses with Roland Seiffarth , Péter Eötvös and Karl Österreicher and was assistant to Gunther Schuller , Rüdiger Bohn and Hans Drewanz . Stations as a solo coach and conductor led him to the theaters in Görlitz , Lübeck , Bern , Zeitgenössische Oper Berlin and the Theater Bielefeld . From 2011 to 2017 he was engaged as a director of studies and Kapellmeister at the Mainfranken Theater in Würzburg . Since December 2017 he has been engaged as a solo coach and conductor at the Staatstheater Braunschweig .

As a guest conductor he has worked with the Tonkünstlerorchester Vienna , the Karlsbad Symphony Orchestra ( Czech Republic ), the Philharmonie Győr (Hungary), the Prussian Chamber Orchestra Prenzlau and the Philharmonic Orchestra of the cities of Ulm and Lübeck and is guest conductor of all major orchestras in Greece: City Orchestra Thessaloniki, State Orchestra Thessaloniki , Athens State Orchestra, Athens Radio Orchestra and Athens National Opera. From 2006 to 2007 he was chief conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the City of Volos in Greece.

He is also active in teaching: from 2004 to 2006 he held teaching positions at the music academies in Bremen (vocal department) and Weimar (opera studio), again in Bremen from 2007 to 2011 and from the winter semester 2012/13 at the University of Music in Würzburg .

As a pianist, he has performed, among others, in concerts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Ludwig van Beethoven , Alexander Scriabin and Richard Strauss (burlesque) . He conducted the piano concertos by Robert Schumann and Arthur Honegger (Concertino) simultaneously from the piano. He also works as a song accompanist.

His work includes chamber music, vocal music, works for orchestra (including two piano concertos) and theater music. In Baden-Baden he worked in the Brahms House. He is a member of the Greek Composers Association.

One focus of his work is contemporary music. As a conductor, he has repeatedly conducted concerts with exclusively new music with the Thessaloniki State Orchestra, the Athens Radio Orchestra, the Greek Ensemble of Contemporary Music, the Ensemble of the Bern University of the Arts and the German-Polish Ensemble in Trebnitz Castle under the patronage of the German Music Council. He was the musical and scenic director in productions with works by Mauricio Kagel , Kurt Schwitters , John Cage and Jani Christou .

He was responsible for the musical rehearsals of important works of the new music theater, including compositions by Salvatore Sciarrino , Sir Peter Maxwell Davies , Hans Zender , Wolfgang Rihm , Aulis Sallinen , Christian Jost , Reinhard Febel , Anno Schreier and Alois Bröder .

Works (selection)

• Concerto for piano and orchestra (1994), commissioned by the Athens Radio
• Chamber concert for piano and 12 players (1995), commissioned by Megaron Mousikis, Athens
• Symphony in One Movement (1999)
• Music for violoncello and 7 players (2000)
• 5 Greek Dances for Orchestra (2000)
• 5 songs for tenor and piano based on poems by Paul Celan (2002)
• 8 Etudes for solo violin and CD playback (2003)
• Trio for violoncello, flute and piano (2004)
• String quartet (2006)
• "In Orientes Brand" for mixed choir a cappella based on a poem by Christian Filips (2006)
• "Memory I" for 2 pianos (2007)
• "Memory II" for ensemble (2008)
• 2 songs for baritone and piano based on poems by Amal al-Jubouri (2008)
• Salve Regina for four-part children's choir (2009)
• 4 songs for soprano and piano based on poems by Kim Chi-ha (2010)
• 4 songs for tenor, clarinet and string quartet based on poems by Dimitra Ch. Christodoulou (2012)
• 4 songs for bass, oboe, clarinet, violoncello and double bass based on poems by Dimitris Agrafiotis (2014)

Discography

• 8 etudes for solo violin and CD playback (2004, violin: Costas Anastasopoulos)

Web links

• official homepage
• Greek Composers Association ( Memento from September 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive )