My experience as a professional singer has shown me that there is nothing that is more useful for the development of young musicians than the contact with the culture of other countries, especially with regard to the music traditions and their practice under the guidance and cooperation of experienced masters and talented artists. You should be very careful, especially at the beginning of an artist's career. It should be possible to playfully discover your own potential without being under pressure to perform. This can provide a loving and understanding environment where young people can gain confidence and learn to love their job. Studying the traditional repertoire helps you to recognize yourself and at the same time experimenting with new media and ideas broadens your horizons.

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I was lucky enough to learn a lot. With the help of the "Alexandra Triandi" scholarship, donated by the Society of Friends of Music in Athens, I was able to travel to the world immediately after my diploma and be inspired by the culture of music in Vienna, Italy, France, Germany and Poland. I had many teachers and worked with many conductors and directors in several theaters. I was able to observe what was didactically good and what was not particularly encouraging. Fortunately, I was able to study at a great academy like the one in Milan "La Scala" with the well-known singer Leyla Gencer, which made my way to beautiful theater stages possible.

 

At the same time, I was also a student at another academy, funded by the European Union, where the roots of modern opera were dealt with - "The rebirth of Greek theater in Renaissance Florence." The two-year course "Il Teatro e la Musica", founded by the Conservatory in Prato and the theater academy "Silvio d´Amico" in Rome, was a brilliant idea: ten singers, ten actors and three directors, selected by a competition, were able to compete deepen together in the spirit of opera and theater. It was one of the key experiences in my life.

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In 2020, I see many elementary problems in the world (not only in the theater) that concern me as an artist and as a person. I strongly feel that many young artists are looking for a tour. The impresario of that time, the man who discovered and nurtured talent, no longer exists in the old sense. A lot is about quick profit, but where's the humanistic spirit of theater and opera? The myth of Orpheus, who wants to bring the beloved Eurydice back from the underworld with his singing?

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The singers and actors have an important calling in this increasingly confusing world. With my academy founded in Görlitz, I would like to open a door for these artists to help them follow their calling in this world. We will work on different projects regularly. Each of these projects will take anywhere from one to four weeks. It will be plays that are being worked on, operas, chamber operas or projects of the "Recitar-Cantando" (song, musical, renaissance). The Lausitzer Barockensemble will accompany the projects from early to romantic music. Other projects are performed with the piano, or with the help of new music techniques (electronic music etc.). We will also rediscover forgotten scores and texts, translate, digitize and print them.

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All rehearsals, concerts and performances will take place in suitable locations in and around Görlitz. This will give the artists the opportunity to present themselves and what they have learned to an audience. Sound and video recordings of the performances, which can be useful for later applications, are made available to the artists.

 

In this way I would like not only to promote talent, but also to instill "the spirit of theater and music" - from antiquity to the present and to the future!

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Eleni Ioannidou 

Association chairman Ars-Augusta e.V.