| Country | Germany |
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| Occupation | Composer, Conductor, Teacher |
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The Greek composer and conductor Konstantia Gourzi studied in Athens and Berlin. Today she is recognised as one of contemporary music’s most important champions like Pierre Boulez and György Ligeti, a prizewinner of the ‘Christoph and Stephan Kaske Stiftung’.
In the 1990s Konstantia Gourzi founded the ‘attacca berlin’ ensemble. With them, she led the international project ‘Zeitzonen’ (‘Time Zones’) between 1991 and 1997. From 1999 to 2007 she was the artistic director of Berlin’s ‘ensemble echo’. In 2002, she instigated ‘ensemble octopus für musik der moderne’ at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, where she is also professor. The beginning of the ensemble-network ‘opus21musicplus’ (2007), bringing contemporary music together with theatre, dance and the visual arts, is a milestone of her artistic career.
As a conductor, Konstantia Gourzi regularly works with diverse orchestras for the most important festivals in Israel and Europe. Her compositions – including theatre and film music – are performed in Europe, America, Japan and Israel. Gourzi’s reworking of Haydn’s opera ‘Philemon and Baucis’ (commissioned by the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin in 2003) was re-performed at the Budapest Spring Festival in 2009. A further performance took place as part of the European Church Music Festival in Gmünd, Schwaben in July 2010.
In 2010, Konstantia Gourzi was Composer in Residence at the 58th Festspielen Europäische Wochen Passau, supported there by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. During the Festwochen several world premieres of hers were performed.
As part of the Bavarian Radio series ‘Klasse Klassik’, Gourzi was commissioned to write an orchestral work by the Bavarian State Ministery for Learning and Culture’s art131 foundation. A further commission for orchestra, choir and soloists came from the Munich Radio Orchestra, for their ‘Paradisi Gloria’ series. Both world premieres took place in July 2010. Gourzi also released a new CD in 2010: ‘Conjunctions – Synápsies’, on NEOS, which connects the Western string quartet with an Eastern sound world.
Konstantia Gourzi’s work in the field of television and radio can be heard on Arte, ZDF, WDR, SR, RBB, SWR and BR. The last called her ‘a successful international pioneer of new music.’
