ORGANIZING COMMITTEE OF THE THIRD AXION ESTIN SYMPOSIUM |
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CO-CHAIRMAN |
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MEMBERS
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Arika Madouros is studying at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, majoring in Art History and minoring in Computer Science. She has a strong background in Classical Music as a student of both musical performance and musical theory. She became involved with the Byzantine Music education efforts in the United States because of Byzantine Music's great, but little known, importance to the formation of western music.
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Panayotis Mavromatis is Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Director of Music Theory at the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development of New York University. He received his B.A. and M.A. in mathematics from Cambridge University in England, his M.A. in physics from Boston University, and his Ph.D. in music theory from the Eastman School of Music. His research integrates cognitive science, linguistics and computer science into traditional music disciplines. In his research, he has been developing computer models of melody in modern Greek church chant and exploring their cognitive and pedagogical implications.
Vasileios Marinis is the assistant professor of Christian Art and Architecture, Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University. He holds degrees from the University of Athens, University de Paris I-Sorbonne, the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music. He has been a devotee and admirer of Byzantine music since he was a teenager, despite his consistently unsuccessful attempts to master it.
Nikolaos Adamou is an Associate Professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York. He worked as a senior economist responsible for modeling the relationship between the State Budget and the Economy at the Ways & Means Committee of the Assembly of New York, served as a special advisor to Alekos Papadopoulos in Greece in the Ministries of Finance, Interior & Administration, and Health and was appointed as the first Chairman and CEO of the Regional Health and Welfare System in Epirus, Greece. He taught at the MBA program at Sage Graduate School in Albany, NY, and at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, as well as at Bennington College ‚ VT, Union College ‚ NY, and the University of Thrace, Greece. Currently he is teaching Quantitative Business Decisions at BMCC/CUNY. Nikolaos Adamou is a reader of the Orthodox Church tonsured by Bishop Augustine of Florina in 1969. He chanted at various churches in the New York metropolitan area.
Ms. Arsinoi (Arsi) Ioannidou is a musicologist and a professional music librarian, currently working as Assistant Director at library of Mannes College the New School for Music in NYC. She is also a doctoral candidate in the field of Byzantine Musicology at the City University of New York. Her research is focusing on the topic: "The Kalophonic settings of the 2nd psalm in the Byzantine tradition (14th -15th centuries)" Arsi strongly believes in the enormous potential of Byzantine music as an independent field of Musicology. By pursuing her dissertation at CUNY contributes to the promotion of Byzantine chant at an academic level in the U.S. Arsi has participated in the two "Axion Estin" conferences both as a member of the audience (2006) and a speaker (2008)
John Mamangakis is a vice president at Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle, New York. He holds degrees from Rutgers University and Temple University and is presently enrolled as a seminarian. He seeks to complement his studies with an increased appreciation for byzantine music.
Demetri Papacostas is a veteran of 20 years in Foreign Exchange (FX) Derivatives of the financial industry. He has established and managed many successful trading/ sales FX and precious metals operations. He is currently running an FX sales area for JPMorganChase in New York. Although exposed to Byzantine music his entire life, it was not until the first Axion Estin conference that he began to appreciate this ancient tradition as a sacred art form that is worthy of promoting and sharing with our broader community.
Sophia Saridakis is a teacher of Music Composition and Theory in the Upper School of Ross School, East Hampton. She is also a private tutor to more than 40 students in piano, violin, guitar and vocal performance in the Hamptons. After graduate studies in ethnomusicology at Columbia University, she became a published composer of dozens of songs with Sony Music, then went on to become a recording artist with CBS/Epic Records. She continued writing for prime-time programming at the CBS Television Network. Since a child, Sophia has always participated in church liturgies as organist or choir member, and is now continuing her passion for Byzantine Music as chanter and assistant choir director at the Kimisis Tis Theotokos Church of Southampton. She is also currently writing her first book, Not In This House, a perspective on American cultural influences upon middle class society.
Alexandra Skendrou has performed at Lincoln center, Carnegie Hall, Merkin hall, Amato Opera Company, Hellenic National Opera House, Miller Theatre among others. She has received a Master's Degree from Mannes College of Music. She is a scholarship recipient from the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. Ms.Skendrou Studies Byzantine chanting with cantor Mr. Ioannis Tselepidakis.
Charles Turner is a doctoral candidate in musicology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is currently completing a dissertation entitled: "Xenakis in America," which will research the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis' work and reception in the United States. Mr. Turner holds a Master's degree in Jazz History and Research at Rutgers University Newark, where he was a Walter C. Russell fellow, and an undergraduate degree in Art History from Vassar College. Mr. Turner presented his paper: "Iannis Xenakis' Vers une m tamusique: The Social Context of a Musical Theory" at the Second International Symposium Iannis Xenakis, Athens, Greece in May 2005. It was through researching this paper that he became acquainted with the practice and theory of Byzantine music, and has since pursued it as a separate interest.