A journey through well-known ‒ but also… less well-known ‒ compositions of leading musicians, they will perform on Wednesday, January 17 at 8:30 pm. at the Athens Concert Hall, the viola soloist Ilias Livieratos, the clarinetist Spyros Mourikis and the pianist Nefeli Mousoura.

Three Greek masters with many awards and international recognition look back at the chamber music repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries, to highlight its rare pages: original works and transcriptions for a special combination of instruments, the viola, the clarinet and the piano.

From the program of their concert at the Athens Concert Hall, the selection from the “Eight pieces for clarinet, viola and piano” by the German romantic composer Max Bruch stands out.

They will also hear the imaginative “Abyss of the Birds” for solo clarinet, from Olivier Messiaen’s famous “Quartet for the End of Time”, as well as two works for clarinet and piano: Claude Debussy’s “First Rhapsody” and ” Three Romances” by Robert Schuman.

In addition, listeners will have the opportunity to enjoy Vadim Borizovsky’s inspired transcription for viola and piano of the suite from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet ballet, with Ilias Sdoukos on viola (friendly participation) and Nefeli Mousura on the piano.

A few words about the contributors

Ilias-Ion Livieratos (viola)

“A wonderful musician with a personal and deep playing, full of insincere poetry”: this is how pianist and professor Staffan Scheja described Ilias Livieratos, the first top viola player of the Athens State Orchestra to be awarded the Swedish Jan Wallander Prize 2022. In the same year, he received the award of the company “A. Dvorak” in the international competition “O. Nedball” of Prague. Ilias-Ion Livieratos studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg (scholarship of SFM), in Munich and Stockholm with C. Poppen, K. Flieder, G. Zhislin, M. Seiler (historical interpretation), E. Nisbeth, etc. He was a master of the violin and viola in the ELLS Orchestra, while he was a member of the Augsburg Philharmonic and Camerata as well as the European Youth Orchestra. As a soloist he has collaborated with R. Göbel, G. Petrou, and with KOA in the recording/video recording of Mozart’s Concertante Symphony. In 2022 he began to collaborate with Leonidas Kavakos: in April in a Brahms Quartet, as part of a charity concert for Ukraine; in June in the Concertante Symphony, as part of a concert under the auspices of the UN.

Spyros Mourikis (clarinet)

The first prize won by Spyros Mourikis in the “Carl Nielsen” international competition in Denmark, in 1997, was an essential step for his recognition inside and outside of Greece. Collaborations with great orchestras and principal musicians followed, and appearances in the most important concert halls of the world. He began his musical studies in Corfu, later studied clarinet at the Athens Conservatory (class of X. Faradatou) as well as at the Paris Conservatory with Michel Arrignon. He was solo clarinet of the ERT National Symphony Orchestra, the Color Orchestra and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra as well as MusicAeterna. He holds the same position in the State Orchestra of Athens and is a member of the European Union Wind Ensemble. Since 1998 he has been teaching clarinet at the Athens Conservatory.

Nefeli Mousoura (piano)

He was born in Athens. He studied with Anastasios Pappas at the Kondaly Conservatory, and with Rolf Plagge and Imre Rohmann at the Mozarteum University in Austria, obtaining the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees. He has received scholarships from the A. Onassis Foundation, the Association of Friends of Music, the Foundation for Education and European Culture and the Gina Bachauer Association, while he has been awarded in international and national competitions as well as from the Academy of Athens. As a soloist, he regularly performs with orchestras in Greece and Europe, and is regularly invited to international festivals: “Scriabin” in Moscow, Eilat in Israel and Salzburg. In 2022 she made her debut at the Vienna Concert Hall.

The program “Greek soloists in the Dimitris Mitropoulos Hall” continues next year with the following events:

– Dimitir Ashkenazi, Michalis Tagas (31/1/2024)

– “The songs of Giorgos Kouroupos I & II”. Performed by baritone Tassis Christogiannopoulos and soprano Artemis Bogri. Accompanied on the piano by Thanasis Apostolopoulos and Yiannis Tsanakaliotis (5/2/2024 & 20/3/2024)

– Fani Antonelou – Kerstin Moerk: “Musical Affinities” (8/2/2024)

– “Only Brahms” with Giannos Margaziotis on violin, Gregor Horse on cello and Ai Motohashi on piano (19/2/2024)

– Piano duo, Anni and Lola Totsiou (4/3/2024)

– Jonian Ilias Kadesha (violin) – Noam Greenburg (piano) (27/3/2024).