from the blog.

Maira Milolidaki

Born in Athens, she studied piano and classical singing at the Athens Conservatoire. As a scholar of the Onassis Foundation she pursued her vocal studies in Milan, Italy, and in Rome with Renata Scotto as a member of the Opera Studio in the National Academy of Santa Cecilia. She has also studied theatre and the art of performance (National Theatre Summer Academy, Drama school Εμπρός). As a debutante, she has participated in the international young artists program of the Aegean Opera under the artistic direction of the American baritone Sherrill Milnes. Since then, she appears regularly on stage performing a wide repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary music. For the past couple of years she collaborates regularly with Evelina Arapidi and George Stefanakidis in the creation of sui generis performances, such as Pietà and The Free Besieged (Railway Carriage Theater, Rouf, Novembre – February 2017).

A few favorites moments: Sängerin (B. Brecht, National Theater of Greece), Violetta (Verdi, La Traviata) and Madga (Puccini, La Rondine) in Rome (Accademia di Santa Cecilia), Gilda (Verdi, Rigoletto, Teatro dal Verme, Milan), Queen of the Night (Mozart, The Magic Flute, National Opera of Greece), Micaela (Bizet, Carmen) and Rosina (Rossini, Il Barbiere di Siviglia) with the Athens Municipality Symphony Orchestra, a recital at Carnegie Hall, N. Y, with the quintet Melos Brass, the artistic direction of the concert cycle A Museum made of Music (Museum of Cycladic Art, 2009-2011) and of the festival Music Tones at Beton 7 (2011-2015) along with T. Gouvelis, performing Gepopo (Ligeti, Le GrandMacabre) for the workshop of contemporary music (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), recording the art songs Grafomena by J. Valette, singing Purcell with the counter tenor Michael Chance, performing the Akhmatova Songs by J. Tavener with the cellist A. Liakakis in a summer night in the open air and at the Onassis Cultural Center, taking part in the productions of the Music Theater Company RAFI (Céphise in Pygmalion (Rameau) staged by P. Mexis, Godmother in Cendrillon (Viardot) and Morgana in Alcina (Handel), both staged by Th. Glynatsis), performing the songs by G. Kouroupos based on the poems by O. Elytis and Credo by N. Hakim in the “free jazz performance” BSDA by G. Panteleakis, appearing in the movie Matriarchy by N. Kornilios, being a member of the baroque ensemble Il Canto Secreto, having fun in Paris (Phd in semiotics, Sorbonne University), teaching vocal technique at Deree.

Since 2008 she performs regularly with the pianist Titos Gouvelis, exploring the art song repertoire in its many periods and forms. Their relationship in music affected them so much they had to be married.