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Lesson timetable: 17:00 - 20:00 in the afternoon (total of 21 hours)
In this workshop we will learn traditional songs from various parts of Greece. Songs of love and immirgation, songs related to the customs of the annual cycle but also to the customs of the cycle of life. In our journey through the musical landscape of Greece we will also encounter non-Greek-speaking songs (Vlach, Slavic, Sephardic). But above all we will unite our voices singing some of the most beautiful melodies and the most beautiful lyrics ever written.
* This lesson will be taught primarily in Greek. Terminology will be explained in other languages as well, according to the teacher’s disposal.
Full interpretation will not be provided.
Martha Mavroidi is a musician and composer. She graduated from the Music High School of Pallini. She studied Musicology in Athens, Ethnomusicology in London (SOAS) and Los Angeles (UCLA), and Contemporary Music at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, with scholarships from the Onassis Foundation and the Fulbright Foundation.
She has performed in concerts of traditional and contemporary music in Greece and abroad (Queen Elizabeth Hall, London; Onassis Foundation, New York; Greek National Opera; Athens Festival; Onassis Cultural Center, etc.). With the Martha Mavroidi Quartet, she has given concerts in Europe and America. She has founded the musical ensembles “Smari” and “Ta Pechnidia” and the vocal ensembles “Yasemi” and “Heilanthi.”
She directs the Traditional Music Choir “I Rodia” and the Rodia Polyphonic Workshop. She has released six solo albums and a book of compositions for vocal ensemble. She is the artistic director of Tinos World Music Festival.
She has composed music for short and feature-length films by director Zacharias Mavroidis (Pink River, Tomorrow Already, Princess’ Taste, The Tour Guide), for documentaries and dance performances (Bull, 7 Trax, Metapolitefsi, The Guard Dog, Vacchai, The Parrot, M, Lady R, Speechless, Afterwords, Mouth) in collaboration with choreographers Menti Mega, Sofia Mavragani, and others, which have been presented at various venues and festivals in Greece (Athens Festival, Onassis Cultural Center). She has composed music and has participated in the performance "Hello to Emptiness" by choreographer Stephanie Tiersch and the Mouvoir company, which tours in Greece (Greek National Opera), Germany (Tanzhaus, LOFFT), France (Théâtre de Nîmes), Korea (Seoul International Dance Festival), and India (Goethe-Institut in Kolkata).
She has composed a song cycle for a polyphonic ensemble titled "Six," based on six Greek customs, which was presented in Ancient Messene as part of the "All of Greece, One Culture" program by the vocal ensemble Chores. She participated in the Greek National Opera’s tribute to Manos Hadjidakis by arranging a series of the composer’s works for the vocal ensemble Yasemi.
Commissioned works by the Greek National Opera include the opera "The Song of Kyra-Domnitsa" with a libretto by Maros Vassiliadou, a commission by the Alternative Stage of the Greek National Opera for the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution, the work "Katalogi" for voice and a quintet of traditional wind and string instruments based on the Lament of the Virgin Mary for the 1st Festival of Liturgical Music, the work "Synaxari"—three musical-poetic portraits of Halepas, Papadiamantis, and Theofilos, with texts by Pantelis Boukalas, for the 2nd Festival of Liturgical Music; the work “Lazarakia” for the Children’s Choir of the Greek National Opera, and the work “Madre Salonico,” which premiered at the Alternative Stage in April 2025. In 2022, she composed the original music for the production of F. G. Lorca’s *Blood Wedding*, which was staged at the National Theater under the direction of Maria Maganari.