Chamber Music Concert
L.V.BEETHOVEN Op.70 No.1 Ghost trio
J.BRAHMS Trio Op. 87
Vanessa Athanasiou, violin
Elli Filippou, cello
Maria Efstratiadi, piano
Saturday, October 11, 2025, 7:00 p.m.
George Hadjinikos Hall
Admission: €10
Maria Efstratiadi was born in Athens and studied at the Athens Conservatory, where she graduated with first prize and special distinction. She continued her studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover, Germany, graduating with honors and distinction. She holds degrees in harmony, counterpoint, and fugue.
She has performed in solo recitals and chamber music concerts in Greece, France, Germany, and Hungary. She has recorded for Greek, German, and Hungarian radio. She has appeared as a soloist with the National Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Athens Academic Orchestra, the Athens State Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra of ERT. She has also collaborated with the string quartet “Aenaon” and the newly formed Collegium Musicum.
Her discography includes works by J.S. Bach, C.Ph. E. Bach, W.A. Mozart, Yannis Ioannidis, and J. Brahms.
Her recordings of all the piano sonatas and two concertos (KV 271 and KV 453) for piano and orchestra by W.A. Mozart, in collaboration with the Chamber Orchestra of the Athens Music Society, conducted by Yannis Ioannidis, were honored by the Union of Greek Theater and Music Critics.
Maria Efstratiadis is a professor of piano and chamber music and head of the piano department at the Athens Conservatory. She also teaches at the Athens Conservatoire College of Music.
Elli Filippou was born in Athens in 1978. She began studying cello at the Athens Conservatory, graduating in 2005 with honors and first prize.
She continued her studies at the Vienna Conservatory (Konservatorium der Stadt Wien) under Andreas Lindenbaum and Robert Nagy. She then studied at the Carinthian Conservatory in Austria (Kärntner Landeskonservatorium) under Milos Mlejnik, graduating in 2010 with honors.
She has participated in many international chamber music festivals, such as the Wiener Festiwochen, Bebersee Festival Berlin, Bayreuther Osterfestival, and others. She has collaborated with internationally renowned ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Krenek Ensemble, Ö.G.N.M., as well as with the Sinfonietta Baden, Academia Ars Musicae, Kärntner Sinfonieourchester, ERT Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra of Colors. In 2008 and 2009 she was concertmaster of the International Youth Orchestra of Germany (IJOA) and in 2010 of the SFK Symphony Orchestra.
She has attended numerous international seminars with distinguished musicians such as J. Starker, M. Kiegel, R. Leopold. She has also attended chamber music seminars with the Shostakovich Trio, Szymanovsky Quartett, and Artemis Quartett. She has participated in a contemporary music seminar with the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt.
She distinguished herself at the Allegro Vivo international competition in Austria for her performance of Haydn’s concerto for cello and orchestra in C major and has appeared as a soloist with the Kärntner Sinfonieourchester in R. Schumann’s concerto for cello and orchestra.
Alongside her cello studies, she founded the piano trio “Echos” in Austria, with which she completed her first cycle of chamber music studies with unanimous honors. With this trio, they won a special prize at the Johannes Brahms Weltbewerb competition. They participated in numerous chamber music festivals such as Kultursommer St. Paul, International Chamber Music Festival of Santorini, and performed in concerts broadcast live by Austrian radio (ORF) in cities in Austria, Italy, and Slovenia.
Ellie Filippou has been a cello teacher at the Athens Conservatory since 2012 and is a permanent member of the Athens Acedemica orchestra.
Vanessa Athanasiou began her musical studies at the Conservatory of Northern Greece, where she obtained her violin diploma with honors under the guidance of Guinka Guitchkova. She continued her studies at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, the State Music Academy in Sofia (Bachelor of Music in Performance), and the Royal Northern College of Music as a scholarship student (Master of Music in Performance). With the Athanasiou Quartet, she has performed at the Mendelsohn and Schubert festivals in England and has collaborated as a soloist with the Cambridge Early Music Festival orchestra. He has appeared repeatedly in Greece and abroad in chamber music concerts and as a member of orchestral ensembles (Kamerata Orchestra of Friends of Music, Orchestra of Colors, Sinfonietta, Athens Philharmonic Orchestra Ensemble Modern Orchestra Il pomo d’ Oro, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble). Since 2017, she has been collaborating with the Alternative Stage of the Greek National Opera. Beyond her artistic activities, she was inspired to found the Lefkada Music Week summer festival in 2006, for which she serves as artistic director and develops collaborations with important artists and institutions in Greece and abroad. She holds a degree in Greek Philology from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a master’s degree in Cultural Management from the Hellenic Open University.
