Elsa Mouratidou: voice
Thanasis Bililis: piano
Akis Archontis: violin
Kostas Tsougras: accordion
Yannis Polymeneris: double bass, mandolin
Saturday, August 22, 21:00
Horto Theatre
Entrance: €15
This concert is an occasion for the Plaza Ensemble quartet to explore music from Europe and the Mediterrranean that have left their aesthetic mark to this day. They will be accompanied by Elsa Mouratidou whose flexible and expressive voice they value so much. In their musical journey together they will perform the music of European cinema, Portuguese fados, the music of the Mediterranean, Argentinian nuevo tango, poetry set to music and Greek song.
Plaza Ensemble was founded in 2004 by Thanasis Bililis (piano), Akis Archontis (violin), Kostas Tsougras (accordion) and Yannis Polymeneris (double bass, mandolin). Its members have studied music (performance, composition, orchestration) at conservatories, music academies and universities in Greece and abroad and have participated in concerts and recordings of many different genres of music. Its repertoire includes music from European and international cinema, nuevo tango, fados, Greek art song, contemporary music and contemporary improvisation. He has performed at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, the Athens Concert Hall, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Ceremonial Hall, the Benaki Museum, the Cacoyannis Foundation, the Eptapyrgio Festival, the Musikotropo festival, Zurich (Herbst in der Helferei festival) and elsewhere. He has collaborated with renowned singers, such as: Sonia Theodoridou, Doros Demosthenous, Andreas Karakotas, Manolis Hatzimanolis, Elsa Mouratidou, Thodoris Voutsikakis, Andriana Bambali, etc. Discography: “Songs from the Big Screen” with Sonia Theodoridou (Human Voice, Berlin, 2011), “Portrait” by Michalis Goutis (Ogdoo, 2021), “Sonia Theodoridou & Plaza Ensemble singing Astor Piazzolla” (MINOS-EMI 2026).
Elsa Mouratidou was born and raised in Thessaloniki. She began her musical studies at the Contemporary Conservatory of Thessaloniki and sang in the Children’s Choir of Agia Triada. She studied Greek Philology at the University of Thrace. She continued her studies in vocals with Eleni Michalopoulou and attending various seminars (Spyros Sakkas, Savina Giannatou, Michael Marmarinos, etc.). Since 1996 she has been giving concerts in Greece, but also abroad (Germany, Switzerland, France, Scotland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Morocco, etc.), collaborating with many musicians, composers and singers, such as M. Mitsias, Ant. Kalogiannis, V. Lekkas, D. Zervoudakis, G. Kazantzis, M. Thoidou & DRASTA, A. Karakotas, D. Demosthenous, Plaza Ensemble and many others. She is one of the founding members of the a cappella vocal group STRINGLESS (traditional world music). She is the main performer of the groups ARGATIA ENSEMBLE (Pontic, Armenian, Turkish, Lazic, Georgian traditional), TIR FADA (Irish and Scottish songs), MAROUVA (urban folk music of Crete), etc. She has participated in theatrical productions, performing or teaching vocals for the State Theatre of Northern Greece and other institutions. She teaches contemporary and theatrical singing at the AMS Conservatory in Thessaloniki. Among her rich discography, the recent album “Epsilon and Theta” (Love and Death, 2025) stands out, which climbed into the top 40 albums on the World Music Charts Europe.
https://www.elsamouratidou.com