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Nikolaos
Kotrokois, born in Athens, Greece (1964) started his music studies at the
National Conservatory of Greece in 1979. In March 1987 he entered the University
of Music and Drama in Graz and in June of the same year he received a
distinction award from the Town of Graz. He studied choral conducting with Karl Ernst Hoffman, orchestral conducting with
Milan Horvart and Martin Turnowski, composition with Herman Markus Pressl and
Beat Furrer, and singing with
the tenor Oscar Maticek. During his studies he received scholarships by
the Foundation "A.S. Onassis" (4 years) and the Austrian Federal
Ministry of Science and Research (3 years). In 1990 he got his Certificate in
Orchestral Conducting, and in 1991 the Diploma in Choral Conducting. In 1993 he
finished his work "Music and Verse in Ancient Greece" and acquired the
title "Magister der Künste". He completed his academic studies in the
University of Graz getting the Diploma in Composition in 1994. During
his academic studies N. Kotrokois gained experience directing Austrian vocal
ensembles and the Klagenfurt symphonic orchestra. At the same period he was acquainted with the works of Franghiskos
Leontaritis, the only known Greek composer of western renaissance music, and
performed some of his compositions in an open concert, organized by the
University of Graz, in the city cathedral. Coming back to Greece in 1994 he
formed the vocal ensemble PolyPhonia, and since then
they have been working together on a repertory ranging from medieval to
contemporary music, with special focus on the interpretation of renaissance a
cappella music. N. Kotrokois, setting from the beginning as one of
PolyPhonia’s goals to make F. Leontaritis’ work widely known, led the
ensemble to their first recording (March, 1997), while
the second recording containing Leontaritis’ works
was recently released (February 2001). Both CDs were favourably reviewed by the
Greek and international press. Under the direction of N. Kotrokois, the
ensemble has given numerous concerts in Europe (Italy
and Germany), in Athens and
other places in Greece.
N.
Kotrokois has made several live broadcasts with PolyPhonia on the Greek National
Radio. He has given interviews about PolyPhonia’s work and plans to the
international early music magazine Goldberg, the prize-winning cultural
live programme "Plus and Minus" of the National Television (NET), and
the radio programme of the Church of Greece. He has written articles concerning
F.
Leontaritis for the greek press. He has also produced and presented a tribute to
the Leontaritis’ discoverer, Prof. N.M. Panayiotakis, on the 3rd Programme of
the Greek Radio. Besides
his work with PolyPhonia, N. Kotrokois is specializing in training children/school
choirs. He worked as Head of Vocal Ensembles in two known conservatories of Athens and prepared their children choirs for a series of Christmas concerts in
the Athens Concert Hall (December, 1997) under the direction of the artistic
director of National Greek Opera, L. Karytinos. In October 1996, he formed a 100-member school choir
in order to perform for
the first time in Greece works for children choir, orchestra and solists by the
Belgian composer R. Jannsens in the Athens Concert Hall (March, 1998). In 1999,
in parallel to giving theoretical courses in a state music high school, he
directed the choir of the school in various cultural events (a Christmas concert
with Marios Fragoulis, the millenium celebration in Acropolis, the prize-giving
ceremony for the best Greek athletes of the year in Stadium of Peace and
Friendship). The Greek
Ministry of Education has selected him for five successive years (1996-2001) as a member of the critical committee for the National Competition of
School Choirs. In
1997, he was the music instructor of the chorus in the production of Euripides'
tragedy "Phoinisses" with music by Mikis Theodorakis, performed at the
Ancient Theatre of Epidauros. An important aspect of his general educational contribution is his participation in the Vocational Training Programs of the Greek Ministry of Education in 1994 and the seminars coorganized by the Greek Ministry of Education and the Center of Choral Praxis (under the Ministry of Culture) in 1998, where he taught in courses of choral conducting for school teachers. He has also organized seminars for choral and vocal music at the Municipal Conservatory of Piraeus. Since 1999 the cultural magazine of the Center of Choral Praxis publishes articles of him relative to the Greek ancient music. Since September of the same year N. Kotrokois is the general director of the Center of Music Studies "ECHOMORFES" in Athens, which is accredited by the State. Composing is another field on which he dedicated a lot of his energy and time. His work includes compositions for solo instruments and voices, as well as instrumental and vocal ensembles. Many of them have been performed in concerts organized by the Composers’ Union of Styria - of which he became a member in 1990 - as well as by the Greek National Radio. In 1999 he set to music poems by D. Solomos, in the context of the first of a CD-series presenting Greek Classic’s masterpieces, which was issued by the Holy Monastery of Koutloumousi, Mount Athos. In 1999, he was proposed by the Union of Greek Critics for Theatre and Music as a candidate for an award due to his artistic activity.
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