Dr Maria Stratigou

Department of Music

Teaching Associate in Performance

Dr Maria Stratigou Profile picture
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m.stratigou@sheffield.ac.uk

Full contact details

Dr Maria Stratigou
Department of Music
Jessop Building
Leavygreave Road
ºù«Ӱҵ
S3 7RD
Profile

I was born in Athens, where I began my piano studies at the age of seven with Sofia Mouratoglou, later with Christos Papageorgiou, and then at the Conservatory of Athens with Aliki Vatikioti-Farrant. I graduated in June 2007 winning the first prize of the Conservatory. I continued my postgraduate studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (former RSAMD) with Jonathan Plowright (PGDip in Performance with Distinction) and Fali Pavri (MMus in Performance), being a scholar of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. In 2010, I finished the PGDip Advanced Accompaniment Course with Distinction under the guidance of Fali Pavri.

In 2021 I was awarded my PhD (Performance) from the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) under the supervision of Prof Barbara Kelly, Dr David Jones and Dr Simon Clarke, with scholarships from the NWCDTP and the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. My research was focused on the ‘Performance aspects of Louise Farrenc’s Études for piano’. My thesis included the recording of the entire sets of Farrenc’s Études, as well as a substantial musicological element.

I have given Lecture-Recitals and paper presentations at seven international conferences. In February 2020 I was the organiser of the conference ‘Musical Women in Europe in the Long Nineteenth Century’ at the RNCM, where I also performed a selection of Louise Farrenc’s Études at the opening concert and delivered a post-concert talk presenting my research on Farrenc’s Études for piano. In December 2018 I was awarded the 1st Student Prize for my paper and presentation ‘Performing Louise Farrenc's Études for piano’ at the Conference ‘Into the Unknown’ at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

In 2013 I was honoured by the Academy of Athens with the ‘Eleni Tim. Mykoniou’ Prize for Piano. I was awarded the first prize for my interpretation in Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor at the Jock Holden Memorial Mozart Prize Competition at the RSAMD (November 2008) and was highly commended at the Governors’ Recital Prize in 2010. I have won first prizes in various Panhellenic piano competitions (X.O.N. – 2012, Panhellenic Competition for Young Pianists –Andros 2007, ‘Filon’ – 2004) and many internal prizes at the Athens Conservatory both in piano and chamber music. I have taken part in masterclasses with Bernard Ringeissen, Yonty Solomon, Geoffrey Burleson, Steven Osborne, and Martino Tirimo amongst others.

I was chosen twice among the piano department students of the RSAMD to perform with the RSAMD Symphony Orchestra at the RSAMD Concerto Concert, I have collaborated with Orchestra Filarmonica di Stato ‘Mihail Jora’ di Bacau and maestro Ovidiu Balan, and I have performed in various venues in UK, Italy, Czech Republic, Spain and Greece, giving also world premieres of contemporary piano pieces (G. N. Gianopoulos Op.15 Five pieces for solo piano/Op.17 Nocturne for solo piano, E. Vaios ‘3’, D. Minakakis ‘Metamorphoses’ for solo piano).

I have studied Harmony, I have a Diploma of excellence in Counterpoint and a Diploma of excellence in Fugue, both with Distinction, while studying with the famous Greek Composer and Professor Periklis Koukos at the Athens Conservatory. I also have a Diploma of excellence in Byzantine Music, and I have undertaken singing lessons with the Greek Tenor Stamatis Beris and the soprano Fotini Kostopoulos.

Publications


Chapter in edited Collection: ‘Louise Farrenc’s Études: Dates, Purpose, Reception and Role’, in Women Composers in New Perspectives, 1800–1950: Genres, Contexts and Repertoires, edited by Mariateresa Storino and Susan Wollenberg. Brepols (Turnhout, Belgium), as part of a series â€˜Speculum Musicae’(in print)

Research interests

French Music, Historically Informed Performance practices, Women Composers, Editions

Research group

Farrenc, Louise: Complete Piano Works Volume I - Etudes (Grand Piano Records, GP912-13)

Farrenc, Louise: Complete Piano Works Volume II - Theme & Variations, Part I (Grand Piano Records, GP934)

Professional activities and memberships
  • June 2023 – Oxford, UK. University of Oxford, Music Graduate Colloquium at Oxford – Lecture Recital ‘Looking into the Manuscripts and Historical Editions of Louise Farrenc's Piano Works – Detailed Analysis and Performance Implications’
  • Sep 2022 – Durham, UK. Royal Musical Association Annual Conference 2022 – Lecture Recital â€˜The Meaning of dolce in Nineteenth-Century Pianism, as Derived from Farrenc’s Piano Études’
  • Nov 2021 – Cottbus, DE. Virtuosity and Innovation. Symposium on Piano Music of the Brilliant Style (ca. 1790–1840) â€“ Paper Presentation ‘Virtuosity and Originality in Louise Farrenc’s Op. 26 Études for Piano’
  • Sep 2021 – Bangor, UK. Third International Conference on Women's Work in Music â€“ Paper Presentation ‘Louise Farrenc’s Pedagogy as seen through her Students’
  • Mar 2021 – Keele, UK. Keele University Music Forum Presentation – ‘The Kaleidoscope of Louise Farrenc’s Études for piano’
  • Dec 2020 – Manchester, UK. RNCM Piano Chat Forum – ‘Performing and (or?) Researching Louise Farrenc’s Études for piano’
  • Dec 2020 – Murcia, ES. ClaMo & Conservatorio Superior de Musica de Murcia â€“ Lecture Recital ‘Louise Farrenc: Her Life and Piano Études’
  • Nov 2020 – Lucca, IT. Complesso Monumentale di San Micheletto – Women Are not Born to Compose: Female Musical Works from 1750 to 1950 â€“ Paper presentation ‘Louise Farrenc’s Études: Dates, Purpose, Reception and Role’
  • Sep 2020 – North Carolina, USA. Salem College Graduate Seminar Course â€“ ‘Louise Farrenc’
  • Feb 2020 – Manchester, UK. Musical Women in Europe in the Long Nineteenth Century â€“ Organiser/Opening Concert/Post-Concert Talk ‘Researching Louise Farrenc's Piano Études’ (conference funded by the NWCDTP and the RMA)
  • Sep 2019 – Vienna, AT. Correct but not Beautiful Performance II: Deciphering the hidden messages in 19th century notation â€“ Lecture Recital ‘Shaping the performance of Louise Farrenc’s Piano Études in light of past practices’ (trip funded by the NWCDTP)
  • Nov 2018 – Christchurch, NZ. Into the Unknown â€“ Lecture Recital ‘Performing Louise Farrenc’s Piano Études’ (trip funded by the NWCDTP)
  • Sep 2018 – Birmingham, UK. Editing, Performing and Re-Composing the Musical Past: French Neoclassicism (1870–) â€“ Lecture Recital ‘Louise Farrenc and Le Trésor des Pianistes’ (trip funded by the MMU)