KONSTANTINA ANDREAKOU

Interview: Maro Voulgari | Photo: Stefanos Georgiadis

«Choir singing is sharing»

Konstantina Andreakou has identified her life with the music and choirs of Paros. On the occasion of this year’s award of the Archilochos choir in an international competition in Romania, she guides us on this journey full of notes.

I belong to a musical family. I lived in music from a young age. The piano was always at home, my grandmother and aunt played and sang. For me, it was clear from a very early age that I would pursue music. Then came the conservatory where I completed my studies with Liana Haratsi and theoretically with Kostas Varotsis, but I have also studied sociology.

After my doctorate, the time came to look for a job, and after sending resumes everywhere, I received an invitation from Spyros Pavlakis who had taken over the artistic direction of the Municipal Conservatory of Paros. That’s how I ended up on the island, initially living in Athens and traveling for the lesson, while in a few years I was also appointed as a music teacher, something I always wanted because I specialized in the Orff system. So I started teaching at the Naoussa school and when in 2020 I became the principal of the same elementary school, this had an emotional impact on me.

In addition to the school choir, we also started having a choir at the Naoussa music and dance group. It was a children’s choir and there we started to receive some awards. At the same time, with the Dutch conductor Orfeas John Munsey, who was a great mentor for me, we created an a capella vocal ensemble within the framework of the Aegean Center school.

So I was both a teacher and a choir member and this gave me the opportunity to see it from both sides. It was an intense experience because I participated in every way. When the conductor left, it was time to start my own initiatives.

So I created a choir workshop at the municipal conservatory entitled “the body sings, the voice plays” with which we participated in various celebrations, and then the moment came when I took on the task of reorganizing the adult choirs. That was the pivotal point where old and new choirs came together, with Nikos Sarris calling his own old choir members and symbolically handing me the baton. Our progress after that was very fast. Immediately, we reorganized the Archilochos choir, which had been dormant, and it was as if the choir had returned home.

Our first appearance with it was on the national holiday where, directed by Giorgos Gemeliaris, we sang inside the Baptistery of Ekatontapyliani. The first opening of the vocal ensemble to the outside. From that moment on, we continued to do more and more things, such as going outside the island to competitions and festivals. Until an international competition in Romania, we sent three versions of Christmas carols: the Cycladic, the Byzantine and the Propontis. So we won the grand prix and the audience award.

Our dreams are an International Choir Festival at the end of each June. With many guest choirs and a choral workshop. And to be able to sing inside the church with special permission. With a lot of work, respect and inspiration, I believe that we will achieve these too!