Nímata Vol. 2: Exploring Musical Threads

Nímata returns for its second edition, presenting an evening of unique exploration of sounds, by students and alumni of leading music academies of the UK. Supported by the Athena Scholarship, awarded emerging Greek musicians present a unique programme of sound explorations. 

Nímata Vol. 2 is a continuation of an innovative musical journey that started in 2024 at the Hellenic Centre. This programme gathers a diverse group of young Greek composers and performers, each bringing their individual style and voice to create a unique exploration of sound. By blending different musical genres and instruments, Nímata Vol. 2 offers audiences a rich, layered experience that highlights the threads connecting various forms of music. This edition features talented Greek musicians, playing a variety of musical instruments, who all studied at respected institutions such as the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Their artistic paths have been supported by the Athena Scholarship, which has provided them with financial support and a shared creative community, enabling them to come together and present this compelling programme. 

Dimitris Soukaras is a Greek classical guitarist based in London. Soukaras earned his Master of Arts and Advanced Diploma with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London on a full scholarship, receiving the prestigious DipRAM award. He has won over 20 international prizes, such as the David Russell Guitar Prize, Ivor Mariants Award, Academy of Athens and Mottola International Guitar Competition. In 2021, Soukaras released his debut album ROOTS under the NAXOS label. He has performed at esteemed venues like Megaron Athens Concert Hall, King’s Place London, Musikverein Vienna, and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. He has collaborated with orchestras such as the Athens State Orchestra and Oradea Philharmonic Orchestra, Academica Athens Orchestra, Audentia Ensemble, Orchestra Filarmonica Campana, and Patras String Orchestra. In 2019 he founded MUΣA Concert Series in the City of Korinthos and he has served as the Artistic Director ever since. 

Maria Ismini Anastasiadou joined the first violin section of the BBC Concert Orchestra in London in September 2024. She was an academist at the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra between 2022 and 2024 and has been a second violin leader of the Sinfonia Cymru since 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Royal Academy of Music in London where she studied with Alexander Sitkovetsky and Remus Azoitei, and a master’s degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Anastasiadou has been the recipient of the Ismini Karter, Athena Award, Stephen Bell Trust, Derek Butler Award, and the Attica Tradition Foundation Scholarship. 

Michalis Iskas is a violin and viola performer working as an orchestral chamber and solo musician. He is also a folk performer, playing for years in Greece with prominent authentic musicians and with bands in London’s multicultural music scene. Iskas has appeared in venues such as Wigmore Hall, King’s Place, St. James’ Piccadilly, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Bristol Beacon, Musikverein, Athens Megaron. He has studied in UoM, MDW, RAM and TLCMD Masterclasses with Lawrence Power, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Garth Knox etc. He has been a RAM, Athena Scholarship and Stavros Niarchos Foundation scholar.

Mezzo-soprano Alexandra Achillea is celebrated for her “terrifically vibrant” performances (Opera Today) and “integrity, personality, and clear expressive and emotional engagement” (oliviermessiaen.org). With a repertoire spanning early to contemporary music, she leads a dynamic career in opera, art song, chamber music, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Achillea has appeared at major venues including Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Southbank Centre, Snape Maltings and Tate Britain, as well as festivals like Settimane Musicali di Ascona, Glyndebourne Opera and Cambridge Summer Music Festival. Her performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BNR Radio Bulgaria, and RSI Radiotelevisione Svizzera. Career highlights include her BBC Proms debut with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, a recital at Carnegie Hall with Élisabeth Pion, and a European tour with Martha Argerich and the Peace Orchestra Project, performing at Philharmonie de Paris and Auditorium Manzoni. Achillea recently premiered Eden Lonsdale’s concerto for voice with the Britten Sinfonia, performed Dallapiccola’s Goethe-Lieder at Barbican’s BBC Total Immersion, and collaborated with Emma Kirkby and Figure Ensemble on a staged performance of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater reimagined by Alex Mills. As a Samling Artist, Achillea’s accolades include the 2023 Guildhall Gold Medal, Artist in Residence at Britten Pears Arts (2022) and VOCE Centre in Pigna (2024), and two-time finalist in the Maria Callas Foundation Competition. A graduate of Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she was a 2023/24 Vocal Fellow, Achillea also studied Musicology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Historical Performance at the Athens Conservatoire. 

Yianni Frantzeskakis is a Greek composer and violinist based in London, UK. He is currently studying for his undergraduate degree in composition at Guildhall School of Music and Drama with the support of the Athena Scholarship. As a composer, he has a strong interest in expressing the primitive nature of sound through complex processes. Frantzeskakis’s music has been performed by numerous musicians and groups such as Exaudi Vocal Ensemble, Ben Smith, Mira Benjamin, and Chris Brannick amongst others. He is also an active violinist, frequently performing a wide range of old and new music as part of various ensembles. He previously studied composition with Kronilios Selamsis, Dr. Paul Newland and Malcolm Singer, and is currently under the tutoring of Dr. Richard Baker. 

Nestor Vasilakis is a Greek saxophonist and composer currently in his third year at Guildhall School of Music and Drama on the BMus Hons jazz course and a recipient of the Athena Scholarship. He has performed with and has been taught by some of the most celebrated international jazz musicians such as Jeff “Tain” Watts, Benito Gonzales, David Liebman, Dave Kikoski, Essiet Okon Essiet, Craig Bailey, Andy Sheppard and Jean Toussaint. He has played alongside his father Dimitrios at numerous jazz festivals and venues in New York, Paris, London and in Greece, such as at the United Nations, Harvard University, Rhodes & South Aegean International Jazz Festival, Athens Concert Hall, Onassis Cultural Center, Jazzy Colours Festival Paris, and jazz clubs in Athens, London and New York. 

Ersilia Mikrou was born in Athens. She began her music studies at the Athenaeum Conservatoire with Theodor Matoulas at the age of nine, and in 2015 she started preparing for a career abroad with Maria Bildea at the Athens Conservatoire. She won her first international competition, Jugend Musiziert in Germany in 2017, along with other special prizes for her musical expression. Mikrou got accepted at the Royal Academy of Music in 2018 and began her studies under the tutelage of Suzanne Willison- Kawalec. Over the course of her studies, she performed numerous UK premieres of chamber music and collaborated with composers on new contemporary works. She is also a regular guest of the Athens State Orchestra, as well as the Opera House in Greece. In 2022, she got accepted at the University of the Arts in Berlin to pursue her master’s degree in the class of Marion Ravot. Most recently, she became a member of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie Orchestra, placed as a semifinalist at the International Harp Competition “Suoni d’Arpa” in Saluzzo, Italy and has been collaborating on projects with numerous professional ensembles in the Berlin Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus. 

Born in 2006 in Alexandroupolis, Argyro Meleniou started violin lessons at the age of six. Since 2015 she has been a member of MOYSA (Megaro Youth Symphony Orchestra). Since 2016 she had taken violin lessons with Alexis Theophylactou, concertmaster of Greek National Opera orchestra. In June 2023, Meleniou received her violin diploma with honours, 1st prize and honorary distinction. In November 2023, she was admitted to the internationally renowned Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, in the class of Jacqueline Ross.