Katerina Chatzinikolau
Katerina Chatzinikolau is concertmaster of the Athens State Orchestra since January 2023.
Praised by the Rheinische Post as a musician of "sparkling vitality and virtuosity," violinist Katerina Chatzinikolau “captivates with her variety of sound, which testifies to an intensive engagement with historical performance practice as well as contemporary music”. Recently she was awarded the prize of the London International Music Competition in 2022.
Her variety of sound testifies to an intensive work with historically informed performance practice as well as with contemporary music. The Leverkusen Stadtanzeiger praised her with the words "Pure naturalness, with which she devotes herself equally ingeniously to classical and new music".
She made her debut with conductor Christoph Eschenbach at the "International Kalamata Music Days" in July 2022.
Her performances push the boundaries of conventional concert formats and mark her work as a tireless explorer with a great desire to offer her audiences new approaches and ultimately expand their own understanding of music.
Katerina is a first prize winner of the Golden Classical Music Awards 2020, eMuse International Music Competition and Alois Kottmann Prize. In 2017 she won the 2nd prize at the Panhellenic Young Soloist Competition and in 2015 she won the 1st prize at the Thöne International Competition, as well as the prize for the best interpretation of the contemporary commissioned work.
As a soloist, Katerina has performed in renowned concert halls such as the Philharmonie Cologne, Carnegie Hall, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, rbb-Rundfunksaal Berlin, Royal Theatre Thessaloniki, Beethovenhalle Bonn, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen and at the Ruhrtriennale.
She has performed with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Philharmonie Südwestfalen, the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, the New Rhenish Chamber Orchestra Cologne and the New Philharmonie Westfalen.
From November 2021 until the end of the 2021/22 season, she was 3rd concertmaster with the Duisburg Philharmonic at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and from 2017 to 2019, she was 2nd concertmaster with the Bergische Symphoniker.
Katerina studied in Pre-College at RSH Düsseldorf with Prof. A. Kramarov and is a Master's graduate of HfMT Cologne, where she studied "Violin Solo" with Prof. A. Daskalakis and Musicology with a focus on "Artistic Development and Reflection".
She received further musical impulses at international master classes with Leonidas Kavakos, Pavel Vernikov, Andres Cardenes, Mauricio Fuks, Ida Kavafian, Barnabas Kelemen, Mihaela Martin, PierreLaurent Aimard, Evgueni Sinaiski and Anthony Spiri at the Kronberg Academy and at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music, among others.
In the field of historically informed performance practice, she received intensive lessons on the baroque violin with baroque violinist Prof. Richard Gwilt and had the opportunity to expand her knowledge in master classes with Sigiswald Kuijken.
In 2020, she received a scholarship from Tarisio Auctions. In Germany, she was supported by the Franz and Christel Kuhlmann Foundation and the Horst and Gretl Will Foundation. She was also a scholarship recipient of "Yehudi Menuhin - Live Music Now" and was awarded the NRW scholarship, the E.ON scholarship fund and a DAAD scholarship.
Collaborations with film art, design and architecture are an important aspect of her artistic practice. In her upcoming project, she collaborates with Greek designer and luxury brand Mia Papa and presents her work as a violinist and arranger through her own video productions on her Youtube channel.
She plays an 1810 F. L. Pique violin, generously provided to her by Tarisio.