Ioanna Vrakatseli

Ioanna Vrakatseli was born in Lefkada. She received her Singing Diploma with distinction from the Hellenic Conservatory under Professor S. Karamanian. In 2013 she graduated with honours from the Postgraduate Opera Course of the Athens Conservatory. She also holds diplomas in piano and advanced musicianship (fugue).

She has attended drama and acting classes with director S. Vafeiadis; studied repertoire and interpretation of classical song with Ch. Savino, Ant. Papaconstantinou, G. Janowitz, and G. Hadjinikos; and explored early music with A. Christofellis, P. Adam, and D. Kountouras. In addition, she is a graduate of the Department of French Language and Literature at the University of Athens, and she holds a Master of Performance in Classical Singing from the Ionian University, awarded with distinction.

In November 2008 she won Second Prize at the 7th International Opera Singers Festival in Athens, and in 2009–2010 she participated in the Opera Studio of the Greek National Opera. As a soloist she has appeared in most of Athens’s major venues — including the Megaron Mousikis, Parnassos, Nakas, the Goethe Institut, the French and Danish Institutes, the Ionic Centre, the German Church, and the Natural History Museum “Gaia-Goulandris” — as well as in festivals and in Alexandria, Egypt, performing roles in opera, oratorio, and song.

She has collaborated with conductors such as G. Petrou, M. Michaelides, M. Economou, and R. Pylarinos, and performed at the Olympic Flame ceremony in Ithaca. She has also worked with theatre groups in children’s book productions, with the instrumental ensemble Melos Brass and the brass quartet Lefkas, and with composers D. Papadimitriou, N. Platyrachos, N. Xydakis, as well as with director M. Kakoyannis in Lysistrata.

She has been a member of the Greek National Opera Choir and has maintained a rich and varied career in music, including children’s choir conducting, piano teaching, and singing both in professional choirs and as a soloist. Since 2000, she has been a member of the Mixed Choir of the Municipality of Athens.

Source: ANO Festival