Ourania Gkasiou
Ourania Gassiou is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she studied with Nicolas Kynaston. Whilst at the Academy she received a scholarship by the Onassis Foundation and was awarded several of the major prizes and awards of the Royal Academy of Music, including the DipRAM, the most prestigious award for an outstanding final recital. She was also nominated Pidem organ Fellow of the Royal Academy of music. Aided by the Eric Thompson Trust Grant she continued her studies with Johannes Geffert in Cologne and Susan Landale in Paris.
As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed extensively throughout the UK and Europe in recital series and major international festivals. Recent appearances have included performances in Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, St Paul’s Cathedral, Altenberg Dom, Riga Cathedral, Copenhagen Cathedral, Basel Münster, Maria Laach Abbey, Barcelona Cathedral, Women of the World Festival (Royal Festival Hall, London), Oundle Festival (UK), Non Sola Scripta International Festival (Poland) and Bratislava Castle, among others.
Ourania has also been a prize winner in the International Organ Competition of St.Maurice, Switzerland and in the First Mediterranean Piano Competition of Andros, Greece. In 2011 she was appointed Organist and Curator of the organs of the Athens Concert Hall in Greece and she is also the organist of the French protestant church in London.
SONIC Digital Artistic Space Platform
The SONIC Digital Artistic Space is the networking and education component of the project. It is being served on an annual basis via an open call for expression of interest addressed to young professionals on participating in the artistic and cultural activities of the ANO International Organ Festival (Greece) and the Zadar Organ Festival (Croatia). The platform is open to all European artists and also welcomes the ideas and proposals of artists of other artistic domains (i.e. dance, theatre, etc.). One of the main targets is to evolve a digital mechanism of introducing oneself to the two festivals, accessing its educational module and becoming a vivid member of a professional cultural lobby related with -but not just limited to- the organ instrument. The educational activities are provided for free following a two-step-access registration procedure.