A concert with 21st-century works for two pianos, by pianists Lydia Linardou and Hero Menegou. A journey through the imaginary musical cities of contrasts. Among them a new commission, a new arrangement of a concerto, an arrangement from a piece á quatre mains, musical theatre, movement and speech. A journey through the mature language of the composers, through the eyes of the newly formed duo. Starting from the city of Andria in Italo Calvino’s book Invisible Cities, the performers trace the connection between the works and some of the author’s special cities.
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Lydia Linardou
Lydia Linardou is a pianist and music teacher. She was born and raised in Elefsina. She specialises in a contemporary piano repertoire (20th and 21st century) and lately she has been researching new teaching methods for the music education of multicultural and vulnerable populations. She is a graduate of the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In 2018 she obtained her Diploma in Piano (Excellent Unanimous and First Prize). She has also completed her studies in Advanced Theory of Music with degrees in Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue. At the same time, she studied piano at the Ecole Normale De Musique de Paris where she obtained the Diploma of Interpretation “Brevet d’Execution”. In 2021 she completed her postgraduate studies in music education and piano at the Conservatorium of Maastricht (Netherlands). Today she works as a music teacher and piano teacher in private schools and at the Cultural Centre of the Municipality of Elefsina. She has attended various piano, contemporary and chamber music seminars in Greece and abroad with internationally renowned pianists such as Lorenda Ramou, Domna Evnouchidou, Karolos Zouganelis, Dionysis Mallouchos, Sebastian Colombo, Katia Veekmans, Katia Lebedeva, Joop Celis, Vladimir Viardo, David Lively, Balázs Szokolay, Klára Würtz etc. Finally, she has performed as a soloist and as a member of chamber music ensembles in classical and contemporary music concerts in Greece and the Netherlands, such as the Aeschylia Festival in Elefsina, the Maastricht Classical Music Nights festival, contemporary music concerts at the Athens Conservatory, etc.
Hero Menegou
She was born and raised in Thessaloniki. She received her Piano Diploma with the grade “Excellent Unanimous and 2nd Prize” from the Athens Conservatory and the class of Erato Alakiozidou. She studied Advanced Theory at the Municipal Conservatory of Thermi (class of Evangelia Kateli) receiving degrees in Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue with Honours and Double Bass with Yiannis Polymeneris. She has attended master classes in piano, chamber music and Advanced Theory seminars with: Florent Boffard, Paulo Alvares, Piero Rattalino, Geoffrey Madge, Javier Negrin, Seniz Duru, Μeropi Kollarou, Εrmis Theodorakis, Alexandros Markeas, Leto Thomou, Vasilis Kitsos, Panagiotis Adam, while she actively participated in the contemporary music festival Synthermeia in Thessaloniki and in the musical theatre seminar Enumerations by Giorgos Apergis at the Athens Conservatory. Since 2019 she is an active member of the annual seminar cycle “Piano in the 20th and 21st century” with Lorenda Ramou.
She is a founding member of the Pythia Trio and the Methexis Ensemble with a focus on contemporary music, and of the instrumental ensemble of film music Bouche Fermée. She collaborates with young composers, often in premieres of their works, and in September 2018 she organised for the first time the contemporary music festival “Women Composing in the Balkans” at the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki which was nominated for the Innovation Award 2019 at the international music exhibition Classical:NEXT. She has performed in music festivals and concerts in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Romania, at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, and the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens.
She designs and implements educational programmes combining music and theatre, workshops on contemporary piano repertoire for young students and European programmes on the development of music educators’ skills. She graduated from the Department of Economics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and is active in the field of cultural management (Cyprus New Music Festival, Taratsa International Film Festival, Monastery of Pau Festival, Music Diaries, etc.). In 2018-2020 she was selected as a European Music Council Scholar among seven young musicians from Europe. She teaches piano and theory at the Municipal Conservatory of Pylaia Hortiatis and is the Conservatory’s representative as Coordinator for International Relations in the European network of music academies AEC. In 2023 she took over the Artistic Direction of the Conservatory of De La Salle College in Thessaloniki.
