Calliope Tsoupaki

(Greece, 1963) is a pianist and composer with a unique musical idiom. She draws on both Western contemporary music and the Greek Orthodox tradition, and uses a wide variety of texts for her vocal work, from Bible psalms and Greek folk songs to the poems of Pablo Neruda. Tsoupaki studied piano and music theory in Athens and composition with Yannis Ioanithis. She took summer courses with Iannis Xenakis, Olivier Messiaen, and Pierr Boulez, and from 1988 to 1992 studied composition with Louis Andriessen and electronic music with Gilius van Bergeijk at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. She has composed work for the Dutch Saxophone Quartet, De Volharding Orchestra, the Dutch Wind Ensemble, the Greek Metropolitan Choir, and the Asko Ensemble, among others. She has also fulfilled commissions for the Greek national broadcaster, the Dutch broadcaster VARA, and the Dutch Fund for Musical Creation. Her work is performed at renowned European and US festivals, including the Holland Festival. She lives and works in Amsterdam.