BIOGRAPHY

Zoi Tsokanou is the first woman in history to conduct a major Greek orchestra. She has become famous thanks to her vitality and passion on stage in numerous operatic and symphonic engagements. Since the 2017-2018 season, she is the chief conductor and artistic director of the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra.

Among his latest appearances, we find those he did with the Barcelona and National Symphony Orchestras, the National Orchestra of Lilla, the Düsseldorf Symphony, the Sofia Philharmonic, the Rostock Philharmonic, the Orchestra and Choir of Ràdio Televisió Española, the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra and the Georgisches Kammerorchester Ingolstadt, as well as the main Greek orchestras: the Athens State Orchestra, the Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Greek National Opera. He has participated in renowned festivals such as Lucerne, Athens, the Schumann Festival in Düsseldorf and the Domstufen Festival.

Tsokanou was permanent director of the Erfurt Theater (Germany), associate director of the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra (Czech Republic) and musical director of the Musical Theater of Arosa (Switzerland). His operatic repertoire includes pieces like Rigoletto, The troubadour, Macbeth, Othello, Tosca, Rustic cavalry, Orpheus and Eurydice, by Gluck, Die verkaufte Braut (The Bartered Bride), Faust, by Gounod, Romeo and Juliet, from Zandonai, The Barber of Seville, Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow), Die Fledermaus (The bat) i West Side Story, and has directed them in theaters in Erfurt, Bremen, Regensburg, The Hague, Athens and Thessaloniki.

One of the most memorable stages of her career was as assistant to her mentor B. Haitink with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich. He has won several prizes in international directing competitions. Tsokanou was born in Thessaloniki, where he graduated as a pianist and in musicology. In Zurich he studied piano with K. Scherbakov and conducting with J. Schlaefli.