A native of Greece, resident composer Stylianos Dimou is helping to bring a bit of international perspective to the 2012 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival.
Dimou (pictured) has been studying music in the USA since last year, working toward an MA in composition with Professor Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. He also was the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship for the 2011-12 academic year.
Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, Dimou started his music studies at the Municipal Conservatory of Thessaloniki, where he earned degrees in music harmony in May, 2005 and counterpoint in May, 2008, plus a diploma in accordion in June, 2010. He began studying composition in 2006 at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki’s department of music studies, and graduated in 2011 with a Master of Music degree in composition.
Most of his works to date have been presented in workshops and competitions in Greece and elsewhere abroad. He has collaborated with Greek musical organizations such as the dissonArt ensemble, the Greek Ensemble of Contemporary Music, Idee Fixe, and Orpheus Soloists (GR), as well as with ALEA III here in the USA, and others.
In April, Dimou’s piece Réflexions de nuages was performed by the Jenaer Philharmonic Orchestra and flute player Carin Levine at the Weimarer Spring Festival for Contemporary Music in Germany. Earlier this year, he also was one of the co-creators of “Room For Five,” a joint work devised with three other Eastman composers and visual artist Anna Schuleit for the 2012 Benson Forum on Creativity.
Dimou will have company from some fellow Eastmanites at the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, as resident composer David Crowell, MU’s Stefan Freund, and many of the members of resident ensemble Alarm Will Sound are Eastman alums, and resident composer Ted Goldman is an assistant professor there. It will also give him a chance to renew his acquaintance with guest composer Steven Stucky, with whom he took a master class in composition last year.
You can hear samples of Stylianos Dimou’s music in the embedded player below.