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Maria Magdalena Iacovou
Mezzo soprano Maria Magdalena Iacovou started her musical studies at the ARTE music academy in her hometown Nicosia and continued her studies at the Vienna Konservarorium from where she graduated with excellent marks after having completed two degrees in classical voice performance and teaching. She started her musical career early, while she was still a university student, participating in concerts and operas in Vienna. From 2011 to 2014 she was a member of the Sine Nomine Choir under conductor Johannes Hiemetsberger, where, among other performances and concerts that she participated in, several stand out, such as the third place award winning performance at the Tampere Vocal Music Festival in Finland (2013), a big concert in Munich with the Hochschule fur Musik and Theater Munchen (2014) and her participation at the oratorio "Solomon" at the Theater an der Wien (2013).
From 2015 she is a permanent member of the Arnold Schoenberg Choir (a first class world acclaimed vocal ensemble) under the artistic and musical direction of conductor Erwin Ortner. To name but a few performances with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir are the opera "Halka" (December 2019) at the Theater an der Wien next to names such as the world famous tenor Piotr Beczala and the great soprano Corinne Winters, under the baton of Lukasz Borowicz and stage director Mariusz Trelinski; as well the opera "Hans Heiling" (September 2015) under conductor Constantin Trinks, Haydn's "Schoepfungsmesse" at Graffenegg (March 2016), the "Reger Motetten" at Perchtoldsdorf Festival (October 2016), the oratorio "Messiah" at Wiener Musikverein with the Lautten Compagnei Berlin orchestra (December 2016), Ligeti's "Lux Aeterna" at Ochsenhausen Musikfestpiel (May 2017), Beethoven's oratorio "Christus am Oelberge performed during a tour (Innsbruck, Bonn, Antwerp, Amsterdam) with Le Concerte Olympique Orchestra under the baton of Jean Caeyers (October 2017), the oratorio "Das Floss der Medusa" by Hans Werner Henze at Wiener Konzerthaus with Radio Symphonie Orchestra Wien, conducted by Cornelius Meister (November 2017), Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" part of a tour in Antwerp, Berliner Philarmonie, Festpiele Baden-Baden, under the baton of Jean Caeyers (November 2018), Beethoven's opera "Fidelio" at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg, conducted by Marc Minkowski (December 2018) as well as Ligeti's Requiem (April 2019) in Hamburg under the baton of Kent Nagano. In addition to her live performances with the choir, she has taken part in CD recordings "Die Nacht ist Kommen" with the Schoenberg Choir in Saint Ursula, conducted by Erwin Ortner (ASC 2017). She has also collaborated with the Webern Kammer Choir (MDW), which was awarded first and second prize at the Choir Competition in Carinthia with Conductor Aloïs Glassner (2016). She also participated in Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni" at the 2016 Paphos Aphrodite Festival with the Parma Opera Company and the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Matteo Beltrami.
As soloist she took part in numerous performances among which a solo concert during the festival Cypria 2019 alongside a Viennese soprano at the Nicosia Demotic Theatre as well as the Pallas Theatre in Nicosia alongside counter tenor Aris Christophellis and with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Julius Kalmar (2015). She also performed at the Christmas concert of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Vienna interpreting among other works and for a first time a composition by Giorgos Papageorgiou based on a poem by Kostis Palamas (December 2017) as well as at a concert "Poetry in Music" with the Orpheus Kammerorchester under the baton of conductor Constantino Diminaki at the Prayner Konservarorium in Vienna where she also premiered a work by composer Giorgios Papageorgiou based on poetry by Nikiforos Vretakos. In her upcoming performances for 2020 she will be performing Schubert's "Winter Journey" alongside renown pianist Plotinus Mikromatis