RETURNIrini Tsirakidis

Irini Tsirakidis

Soloist, Mezzo-soprano
She was born in Wiesbaden, Germany but she was raised in Piraeus. She studied monody initially at the Athenaeum Conservatory, at the age of 18, under Antigone Sgourda and then, in 1993, under Kostas Paskalis at Atheneum Conservatory. She completed her studies with honors and a gold medal in 1995. In 1994 she won first prize in the at the international competition Giacomo Aragall in Barcelona. In 1996 she received the Maria Kallas scholarship by the “Friends of Music” Society. She cooperated with the GNO systematically in the period 1995-99, when she participated in 8 productions and/or revivals of 6 operas, interpreting the roles: Maria Boccanegra (Simon Boccanegra), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Musetta (La bohème), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Antonia (Les contes d'Hoffmann). She also cooperated with the Chamber Opera of Athens as Berenice (L' occasione fa il ladro, 1995-96). Then she made international appearances in the La Scala Milan, London's Royal Opera House, Barcelona (Gran Teatre del Liceu), Bilbao, Rome, Trieste, Dallas, Strasbοurg, Amsterdam, St Petersburg, Poland, Chile etc. She received the “Maria Kallas” award of the Opera of Dallas. Since 2004 she has been teaching at the Conservatory of Korydalos Municipality, the National Conservatory in Santorini and Atheneum conservatory (Athens). She reappeared in GNO as Fragogiannou in the world premiere of the opera The Μurderess [I fonissa] by Giorgos Koumendakis (Athens Concert Ηall, 2014/15). // Last update of the biography: December 2015 - The list of productions below is continually updated.