Katerina Papadopoulou

Vocalist with a long-standing career in Greek traditional music — and beyond. With deep knowledge and a wide repertoire of regional idioms of the Greek musical tradition, she presents her work with consistency, artistic integrity, and refined aesthetics.

She collaborated with leading figures of Greek traditional music in concerts and recordings, most notably with Domna Samiou, with whom she worked closely for thirteen years. After Samiou’s passing, from 2014 onwards, she assumed the direction of the Domna Samiou Choir as well as the teaching activities organised by the Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association.

On an international level, she collaborated with Jordi Savall in the projects Mare Nostrum, Esprit des Balkans, Pèlerinage de l’âme, Orient – Occident and Ibn Battuta, the latter recorded live in Abu Dhabi.

She also collaborated with the baroque ensemble L’Arpeggiata in concerts, performing songs from Greece and the Greek-speaking villages of Southern Italy. She participated in the programmes Mediterraneo (Virgin Classics, 2013) and Balkan.

In 2013, she began teaching Greek singing in biannual seminars in Marseille in collaboration with HIPHAISTIA, Association Européenne Pour l’Expression de la Culture Grecque. For many years, she engaged in organising seminars of Greek music in cooperation with institutions abroad.

She released several solo albums and took part in numerous others, collaborating with a wide range of distinguished artists.

Songs

Records

This videotaped stage performance, held at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on 2005, includes songs and rituals related to the cycle of the agricultural year,.
Songs inspired by the popular tradition of story-telling, relating tales of brave warriors, both high-ranked lords, and lowly soldiers. Centering on heroic Digenis, they originate from all parts of Greece.
Tales of the fabulous and the fantastic combining the real world with the supernatural. Narrating stories, often tragic, which might once have occurred – or could do so one day.
Songs of Asia Minor by Domna Samiou. Live recording from the concert ‘Songs of Asia Minor with Domna Samiou’ at the Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, on 8/3/2005. Traditional songs from the western coasts of Asia Minor, Propontis, Constantinople, Pontus and Cappadocia.
The down-to-earth love of nature in these folk songs doesn’t derive from any form of romantic nostalgia; it lies instead in a pure experience of everyday life.
The wealth of Greek traditional music has been enriched by every aspect of maritime tradition – by its values, virtues and charm – as is amply demonstrated by this wonderful collection of songs.
The retelling of fine, magnificent, heroic deeds from the past has always inspired a future path for every nation, the weft on which its future is woven. Austere and Doric, as stern as the heroes they describe.
Wheat, wine, oil. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate· bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts (Psalm 104, 15)
This CD is a good companion to those who want to offer their children a hint of a different magical world.
Unpublished collection of thirty-four traditional songs and tunes for the wedding feast, the bride, the groom, the best men and women and all the guests.

Concerts

Traditional songs and events that follow the course of the cycle of the year. Starting from the autumn, which marks the beginning of the working and ecclesiastical year, a harvest revival, events of the twelve days of Christmas, Easter festivities, Saint John of Kledon customs, and summer festive events.
An Asia Minor tribute concert. A tribute to the muse of the historical space of the Greek East. Traditional songs from the western coast of Asia Minor, the Sea of Marmara, Constantinople, Pontus and Cappadocia and two Byzantine hymns from the musical tradition of the Orthodox Church.