Lorenda Ramou, PhD, is a pianist, musicologist, piano teacher and concert curator, with a particular interest in 20th and 21st c. repertoire. She has appeared in many festivals and concert tours in Europe, USA and Chile. She has extensively researched, published and lectured on Greek piano repertoire; her numerous CD recordings for BIS, ECM, NAXOS and Athens Music Society include, among others, solo and chamber music works by Nikos Skalkottas, Dimitris Dragatakis, Konstantia Gourzi and Yiannis Ioannidis. She collaborates as Project Manager for contemporary music projects with Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens. Eager to transmit her knowledge of 20th and 21st century’s piano repertoire to a younger generation of performers, she is teaching a yearly workshop on the subject at the Athens Conservatory. She had collaborated with composers Mauricio Kagel, Maurice Ohana, Frederic Rzewski and with French author Pascal Quignard. She had received guidance by pianists Claude Helffer, Marie-Françoise Bucquet, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Steve Drury, while studying at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP), City University, London, and New England Conservatory, Boston. Her projects have been supported by the French Ministry of Culture, the British Council, Fulbright Foundation and the Center of Hellenic Studies, Harvard University.

LORENDA RAMOU

As a child, music felt very natural for me. I didn’t feel I needed to put any effort into learning the piano. I wanted to find all the musical information that was there. What was the purpose of studying the piano? Suddenly the whole thing became so creative. I felt that the sound is something malleable and you can have an infinite number of possibilities and ways of phrasing and expressing, so that opened a whole new area of possibilities and I found this just fascinating.

This interview was conducted by Mia Funk with the participation of collaborating universities and students. Associate Interviews Producer on this podcast was Aparna Rajeev. Digital Media Coordinator is Hannah Story Brown.

Mia Funk is an artist, interviewer and founder of The Creative Process.