Biography
Described by USA Review as doing for the Greek soul what flamenco does for the Spanish, Eleftheria Kotzia has toured regularly in Europe, Canada, the United States, South America, North Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Far East. She has performed both as a soloist and with orchestras at many of the great International Guitar and Music Festivals.
Born in northern Greece, in Alexandroupolis , Eleftheria Kotzia studied guitar at the National Conservatory in Athens, the Conservatoire National Supérieure in Paris, and finally at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Among her teachers have been Julian Bream, Alexandre Lagoya, Dimitri Fampas, David Russell and Timothy Walker. She was the winner of the first prize in the 6th International Guitar Competition in Milan.
When Eleftheria made her London debut the Times admired her skill, unfailing beguiling tone and her ability to vary her touch with fluency. Since then Eleftheria Kotzia has performed for various radio and TV stations, including the BBC and WNYC and has given recitals at some of the most famous concert halls in the world. Kotzia was selected to represent Greece in London’s Millennium Celebrations :String of Pearls . She played the guitar part in the first performance of John Tavener’s Fall and Resurrection in St Paul’s Cathedral, London.
An inspirational creative force Eleftheria Kotzia set out in 1992 on an important initiative: the encouragement of non-Greek composers to write Greek -influenced music for her. Her uniquely pioneering work has resulted in compositions by such composers as Dusan Bogdanovic (his popular ‘Levantine Suite’), Stephen Dodgson, Carlo Domeniconi, John Duarte and Edward McGuire, who were all influenced in different ways by the richness of the Greek musical heritage.
Eleftheria has also presented numerous works by Greek composers in her recitals around the world such as Theodorakis, Hadjidakis, Haliasas, Giorginakis, Pittas, Tatsis, and Boudounis.
Eleftheria Kotzia was a lecturer at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (2000-2015). She gives masterclasses and training courses around the world. She is a frequent judge in international guitar competitions (GFA, Benicasim , Alessandria).Within the Catalogue of Lathkill Music Publishers she directs the Eleftheria Kotzia Series which features new, contemporary music for guitar. She is the writer of the guitar method ‘le cahier de ma guitare/guitarobics’, in two volumes.
Since 2007 Eleftheria kotzia is the director of the « Guitar in France » Festival.
