STELLA GADEDI

BIOGRAPHY

Stella Gadedi was born in Lamia and at the age of 2 months her family moved to Karpenisi, Evritania. In this small town on the mountains, with the fir trees and the burbling rivers, she will be enchanted by the sounds of nature, traditional music, folk instrumentalists, cinema, circus performances, classical music and jazz from the radio, which will determine her musical path.

Returning to her hometown at the age of 6, she began music studies at the Lamia Municipal Conservatory, directed by the inspiring artist and teacher A. Ainian. At the age of 8 she was a soloist in the famous Ainian choir when it was awarded at the international competition in Arezzo, Italy and later she was the principal flutist in the wind orchestra “Harmony Ainian” which was very successful and developed activity throughout Greece.

With a scholarship from the French government, she continued her studies in Paris [1974-1977] with Pierre-Yves Artaud, and at the Ecole Normale de Musique, where she received a diploma in 1977. At the same year she was awarded a prize at the french national competition Leopold Bellan. She became an established flutist at a very young age giving recitals in Greece and in the most important cities and festivals in Europe (Paris, London, Munich, Geneva, Stockholm, Florence, London Bach Festival, Arbeitstage fur Musik – Berlin, Europalia – Brussels). She has been principal flutist in the Orchestra of Colours and the National Symphony Orchestra of the Greek Radio and Television and a professor at the iconic Athenaeum Conservatory and has collaborated on recordings and concerts with the most important Greek composers. Her musical path has been illuminated by Aleko Ainian, Nikos Mamagakis, Yannis G. Papaionannou, Yannis Christou, Dionysis Savvopoulos, Nicolas Economou, Pierre Yves Artaud (her teacher in Paris), Manos Hadjidakis, Eleni Karaindrou and Kora Michaelian. In recent years she has been living in Vyronas, Athens and has been working on flute, singing and composition. Her chamber music works were performed at the Athens Concert Hall and at the National Opera.

She has also composed works for symphony orchestra. She has released seven personal albums as a flutist, composer and singer.

Works for solo flute

“Since I was a child I’ve been playing around with the flute’s fragile sound! Creating, destroying, challenging it; becoming disappointed with it; teaching so I can learn; playing with others … unconsciously … magically; concertos with orchestras, chamber music, modern music … all with the flute! I saw it as a challenge to play works that seek out the flute’s pure sound! Those works are like a cool breeze from the past and the future; a breeze that dynamically infiltrates into the harsh reality of cities and takes us back to a lost dream of a simpler life, a life in nature! I dedicate this CD to all future flautists!” Stella Gadedi is an extremely talented artist with a long, impressive career as a flautist but who has also walked a parallel path as a singer and composer (www.stellagadedi.gr). On this her 8 th personal album, we listen to her warm, expressive sound as she plays a selection of outstanding works for solo flute ranging from the pre-classical era to the 20th century –from Telemann, Marais and Piazzolla to Bozza– including one piece she wrote herself.