JALALI KANDY – MASTROGIANNIS: LIKE PEARLS OF MORNING DEW

PROGRAMME:

“I sit down at the piano, dying to play, but musical notation no longer means anything to me. My eyes have forgotten how to read it. I have been firmly taken by the arm and led away from myself. And I long to return to where I was.”

These words by Alma Mahler capture the position of many women artists throughout the history of music. For centuries, their talent, ambition, and artistic voice were confronted by social attitudes that limited their opportunities and often denied them the recognition enjoyed by their male counterparts. “A woman must not desire to compose,” Clara Schumann once wrote; a statement that encapsulates the prejudices of an entire era.

How many works were lost to silence? How many creative voices remained in the shadows? Behind the history of music as we know it, stand women who broke new ground, claimed their place, and left behind works of remarkable artistic value. Women who dared to follow their own path, even when circumstances denied them equal opportunities.

This concert is dedicated to them. Through a journey across different eras and musical aesthetics, it seeks to shed light on a less known yet essential dimension of musical creation. The exact programme remains deliberately undisclosed, allowing each work and each composer to be revealed on stage, inviting the audience into an experience of discovery.

The winners of the 1st Young Artists Competition of the 9th International Kalamata Music Days (2025), Mariam Jalali Kandy (soprano) and Pavlos Mastrogiannis (piano), present an evening dedicated to women’s voices throughout the history of music; voices that deserve to be heard again with the attention and recognition they merit, and whose works rightfully belong within the concert repertoire.

Mariam Jalali Kandy soprano

Pavlos Mastrogiannis piano

ARTIST RÉSUMÉS:

Maryam Jalali Kandy is an Iranian soprano, born in Tehran. She completed her secondary music education in Iran and began her vocal studies with Hasmik Karapetian, later continuing her training with Sheida Damghani.

From 2021 to 2025, she obtained a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at the State University of Music and the Performing Arts Stuttgart from the class of Prof. Marion Eckstein. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music at the University of Music Würzburg under Prof. Christianne Stotijn.

In 2023, she won the Third Prize at the Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský International Vocal Competition (Slovakia). Since 2024, she has been supported by the Live Music Now foundation. She participated in the Thomas Hampson & Melanie Diener Opera Workshop in 2024 and is a LiedBasel 2026 Fellow, working with Wolfram Rieger and Annette Dasch, and in 2026 she was awarded a scholarship by the Bavarian State Association.

In 2025, with the pianist Pavlos Mastrogiannis, they won the 1st International Young Artists Competition of the International Kalamata Music Days. They have been performing together as a Lied duo for the past four years.

She has participated in masterclasses with distinguished artists including Christiane Iven, Charles Spencer, Ildikó Raimondi, Ulrike Sonntag, Thilo Dahlmann, Evelyn Schörkhuber, Rannveig Braga-Postl, Götz Payer, Thomas Seyboldt, and Anna Maria Pammer, and has also worked with Gerold Huber, Christiane Karg, Yeree Suh, Arianna Radaelli, and Andrea Maria Baiocchi.

Pavlos Mastrogiannis was born in Athens and received his first piano lessons at the age of twelve with Christiana Platania. Under her guidance, he earned his Piano Diploma from the National Conservatory of Athens in July 2021, graduating with the highest distinction (Excellent) and the Second Prize. He subsequently completed a Bachelor’s degree in Historical Keyboard Instruments at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, where he studied fortepiano with Dr. Prof. Stefania Neonato and harpsichord and basso continuo with Arianna Radaelli. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Harpsichord with Arianna Radaelli.

He regularly participates in masterclasses specializing in Early Music, including the Urbino Musica Antica Festival, the Alte Musik Tage Bremen, and most recently a harpsichord masterclass with Jean Rondeau at the Piccola Accademia di Montisi.

His repertoire includes solo works, chamber music, and Lied repertoire, with a particular focus on historically informed performance. In August 2025, together with the soprano Maryam Jalalikandy, they won the 1st International Young Artists Competition of the International Kalamata Music Days. They have been performing together as a Lied duo for the past four years.