VOMBYΞ_01 COMPOSITION COMPETITION: TETTTIΞ ENSEMBLE

PROGRAMME:

With works by

Miroslav Srnka & Yiran Zhao (mentors)

Raphaëlle Aoun, Matteo Cenerini, Alejandro Mata, İlayda Deniz Oğuz, Haodong Wang & Kostas Zisimopoulos

TETTTIX ENSEMBLE

Zacharias Tarpagkos flutes

Panagiotis Sioras clarinets

Kazuyo Tsunehiro percussion

Konstantinos Zigkeridis accordion

Charis Pazaroulas double bass

Faidra Giannelou conductor

Vombyξ_01 is organised in collaboration with the Greek Composer’s Union.

Vombyξ_01 is made possible through the generous support of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung.

ABOUT THE PROJECT:

Held as part of the festival’s 10th anniversary edition, the Greek Composers’ Union and the International Kalamata Music Days announced Vombyξ_01 | 1st International Composition Competition and Academy 2026.

The name Vombyξ (pronounced vombyx) is a playful tribute to the silkworm (bombyx), a creature inextricably linked to the history and culture of Kalamata. It derives from the Ancient Greek onomatopoeic word bómbos (hum), describing the deep humming sound of the silkworm moth. Vombyξ transforms the historical “hum” of local heritage into contemporary musical creation and into new, unexpected sounds.

Vombyξ_01 offers six composers the opportunity to expand their compositional skills under the guidance of two prominent and internationally acclaimed composers of the new generation: Miroslav Srnka and Yiran Zhao. Together with five musicians from TETTTIX ensemble, specialized in contemporary and new music, they will collaborate closely and intensively with the composers for the public presentation of the works on the final day of the Academy.

The Vombyξ_01 Academy program includes individual lessons, rehearsals, presentations, and seminars. Through guidance during rehearsals, lectures, and presentations by mentors, musicians, and the participants themselves, attendees will enrich their knowledge on both a compositional and practical level, work on their scores, and discuss their creative process.

During the final concert, a five-member jury will award two prizes of €1,500 in form of new commissions to two of the six participants. These works will be premiered at the 11th International Kalamata Music Days in 2027.

The Academy will be hosted at the Municipal Conservatory of Kalamata from September 1 to 6, 2026, while the final presentation of the works and the Competition will take place at the Kalamata Dance Megaron (06.09.2026).

ARTIST RÉSUMÉS:

Miroslav Srnka’s international breakthrough came in 2016 when his opera South Pole was premiered at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich under Kirill Petrenko, in a production by Hans Neuenfels that featured Rolando Villazón and Thomas Hampson in the title roles.

But even before that, Srnka had received several major commissions and awards, including the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Composer’s Prize in 2009. His works have been performed by renowned interpreters including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, the Czech Philharmonic, WDR Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien and the Munich Chamber Orchestra, by conductors such as Peter Eötvös, Jakub Hrůša and Susanna Mälkki at festivals like Lucerne Festival, Ultraschall Berlin, Wien Modern, Présences Paris, Prague Spring, Musica Strasbourg, Milano Musica.

Srnka has collaborated for many years with the ensemble Quatuor Diotima, which has performed his quartets across Europe and issued a portrait CD with chamber music on the Naïve label.

Srnka, born in Prague in 1975, studied musicology at the Charles University and composition at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. He is professor for composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne and a sought-after juror at competitions such as the renowned Mahler Competition in Bamberg or the Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition. He is also a member of the Artistic Advisory Board of the Prague Spring Festival, where he founded and co-curates Prague Offspring, a festival which focuses on new music.

Yiran Zhao is a composer and performer based in Berlin. She is the music director and composer of OBLIVIA, an experimental music theatre company in Helsinki. She teaches composition at the Cologne University of Music and Dance and serves on the jury commission of initiative neue musik berlin (inm e.V.).

Zhao studied composition with Guoping Jia at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Caspar Johannes Walter at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts, Erik Oña at the Basel Music Academy, and Carola Bauckholt at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz, where she also taught composition.

Her work explores the intersection of music, performance, visual arts, lighting, and multimedia. With a particular interest in the physicality of performance, she has developed a distinctive artistic practice that treats the human body and everyday objects as compositional material.

Her music has been performed and commissioned by leading ensembles, orchestras, opera houses, and festivals across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble Recherche, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Theater Bremen, Oper Wuppertal, WIEN MODERN, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Münchener Biennale, Ultima, ECLAT, SPOR, and Musiktheatertage Wien.

Recent distinctions include participation in the ECHO – European Concert Hall Organisation Young Composers Programme (2024–2026), Artist-in-Residence Munich (2024), the Musikfonds Fellowship (2023), the NOperas Award (2022), the INITIAL Grant from the Akademie der Künste Berlin (2021), and fellowships from the Akademie der Künste Berlin and Atelier Mondial. Earlier awards include the Karlsruhe Composition Competition (2015), the Deutschlandstipendium, and the State Stipend of China.

Raphaëlle Aoun is a Lebanese composer based in Berlin. Through their music, Raphaëlle seeks to build a connection with listeners, inviting reflection and dialogue on the role of contemporary music in today’s society.

Their works have been performed by renowned ensembles and soloists including Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble LUX:NM, Orkest de Ereprijs, Collettivo_21, MotoContrario Ensemble, United Instruments of Lucilin, Ensemble Offrandes, Art Percussion Ensemble, Celloduo Abele-Manaev, Duo Tocar, Matthias Bauer, and Michael Vogt, among others. They have been selected to participate in festivals and residencies such as the Klangwerkstatt Festival Berlin, Mixtur Festival, Rainy Days Festival, Akademie Kontemporär Hamburg, the Young Composers Meeting 2026, and the residency program Precept.Concept.Percept. XIII. Raphaëlle has received awards from the Orkest de Ereprijs Commission Prize, the II. Randspiele International Competition in Zepernick and Jugend Komponiert Germany.

Since October 2024, they have been pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Composition at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, following earlier studies with composer Helmut Zapf. They expanded their knowledge and skills with renowned composers, including Samir Odeh-Tamimi, Marc Sabat, Carola Bauckholt, Milica Djordjević, Gordon Kampe, Oscar Bianchi, and others.

Matteo Cenerini studied Composition at the Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado in Milan under Giovanni Verrando, Musicology at the University of Pavia, and Jazz Guitar at the Conservatories of Livorno and Rovigo. He studied with Nicola Evangelisti and Daniel D’Adamo, and attended masterclasses with Simon Steen-Andersen, Pierre Jodlowski, Stefano Gervasoni, Marco Momi, James Dillon, and Philippe Manoury among the others.

His compositions have been performed by ensembles and soloists such as the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (MCME), Mdi Ensemble, FontanaMix, Syntax Ensemble, Icarus/Muzak Ensemble, Moto Contrario Ensemble, Sofia Gubaidulina Center Orchestra, Anna D’Errico, Marina Boselli and Giulia Zaniboni. His work has been presented at festivals and institutions including Mixtur (Barcelona), Moscow Philharmonic, Accademia Chigiana, Ramificazioni (CH) and Divertimento Ensemble among the others.

As a performer and guitarist, he is active in free improvisation as a soloist and as a member of Conserere (Milan) and Crisis Ensemble (Rovigo-Rotterdam).

Alejandro Mata was born in Mexico. He began his musical studies in his hometown of Monterrey, before moving to France in 2012 and later relocating to Switzerland in 2023. He has studied with composers Michael Jarrell, Daniel D’Adamo and Edith Lejet, as well as electronic music with Luis Naón, Tom Mays and Christian Eloy.

His music has been performed by renowned ensembles such as Quatuor Béla, Quatuor Tana, Klangforum Wien, United Instruments of Lucilin, Ictus Ensemble, dèdalo ensemble and NOMAD Ensemble, among others. He has participated in music festivals in more than 17 countries around the world, and his music has received awards in more than 10 international composition competitions across three continents: Europe, Asia and the Americas.

His musical thinking and aesthetics are deeply influenced by French spectralism, one of his greatest artistic inspirations. A constant priority in his compositions is the exploration of timbre and harmonic refinement.

Since 2023, Alejandro Mata has continued his musical studies at the Geneva Conservatory of Music in Switzerland, studying electronic music with Luis Naón and composition with Michael Jarrell. Since 2026, he has also pursued studies at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, Germany.

İlayda Deniz Oğuz (b. 2000) is a Turkish composer, pianist and historical keyboardist. Oğuz’s works have been performed by ensembles such as the Norway-based Cikada Ensemble, the Lucerne-based Dissolution Ensemble, the USA-based Ensemble X, the Greece-based Ergon Ensemble, as well as members of Oslo Sinfonietta. Highlights include the performance of her solo violin work Scenes from Little Prince by French violinist Eliott Bougant at the Lucerne Festival. She won the 2023 RCM Contemporary Music Competition Composer Award for ‘Yakamoz’ for bass clarinet and violoncello, and received an honourable mention in the 2024 Ihsan Doğramacı Composition Competition for ‘Ben o yılların macerasından geldim…’ for orchestra. She has studied with composers including Francesco Filidei, Mauro Lanza, Clara Iannotta, Francesca Verunelli, Nadir Vassena, Dai Fujikura, Mark Andre, Samir Odeh-Tamimi, Eivind Buene, Kenneth Hesketh, and Hanna Eimermacher. Oğuz was awarded the prestigious Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal at her Royal College of Music graduation, and she is currently the Historical Keyboards Fellow at the Royal College of Music.

Haodong Wang (b. 2001, Xi’an, China) is a Cologne-based composer whose work explores the theme of duality. Moving between noise-based and melodic materials, his music draws on phenomena with inherent dual meanings, unfolding through fluid yet carefully shaped structures. His music has been performed internationally at festivals and venues including the Impuls Festival, Barcelona Modern, IntAct Festival, Verbrugghen Hall, Salle Cortot, and Wigmore Hall.

His work has been premiered by ensembles including Ensemble Linea, Ensemble Recherche, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellows, Taceti Ensemble, Valette Ensemble, and Zone Expérimentale Basel, among others. He maintains a strong interest in writing for solo instruments and close collaboration with performers; recent projects include works for flautist Francesco Marzano and chromatic harmonica player Hon Ning Cheung, as well as a viola concerto written for Wenhan Jiang, co-principal viola of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2024, Wang became the youngest composer in recent history to receive the RNCM Gold Medal, the highest accolade awarded by the Royal Northern College of Music (UK). He also received the Special Prize at the Ise-Shima International Composition Competition (Japan), and his work is featured on Score Follower.

He began formal composition studies in 2021 at the Royal Northern College of Music, studying with David Horne, Emily Howard, and Steven Daverson. He graduated in 2025 with First-Class Honours, receiving a mark of 95/100 in his final composition portfolio. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, studying with Miroslav Srnka.

Kostas Zisimopoulos (b. 1994, Greece) is a composer whose work explores deviation, instability, interruption, and interference through instrumental, vocal, and electronic media. Interested in the relationship between technology and the essence of sound, he creates sonic narratives that often emerge through interdisciplinary collaborations and engage questions of form, perception, and emotional intensity.

He has been artist-in-residence at the Cité internationale des arts (France), the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (Netherlands), Levélød Kunstnartun (Norway), and Intro in Situ (Netherlands). His music has been commissioned, performed, and presented by institutions and venues including the Philharmonie de Paris, Berliner Philharmoniker, GMEM Marseille, Alexandrinsky Theatre, and Concertgebouw Brugge, in collaboration with ensembles such as Percussions de Strasbourg, Musikfabrik, Multilatérale, Les Métaboles, and TACETi.

His work has been featured at major international festivals including Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Gaudeamus Festival, Rondò, November Music, and Rainy Days and has received awards and distinctions in international composition competitions. His music has been performed throughout Europe, North America, and Asia.

TETTTIΞ – greek for cicada, pronounced tetttix – was founded by composer Michalis Paraskakis, when he gathered fellow musicians to form a new ensemble in Athens, dedicated to New Music. Most of its members have lived and studied in The Netherlands.ΤΕΤΤΤΙΞ has a unique combination of instruments. Its main concern of the ensemble is to create repertoire for its unique forces by commissioning new works The ensemble has a broad spectrum of activity: concerts, music theatre, multidisciplinary performances, film, dance, theatre, improvisation.From 2018 that TETTTIΞ performed for the first time, it is a leading ensemble of new music in Greece, having collaborated several times with Onassis Stegi and the Greek Ministry of Culture, as well as the Athens & Epidaurus Festival, Tectonics Athens, KET, the Municipality of Chaniaand others.

Phaedra Giannelou was born in Athens and graduated with honours from both the undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Orchestral Conducting at the Department of Music Studies of the Ionian University, under the supervision of Professor M. Logiadis. In 2012, she was declared a PhD Candidate at the same department.

She has conducted symphony orchestras in the USA, Chile, Russia, and almost throughout Europe, and has attended masterclasses with internationally renowned conductors such as B. Haitink, K. Masur, J. Panula, N. Järvi, among others.

She has also collaborated with ensembles and institutions including the Athens State Orchestra, Thessaloniki State Orchestra, Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Colours, Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra, Greek Composers Union, Athens Concert Hall, Thessaloniki Concert Hall, Athens Festival, Kyklos Ensemble, and Canadian Brass.

In 2013, she was awarded second prize (with first prize not awarded) at the “S. Michaelides” International Conducting Competition organized by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, and in 2020, she completed the Global Leaders Program, an international program in collaboration with nine leading U.S. universities, earning a postgraduate degree in Social Entrepreneurship and Cultural Management.