Amalia Sagona
Amalia Sagona received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance at the The Ohio State University (U.S.), under pianist Steven Glaser, while being awarded the University Fellowship and the Graduate Outstanding Achievement Award. Her DMA Document on Edvard Grieg’s works Ballade in the Form of Variations on a Norwegian Melody, Op.24 (for piano), and Old Norwegian Melody with Variations, Op.51 (for 2 pianos), was awarded the Α.Peter Costanza Distinguished Dissertation and DMA Document Award, and was also presented at the Edvard Grieg International Conference in Copenhagen (Denmark, 2011).
She completed her Master of Music in Piano Performance - under a Scholarship- at Bowling Green State University (U.S.), with renowned pianist Maxim Mogilevski. She also holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Department of Music Science and Art of the University of Macedonia (Greece), under pianists Lambis Vassiliadis and Vinia Tsopela, while she was awarded her Piano Diploma with 1st Prize by the Contemporary Conservatory of Thessaloniki (Greece).
She took piano masterclasses with internationally renowned professors and soloists; among them, Alexander Toradze, Awadagin Pratt, Eitan Globerson, Alan Fraser, Viktor Merzhanov and Kostas Loukos.
Dr. Sagona has worked as a Graduate Teaching Associate in piano at The Ohio State University (U.S.). As a Graduate Assistant in piano accompanying at The Ohio State University and Bowling Green State University, she had the occasion to assist several instrumental and vocal professors of The Ohio State University, Bowling Green State University, University of Michigan, University of Cincinnati, Roosevelt University, and Eastern New Mexico University, and also the American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horn and the American composers John Anthony Lennon and Thomas Pasatieri.
She has also worked as an Official Accompanist at the Classical Singing Workshop with the internationally acclaimed tenor Zachos Terzakis (Thermo, Greece), the Cello Seminar ‘The Art of Music Interpretation’ with renowned cellist Dimitris Gouzios (Conservatory En Organis, Athens, Greece), the Brache International Music Days (Accompanist & Piano Teaching Assistant, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany), and the Vertiskos International Music Seminars (Accompanist, Greece). Moreover, she has taught piano for five years at the Agrinio Music High School in Greece, hired by the Hellenic Ministry of Education. Since 2016, she resides in Athens (Greece), where she teaches piano at the Byzantine Conservatory, the Conservatory En Organis and the Sychrono Conservatory of Athens, while she is also active as an accompanist. She has particularly collaborated with Prof. Athanasios Zervas’s saxophone students in Athens, having accompanied several graduation recitals of his students at the Athens Conservatoire, the Byzantine Conservatory and the Art Music School Fakanas, and also with several vocal students of the Panarmonio Conservatory. Since 2020, she is a Piano Professor at the ‘Maria Kallas’ Kalamata Music Highschool (Kalamata, Greece).
Her performances include personal and chamber music recitals in Greece, Germany, U.S.A. and Romania. She has collaborated, among others, with composer Dinos Constantinides (Louisiana State University, U.S.A.), composer & saxophonist Athanasios Zervas (University of Macedonia, Greece), composer Nickos Harizanos (Contemporary Music Research Center, Greece), composer Michalis Andronikou (Ambrose University, Canada), composer Niloufar Iravani (U.S.A), composer Tilemachos Voulgaris (Greece), the opera singers Zachos Terzakis (tenor, Greece), Anna Stylianaki (soprano, Greece), Loukia Spanaki (soprano, Greece), Cara Waring (soprano, U.S.A.), Maria Zoi (mezzo soprano, Greece), Lydia Angelopoulou (mezzo soprano, Greece), Stamatis Beris (tenor, Greece), violinist Spiros Gikontis (Ionian University, Greece), violinist Michalis Kountouris & cellist Dionysis Kottaridis (Kalamata Piano Trio), violinist and youth-choir director Athena Gratsouna (Greece), cellist Varvara Tsotra (Greece), and also with conductors Viron Fidetzis (Greece) and Cristian Brancusi (Romania), and the orchestras Nuremberg Symphony (Germany), Constanta Symphony (Romania) and the Louisiana Sinfonietta (U.S.A.).