Eleni-Lydia Stamellou
In the choir since 2012
Eleni Lydia Stamellou is a soprano from Athens, Greece.
She is a member of musicAeterna created by conductor Teodor Currentzis. Her main focus is on Renaissance and contemporary music. As a soloist of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre in Russia and conducted by Teodor Currentzis she has sung Despina in “Cosi fan tutte”, Belinda, First Witch, and Second Woman in “Dido and Aeneas”, The Mirror of Three Graeae in “Nosferatu”, Lilian Holiday in “Happy End”, Danica in “Svadba”, and Pierrot in “Pierrot Lunaire”, as well as the main solo at the world premieres of “Tristia” by Phillipe Hersant and “Cantos” by Alexey Sioumak, along with “Coro” by Berio at the Diaghilev Festival.
Additionally, at the Perm Opera she sung Frasquita in “Carmen”, Noemie in “Cendrillon”, and “Fyodor” in Boris Godunov.
Moreover, she has sung the part of Second Woman in “Dido and Aeneas” at Teatro Real, the main roles in “Schneewitte” and “Schaf” at the national theatres of Mannheim and Oldenburg, Belinda in “Dido and Aeneas” in Fundacion Gulbenkian in Lisbon, Barbarina in “Le Nozze di Figaro” in Konzerthaus Dortmund, and Annina in “La Traviata” directed by Bob Wilson.
This year she has made her debut at the Salzburg Festival singing the fifth Sibylla in Carl Orff’s “De Temporum Fine Comoedia” conducted by Teodor Currentzis and directed by Romeo Castellucci.
She has won the second prize at the Ferruccio Tagliavini vocal competition in Austria with Dame Joan Sutherland as the president of the jury and has attended master classes given by Teresa Berganza, Edda Moser, and Christa Ludwig. She has worked with the following stage directors: Romeo Castellucci, Bob Wilson, Peter Sellars, Teodoros Terzopoulos, Philipp Himmellmann, Matthias Remus, and Semen Alexandrovsky.
She has given recitals in all major halls in Athens, such as Herodus Atticus Ancient Theatre, Megaro Moussikis of Athens and Thessaloniki, Pallas, Athenaeum, Parnassos, Goethe Institute, and Synagogue, as well as in the biggest music festivals including Aigina, Mani, Santorini, Patmos, Zakynthos, Symi, Koroni. She has also given recitals in Germany, Spain, the USA, and Cuba.
She has released the album “A Time for Us” with music by Kurt Weill, Nino Rota, Jacques Offenbach among others. Having been awarded twice the scholarship of the Onassis Foundation, she has studied singing at the music academies of Freiburg, Vienna, Bologna, and Napoli, as well as acting at the Stella Adler Studio in New York and the Academy of Arts in Perm.
The image of Carmen is close to me — I've always dreamed of singing this part. I remember when I was five years old and saw the opera on TV, I was very impressed with Julia Migenes in this role. In general, I would like one day to impersonate Carmen as she appears in the original book, and not in opera interpretations — an honest, sincere woman, not a diva.
Also, I have always been impressed by Eurydice, a character from ancient Greek myths. Her tragic disbelief reminds us how important true faith is, which has no logic and no fear.