About Maria Georgakarakou

My voice is not just a sound. It is my ultimate source of human expression. It reflects my thoughts and feelings, as well as my spiritual world. No vocalist can imagine living without singing.

1991

Graduated first in her years from the Department of Philology (Linguistics) of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

1997

Went to the United States as a Fulbright Scholar

2001

Obtained a Master of Music degree, with distinction, in Early Music Vocal performance from the Longy School of Music, in Cambridge, Massachusetts

2015

Received her PhD in Historical Musicology from Boston University

2025

Completed her postdoctoral research at the Department of Musical Science and Art, University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki, Greece)

Teaching experience

She taught for many years at Boston University, as well as at various institutions affiliated to the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston and New England.


She has also taught classical singing and voice pedagogy at various masterclasses held mainly in Athens. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singning (NATS) in the United States and Canada and has been an adjudicator in competitions for young singers.

• She has participated as a soloist in numerous concerts, mainly in the United States.
• In collaboration with the advertising agency Leave Your Mark, she introduced, for the first time in Greece, a series of weekly online shows about singing.
• She is the only voice coach in Greece who works with transgender and non-binary people, who want to study singing.
  

Awards

• She has been described as a "real find" (Boston Globe, 2000) and as a "haunting voice" (Boston Herald, 2001, Early Music America, 2009).
• In 1997, she was honored with the Lion Lemos Award of the Athens Academy.
  

Research

Her research interests include, among other topics, the repercussions of ancient Greek culture on English vocal music of the 17th century, voice production in various historical periods and technical particularities of various subgroups.

Conferences

2004, Hawaii
2nd Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities 
Presentation topic: Musicus versus Cantorem: Theory & Practice in the Universities of England and Scotland during the Late Middle Ages & Early Renaissance

2004, Helsinki
14th Nordic Musicological Congress
Presentation topic: Aspects of Vocal Production in Historical Performance

2006, Warsaw
12th Biannual International Conference on Baroque Music
Presentation topic: Merin Mersenne, An Informed Theorist: Discussing Reinterpretations Found in Book VI of HARMONIE UNIVERSELLE

2015, Athens
International Conference on Enabling Access for Persons with Visual Impairment
Presentation topic: Some Observations on the Blind Composer Francesco Landini

2024, Boston
ABLE Assembly, Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts & Education

Presentation topic: Some Technical Particularities to Visually Impaired Voice Students

2025, Boston
New England Region Biannual Conference
Presentation topic: Teaching Vocal Technique to Visually Impaired Singers

2025, Los Angeles

Theorizing Trauma and Disability in the Arts: A Conference
Participation in a round table: Vocal pedagogy panel

Concerts & Recordings

John Dowland: “Come Again Sweet Love”

Maria Georgakarakou, Brian Bartling

John Dowland: “His Golden Locks”

Maria Georgakarakou, Brian Bartling

John Dowland: “Sorrow Stay”

Maria Georgakarakou, Brian Bartling

G.F. Handel: “Dove sei?”

Maria Georgakarakou, Marios Kazas

Giulio Caccini: “Amarilli, mia bella”

Maria Georgakarakou, Irene Anastasiou

Henry Purcell: “Since from my Dear”

Maria Georgakarakou, Marios Kazas

C. Monteverdi: “Addio Roma”

Maria Georgakarakou, Marios Kazas

Books