Roxani Chatzidimitriou

EDUCATION

Roxani Chatzidimitriou (1992-) is a Greek composer. Her compositional work includes more than 60 pieces for orchestra, ensembles, electroacoustic music and music for film, theatre and contemporary dance. She embarked her music studies at the National Conservatory of Athens where she studied Music Theory, Harmony and Piano Performance. In 2013 she was awarded the professional diploma as piano soloist with excellence and the second Award for Outstanding Performance. She holds a bachelor degree in Applied Music Studies from the Department of Music Art and Science at the University of Macedonia (2011 – 2015). She continued her studies in the Music Department of Ionian University where she studied Composition for Film, Theatre and Performing Arts in a postgraduate level (2015-2017). She has also completed with distinction a postgraduate degree in Music Composition in the Royal Holloway University of London (2016 – 2017) under the supervision of Mark Bowden. She has attended composition classes with Lina Tonia and jazz piano and orchestration classes with Stavros Lantsias and Grigoris Simadopoulos.

COMPETITIONS/AWARDS

Her composition “Zero Star Cognac” for orchestra won the first prize in the the “International Composition Competition “Ruth Crawford Seeger Prize 2024” in Chicago, Illinois,USA. In October 2011 Roxani received the Second Prize for her piece “As much as you can” for choir in the National Composition Competition organized by North College of Greece. In July 2016 she has been selected to participate in the final round of the International Composition Competition “Antonin Dvorzac” held in Prague (July, 2016). She has also been selected between 12 finalists composers, among 154 participants, in the final round of the International Animated Film Music Competition organized by Megaron -Athens Concert Hall. Her music for the animation “The leaf of the Poplar” by Eirini Vianelli was projected in Megaron – Athens Concert Hall on May 17th 2017. In July 2019 Roxani received the First Prize for her piece “Alive” for piano, cello and violin in the 2nd International Composition Competition at ACT in Thessaloniki, Greece. In October 2019 the film “So what?” of Dimitra Margaritidou, on which Roxani composed the original soundtrack, won the prize for best documentary at Athens Marathon International Film Festival.

Roxani is an experienced piano and music theory/music composition teacher that had more than 60 students over the last 10 years. She currently teaches Piano and Music Theory at Musical Praxis Conservatory (Athens, 2021 – 2025). She also gives private piano , music theory and composition lessons online or in person as well as offering group courses of composition and film music theory.

She believes that music learning should be an enjoyable and meaningful musical experience for the student and she adapts her lesson planning and methodology according to the student`s needs and goals. Her aim is to provide creative lessons that instil to her students the necessary knowledge, passion and love about music, foster and encourage the creativity of each student as well as helping them develop their self – criticism and an holistic and interdisciplinary understanding of music.

Roxani gives lessons in the following subject areas:

Composition

In this lesson you will develop your creative and technical skills as well as a distinctive compositional voice. You will learn how to achieve control and development of musical elements (pitch, harmony, rhythm, structure, texture, timbre etc).

– fundamental techniques of composition

– οrganology /instrumentation/ orchestration

– music notation in finale

– analysis of scores of different styles and periods

-composing for solo/duo/ensemble/orchestra

Film scoring/ Film music theory:

In this lesson you will learn the basic aspects of film music theory which feature the communicational and functional nature of film music. You will also learn the process of scoring short clips , and the way to create themes – leitmotifs. The lessons will also focus on analyzing the relation between image and music as well as the functions of film music on specific cues.

– Film music theory

– Analysis of cues

– Composing/ orchestrating complete cues

Modern and classical piano

I believe there are three main areas we need to cover in most lessons to ensure a well-rounded education.

– Technique: scales/arpeggios, drills, aural/rhythm/sight reading

– Repertoire: classical, modern piano (film music, jazz, pop etc)

– Creative activities: improvising/composing, lead sheet playing, off – page activities