Leonora

A GesamtKunstWerk performer…

Praised as a ‘‘magician on stage; she captivates fully her audiences’’ and ‘‘strong performer’’ (The Stage), 

“budding opera star” (Bieler Tagblatt), 

“the surprise of the night” (Critics Point), 

‘‘a multitalented performer on stage’’ (Berner Kulturagenda),

‘‘all performing arts unite in her’’ (The Star Point)

mezzo-soprano Leonora Gaitanou, with artistic name Leonora, has completed a wide range of studies in classical singing, opera, theatre, music and dance and has performed as instrumentalist, actress and opera singer collaborating with theatre ensembles, opera productions, stage directors and conductors.

Leonora has a great interest in expanding her horizons and resources as a versatile performer, creating her language of performing opera and combining techniques from physical theatre (Grotowski method), butoh dance, aikido, tai chi, alexander technique, ancient Greek tragedy, holistic therapies, systemic constellations, breathwork.

Most recently, Leonora created, directed, and performed ‘‘Judith’’, a one woman show based on Béla Bartók’s Bluebeards’ Castle, which started as a first draft in 2021 in Switzerland and premiered with success in London at the Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival 2023.

With this project, which is going through development phases as a work in progress project, Leonora introduces the theme of “opera as a ceremony and healing process”. The Swiss press wrote about the performance an article entitled "Honourable Heroine" and "Judith becomes the saviour of womanhood, starting from herself and redeeming her seven ancestors. An experience and a multi-talented performer on stage''. The London press and audience impressions noted: ‘‘strong performance’’, ‘‘amazing tour de force from Leonora, very impressive’’, ‘‘It was amazing. In many ways it had so many layers and it takes time to process it’’, ‘‘what a fantastic singer! I was blown away by her’’, '‘the opera itself is affectingly staged’’, '‘there is a strong sense of ritual’’, ‘‘Amazing to combine holistic therapy to opera’’.

With the Judith Project, she was also shortlisted in the international Fedora competition for the Fedora Opera Prize 2023; a prize given to emerging artists with innovative ideas in the field of opera, representing Greece for the first time in this category.

She is currently preparing her new project Alma which is a new way of performing recitals, as a staged one woman show through 9 languages where voice is awakened though a poetic body movement and video interacts with the voice, as a call to reconnect with your Soul. Alma is the path for people to be driven and get to know Judith. Alma will be premiered in February 2024 in Teatre Mundial in Spain.

Born into a musical family in Athens - Greece, Leonora has pursued a diverse range of  studies to become a highly versatile artist. She completed a Master’s Degree with the highest mark cum laude in Specialized Opera Performance at the Swiss Opera Studio in the Hochschule der Künste Bern under the tutelage of renewed mezzo - soprano Tanja Ariane Baumgartner. For her studies in Bern, she was awarded scholarships from the Hochschule der Künste Bern and the Scarlatti, Ergata, Cardón, Esle V. Sick, and Stockart Foundations. Leonora received a Diploma of Singing with a First & Special Prize of Exceptional Performance from The Musical Horizons Conservatory under the tutelage of Christina Giannakopoulou, where she also received diplomas in piano, music theory, and cello. Following her studies at the Musical Horizons Conservatory, she received a Bachelor’s  Degree in Acting from the Drama School of the Athens Conservatoire and a Bachelor’s  Degree in Theater Studies from the Theater Studies Department of the Kapodistrian University of Athens, after which, she was a member of the Opera Studio for young singers at the Greek National Opera.

She performed in opera productions and concerts in Athens, London, Amsterdam, Salzburg, Istanbul, Vienna, Bern, Biel/Bienne, Solothurn, Winterthur, Bisbal, Olten, Burgdorf, and Baden. In Greece, she had also worked as an assistant director and stage manager, and as well as an actress in several important theaters including the ancient Greek Epidaurus Theatre.

In 2018 she moved to Amsterdam to work with the American voice teacher, Don Marrazzo. Leonora has also participated in courses with Marlis Petersen, Margreet Honig, Hedwig Fassbender, Bernanda Fink, Jack Li Vigni, Susan Bullock, Susanne Resmark, Wolfgang Brendel, Daphne Evangelatos, Dimitri Kavrakos, Richard Steele, Aris Christofelis, Dimitri Platanias, and at the Salzburg Mozarteum Summer Academy.

Since 2015 she explores the fields of music therapy, drama therapy, play therapy (for kids) and holistic healing practices. She also belongs to the “Group of Priestesses” of the Torch Relay Ceremonies of the Olympic Flame for the Olympic Games.