DODECACHORDON

Susan Marku and Notis Georgiou have been performing together since 1994 as the Dodecachordon (twelve-string ensemble) Guitar Duo.

Several composers have dedicated works to the Duo. Its repertoire ranges from medieval to contemporary music, mainly including compositions and transcriptions by Notis Georgiou. 

Collaborations include high-end artists globally. Dodecachordon has repeatedly received national and international awards. Recordings by the duo appear under the Orpheo Label.

Reviews

“A most beautiful programme, real music delicacies, gentle music in the hands of masters!”

 Márta Sebestyén

 

Bonn, Beethoven-Haus

« A really overwhelming performance !»

Anthony Pilavachi, Opera Director

(Echo Klassik Award 2012 for the

Best Opera DVD 2012 worldwide)

 

"They perform with such naturalness, as if their music already sounded out before they even began."

Katalin Károlyi, Mezzosoprano

 

„This concert is as special as you are: beautiful, harmonic and exalting, placid and serene !” 

Hedvig Dvorsky, Art Critic

 

„…It is thanks to this ingenious young couple that the Bratislava audience first met Márta Sebestyén. Their performance was an overwhelming music experience !”

 Erzsébet Pogány, Editor- Cleveland, Bratislava

 

„We are deeply grateful for the stunningly beautiful melodies...,

for bringing to us ART,

as it was handed over by our ancestors.”

Gitta Pálinkás, Bratislava

 

"Tonight’s performance was so intimate! As if every single member of the audience were a personal friend and admirer of Dodecachordon."

Ansaf Hilu, Reporter

 

"Listening to the Dodecachordon, I felt their music smoothed out my soul."

Attila Ádám

“A most beautiful programme, real music delicacies, gentle music in the hands of masters!”

Márta Sebestyén, world famous vocalist, composer and Unesco Artist for Peace, mainly known as the vocalist of the “English Patient”, awarded with 9 Oscars (including Best Soundtrack) in 1997

SUSAN MARKU was raised in a musical environment. She studied piano, recorder and music theory and began playing the guitar at the age of eleven. Just three years later, she gave her first recital and won her first prize at the Hungarian Youth Competition. Soon, the lute and guitar literature won her over.

She continued her studies at the Liszt Academy, graduating as a soloist and chamber musician with distinction. She completed her studies, specializing in modern and contemporary music literature in Florence (Italy) at the prestigious Scuola di Musica di Fiésole with Alfonso Borghese,  who noted Susan’s geometrical approach regarding the instrument and its technique.

She attended master classes with Mislivecek, Jesus Sanchez, Wurdinger, Zabka, David Russel e.o.

Her intensive performance, recording, composition and teaching activities have taken her all over the world. She teaches at the ‘Georg Solti’ National Music School.

Having formed the DODECACHORDON Guitar Duo with Notis Georgiou, they have been performing and recording since 1994, receiving numerous awards and performing a substantial number of world premieres. 

For her activities, which include numerous world premieres, she has been repeatedly awarded.  

Audience and critics praise Márku’s impeccable technique, her exceptional musicality and the unprecedented coherence of her performances and the Dodecachordon. 

Her appearances reflect a conscious and devoted approach towards the instrument and the works, strongly characterized by an effortless expressiveness.  

Several composers have dedicated works to her. Vassilis Tenidis’ work “Susanna and her transfigurations” for 2 guitars dedicated to my friend eminent guitarist Susan Marku is one of them.  

Her collaborators include top artists such as Márta Sebestyén (Unesco Artist for Peace, Oscar-winning singer-English patient, composer), Erika Miklósa (soprano coloratura of Metropolitan Opera, Scala di Milano) e.o.

Her wide-ranged repertoire features music from the renaissance to contemporary works, of which a significant part is personal transcriptions as well as adaptations and compositions. 

Particular emphasis is given to applied performances, accompanied by screenings, evenings of literature, or dance and visual arts events. 

In appreciation of her contribution to the propagation of Greek culture and especially of Cyprus, Susan has been honoured with an award by the President of the Republic of Cyprus and by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For the same reason she has been granted the Cypriot citizenship with Honors.

Susan performs and records with Vassilis Tenidis’ guitar, which the composer and guitarist donated to her as a sign of his love and appreciation. With the same instrument, Vassilis Tenidis had participated in the most important recordings of Hadjidakis and Theodorakis.

When the composer and the Duo first met in 2004, he also provided them with a copy of his very demanding work, ‘Rebetiki Suite’. Four days later, as a return, the Duo performed the work. The composer was astonished: ‘Listening to the Dodecachordon Duo performing my work, I feel, for the first time, justified.’ This was the work’s world premiere.

She speaks English, Italian, Hungarian and Greek.