Soprano Julie Ziavras is known for her diversity of repertory and styles
and her ability to infuse a classical technique with the popular and folk
genre. Her repertory ranges from opera and classical art song to contemporary
and traditional folk, Greek and international ballads. She has won critical
acclaim for her vocal beauty, musicianship and dramatic stage presence.
An accomplished recitalist, she has performed Greek music in concert, on
radio and TV in the US, Greece and abroad.
She was invited to Greece by prominent composer/music director Manos Hadzidakis
to appear on Greek National Radio (ERT 3) for numerous concerts and live
broadcasts. This included a performance of a premiered work at the Pireus
National Theatre that was simulcast on national radio. She was featured
soloist with Greek composer Notis Mavroudis in a concert tour originating
in Greece and culminating in Serbia. For Serbia, this was the first time
a western artist performed there after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The National Museum in Belgrade was opened for the occasion and the concert
was simulcast on Serbian National Radio and Television. Selections from
her solo CD Simply Mavroudis were premiered on this tour with great success, to an audience which followed
the music with translations. The songs, written for Julie Ziavras' voice,
represent the only collection of songs Mr. Mavroudis has written exclusively
for one singer.
Among her appearances abroad, she was invited to represent Greece in song international festivals, including the Fiesta Internacional de las Naciones in Venezuela, and the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico, and was featured soloist in the International Festival of Daphnis in Greece and in Montreal in a Greek cantata written for her voice. She is currently featured on mp3 singing a vocalise written for her voice by Greek composer Spiros Cardamis entitled New Millennium, which remained in the number one spot in the opera category for nearly
three months. A review of this performance in The Gods of Music states
that "the strings would be vapid without the incredible voice, a siren
who summoned my spirit onto the rocks of musical ecstasy."
Appearances of Greek music in New York City include Carnegie Recital Hall,
Lincoln Center's Bruno Walter Hall, Symphony Space Theater, the World Music
Institute, The Guggenheim Museum in Soho, the Alternative Museum, the Greek
Cathedral Concert Series, The Hellenic Music Foundation, among others.
She was the creator, co-founder and featured soloist of the music café and touring ensemble "Café Acroama" in Astoria, NY, which brought Greek art song to a vast audience of Greek Americans and non-Greeks alike throughout the United States. As part of the acoustic folk duo "Ken and Julie", she appears with her husband singer/songwriter Ken DeAngelis. Their newly released debut recording entitled "The Dream", features 16 of Ken DeAngelis' original songs, many of which are
written expressly for her voice. In September, 2005, "Ken & Julie"
completed a concert tour of six cities in Nova Scotia with Broadway Concerts
Direct, in a program entitled "International Enchantments", which included Greek numbers. "Julie is the muse of internationally acclaimed composers. She performs
their songs with world-class lyrical beauty, artistry and interpretation."
(John Hiller, Broadway Concerts Direct). Classically trained, she holds Bachelor and Masters degrees from the Manhattan
School of Music and has coached with Metropolitan Opera maestros including
George Schick and Alberta Masiello.
Link to excerpts from live performances on YouTube.
…an estimable vocalist is adding new tone and color in the heart of Greenwich
Village…a pretty vocalist with a silvery voice. She held the spotlight
alone, by way of introduction. Cradling her guitar, Miss Ziavras sang a
variety of Greek numbers, plaintive to rhythmic, then rounded out the set
with a group of English folk ballads."
Harold Thompson- New York Times
"Greek may be foreign to most of our ears, but Julie Ziavras' lovely,
liquid voice expresses feelings of love, longing and wonder that don't
need translation, although the translations are provided on the liner notes.
And the music, featuring a small orchestra, may include such Greek styles
as rebetika and hasapiko, but it's as haunting and universal as the sound
of a lonely violin".
Steve Isreal- Times Herald Record
"Ziavras masters the most difficult instrument. Soprano Julie Ziavras
wowed her Montgomery listeners with her versatile voice and the variety
of her repertoire from opera to folk songs…It was Ziavras, however, who
highlighted the afternoon with her warm and compelling voice, appealing
presence and wide range of repertoire… Opera, art songs, lieder, contemporary
music written especially for her, poetry and folk songs offered ample evidence
of her dramatic sense of style and personable interpretations…She sang
more than 20 songs in six languages and poured her full energy into each
number with virtuosity and verve…Ziavras has enjoyed great success as a
singer of Greek folk songs. The next set of five songs explored the melancholy
strains of "A Bright Day For Us,Too", the patriotic plea of "Where
is God?" and the traditional hospitality of "Bread is on the
Table" and the tender affection of "Road of Dreams" and
"Your Name". High notes of pathos, lilting phrases and poetic
imagery, marked by mandolin trills, captured the spirit of Greece in these
works by Stavros Xarchakos, Manos Hadjidakis and Mikis Theodorakis".
Dr. James F. Cotter- Times Herald Record
"But, the strings would be vapid without the incredible voice; a siren
who summoned my spirit onto the rocks of musical ecstasy."
Armond Blackwater -Gods Of Music
"The dreamlike rendition of Julie Ziavras makes us feel the waves
of her voice, which makes the spirit airborne. What can one say…how can
one describe the voice of a swallow?"
-Greek National Herald
"It was the most fantastic voice I had ever heard from the Greek community…her performance was direct and sensitive…she has the rare characteristic of consistency in her voice…may she continue to sing with the same conscientiousness and dedication so that those of us who recognize quality song may continue to enjoy her…"
-Eseis Magazine
"…sensitive, sexy, magnificently creative, her rendition of one nostalgic
Greek folk song simply took my breath away."
-Spyros Orfanos, GABSI Magazine
"She cultivates an intimate rapport with her audience, and this is
the true test of a real interpreter-the way she 'works' this intimate communication
with those across from her."
-Greek National Herald
"She has an incredibly powerful and beautiful voice."
-Bodles Opera House
"Only in a few instances, perhaps that can only be counted on one
hand, that a rare something else--perhaps unbelievable-can be used to describe
the qualities of a true artist…who distinguishes herself so strongly, that
she is in a different singular class of her own. A voice so multi-facteted
and ethereal that when she sings she takes you with her climbing the stairs
of the angels."
-Proini /The Greek American
link to:
Highlight to Julie's Past Greek Appearances
