Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga (b. 1981, Thessaloniki, Greece) is a musician and a linguist based in London. Previously, she has lived in Athens for a couple of years and before that in Barcelona for several years, where she acquired a PhD in Theoretical Linguistics investigating the notion of (in)definiteness.
During her stay in Barcelona, Dimitra gradually began getting involved in experimental music. She was influenced and attracted by free and electro-acoustic improvisation, its multiple historical situations and its concurrences with modern composition strategies and jazz.
She is active in the field of experimental and improvised music since 2006. She plays the zither, a string instrument, and uses ebows and objects on its resonance box to produce sustained or granulated sounds. Her approach focuses on the interplay between spontaneity and elaborate techniques.
Her first recording was the piece Paraula clau in Ferran Fages’ guitar cd ‘Cançons per a un lent retard’, which is based on the detuning(s) of the guitar. She has a stable formation as ap’strophe with Ferran Fages, under which they have released two albums, ‘objects sence objectes’ (2009) on the Catalan label Etude Records and ‘corgroc’ (2010) on the English label Another Timbre. A more impromptu approach gave rise to ‘Paisatges’ with Felipe Araya-Muñoz on the Greek label Kukuruku Recordings (2009). Collaboration with Berlin-based Chris Heenan (contrabass clarinet) gave rise to ‘der schlaue fuchs’ on the Greek label More Mars (2011).
Her first solo album ‘stroke by stroke’ was released in 2011 on the Greek label Organized Music from Thessaloniki. ‘Outwash’, a trio with Tisha Mukarji (piano) and Angharad Davies (violin), was released in June 2012 on Another Timbre. As part of a quintet (with Neil Davidson – guitar & objects, Rhodri Davies – harp, Jane Dickson – piano, Patrick Farmer – amplified objects / open CD players) she recorded realizations of compositions (by Angharad Davies, James Saunders and Sam Sfirri) and an improvisation for the ‘Wandelweiser und so weiter’ boxset released in October 2012 on Another Timbre.
She has performed solo, in long-term collaborations or in occasional formations with several musicians in Barcelona, Athens, Paris, Berlin, Ljubljana, London, Oxford, Brighton and Cambridge.
She has played with Jennifer Allum, Ruth Barberán, Anthea Caddy, Lucio Capece, Marjolaine Charbin, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Neil Davidson, Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, Matt Davis, Jane Dickson, Axel Dörner, Phil Durrant, Ferran Fages, Patrick Farmer, Anastasis Grivas, Franz Hautzinger, Robin Hayward, Chris Heenan, Sarah Hughes, Gabriel Humberstone, Daniel Jones, Ute Kanngieser, Grundik Kasyansky, Paul Khimasia Morgan, Kostis Kilymis, Tisha Mukarji, Seijiro Murayama, Ivan Palacký, Eddie Prevost, Henrik Olsson, Christine Sehnaoui, Tom Soloveitzik, Tasos Stamou, Danae Stefanou, Olivier Toulemonde, Birgit Ulher, Nikos Veliotis and Daichi Yoshikawa.
She has collaborated with the dancer and choreographer Constanza Brncic in the dance piece Entra_ser mirada, and with the dancer Dafni Stefanou as the duo circumstances.
She has participated in international festivals such as TOT 1.0 in Athens, Pied Nu in Le Havre, Personal and Collective in Ljubljana. More recently, she took part in the BBC Proms, in the John Cage Centenary Celebration, performing in ‘But what about the noise of crumpling paper…’ and ‘Branches’.
Dimitra is currently involved in the music scene in London, playing with musicians based there, while continuing long-distance collaborations. At the moment she is exploring multiple ways to reroute her music.
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