Panayiotis Kokoras

Panayiotis Kokoras (Greece, 1974) is an internationally award-winning composer and computer music innovator. He is an Associate Professor at the University of North Texas. Born in Greece, he studied classical guitar and composition in Athens, Greece, and York, England; he taught for many years at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki (among others). Kokoras's sound compositions use the sound as the only structural unit. His concept of "holophony" describes his goal that each independent sound (phonos), contributes equally into the synthesis of the total (holos). In both instrumental and electroacoustic writing, his music calls upon a "virtuosity of sound," emphasizing the precise production of variable sound possibilities and the accurate distinction between one timbre and another to convey the musical ideas and structure of the piece. His compositional output is also informed by musical research in Music Information Retrieval compositional strategies, Extended techniques, Tactile sound, Augmented reality, Robotics, Spatial Sound, Consciousness and Music. His compositional output consists of more than 65 works ranging from solo, ensemble and orchestral works to mixed media, improvisation, and tape. His works have been commissioned by institutes and festivals such as the Fromm Music Foundation (Harvard), IRCAM (France), MATA (New York), Gaudeamus (Netherlands), ZKM (Germany), IMEB (France), Siemens Musikstiftung (Germany) and have been performed in over 800 concerts around the world. His compositions have been selected by juries in more than 230 international calls for scores and have received 75 distinctions and prizes in international competitions, among others Destellos Prize 2018, 2014 and 2011 (Argentina), KLANG! Composition Competition 2016, Franco Evangelisti Prix 2012 (Italy), Prix Ars Electronica 2011 (Austria), Métamorphoses 2014, 2010 & 2000 (Belgium), Giga-Hertz Music Award 2009 (Germany), Bourges 2009, 2008 and 2004 (France), Gianni Bergamo 2007 (Switzerland), Musica Viva 2005 and 2002 (Portugal), Gaudeamus 2004 and 2003 (Holland), Jurgenson Competition 2003 (Russia), Takemitsu Composition Award 2002 (Japan). He is a founding member of the Hellenic Electroacoustic Music Composers Association (HELMCA), and from 2004 to 2012 he was a board member and president. He is currently secretary of the Interactional Confederation of Electroacoustic Music (CIME/ICEM). He served as Conference Chair for the ICMC 2015 (Denton, TX) and SMC2018 (Limassol, CY); currently, he serves as the CEMI Director – Centre for Experimental Music and Intermediary at the University of North Texas.