CV

Natalia Kotsani is dedicated to the analysis of vocal techniques, jazz improvisation and folk vocal idioms of the Mediterranean, focusing on the combination of traditional vocal practices and modern interdisciplinary approaches as a means of augmenting the singing voice. Αs the lead singer of the "encardia" ensemble, since 2012, she has deeply connected with world music. She is a scientific associate of the "Laboratory of Music Acoustics and Technology" (LabMat), Department of Music Studies, of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and a researcher of the "Computation and Reasoning Laboratory" (CoReLab) and the "Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Learning Systems" (AILS) of the National Technical University of Athens. She was selected as a Mentor of one of the biggest music conferences in the world, the “New Interfaces for Musical Expression” (NIME), held in New Zealand (2022). Since 2008, she has performed numerous concerts in Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Cyprus, and seminars on vocal technique and improvisation, while she has appeared at the largest festivals and concert venues in Greece. She composed music for the short film “Shadow Fighting”, 2021, which was selected in the official entries of the Thessaloniki Film Festival 2022 and for the theatre play “Jovana of the Underground” (2022) directed by K. Arzoglou. She has recorded two personal albums and two albums with the encardia ensemble, as well as various collaborations with acclaimed artists. She has participated in three productions of the National Opera ("All of Greece, One culture"), the Athens Epidaurus Festival, the Athens & Thessaloniki Concert Hall and the Athens World Music Festival. She holds a Master of Arts degree in "Interpretation/Performance of Instrumental and Vocal Music" with specialization in "Jazz Singing" (2019) from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She also studied singing with the professors E. Kylpasi (National Conservatory), M. Symeonidou (National Conservatory), E. Paspala (vocal performance), jazz improvisation with S. Papalamprou (Department of Music Studies, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens), Italian traditional song with V. Magnolo & A. C. Villani in Lecce, Italy, as well as Irish-Swedish-Norwegian song and the "Kulning" technique with the ethnomusicologist L. Gioti. She started playing the piano at the age of six, and studied classical piano with the professors D. Mallouchos (Athens Conservatory) and E. Kylpasi (National Conservatory), jazz piano and improvisation with S. Lantsias and theory with Charalambos Kana (Athens Conservatory). She has also attended tamburello seminars by the percussionists G. Narracci and F. De Donatis in Lecce, Italy.
She holds a diploma of the School of Applied Mathematics & Natural Sciences and she is a PhD Candidate at the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens. Her research interests include algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence, signal processing, music information retrieval (MIR) and computational ethnomusicology. She has published her work in various international conferences and journals and she designs and implements prototypes and software for the singing voice. "Polyfōnía", is an original music system that she designed and implemented, creating polyphony by tracking the movement of the singer's hands through a sensor with cameras, published at the conference NIME 2021, Shanghai where it was presented in June 2021 and at the conference “Sound and music Computing” (SMC) 2022, France. She is a member of the organizing committee of various conferences and in research groups of National and European projects.

Natalia Kotsani

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COURSE

Jazz Improvisation, Modern singing, Traditional singing