Biography
Augustina Kapoti is a young talented London-based conductor who has worked with a range of ensembles, orchestras, choirs and soloists in New York, Boston, Graz, Birmingham, Barcelona, Berlin and London. Whilst in New York, 2014-2017, she assisted the world acclaimed conductor Jeffrey Milarsky with his projects.
Ms Kapoti performs with grace, intensity and a wonderful amount of concentration. She is keen on assimilating ideas, inspecting information and weaving into her own interpretation. Augustina is always a positive force in interpreting the most taxing and demanding orchestral literature as well as the more classical works.
Jeffrey Milarsky
Conducting Faculty, The Juilliard School, Music Director AXIOM
Senior Lecturer in Music, Columbia University, Music Director
Columbia University Orchestra
Sosnoff Theatre with the TON (The Orchestra Now) New York USA
In December 2018, she was engaged by the London Symphony Orchestra-Chorus to assist Simon Halsey CBE for the UK premiere of ”the public domain” by David Lang at London’s Barbican Centre.
Rehearsing at St Lukes for the London Symphony Chorus project ‘’the public domain’’ London, UK
Μs Kapoti has assisted me on a number of occasions, including with my choirs in Barcelona, Berlin, and Birmingham, and on the UK premiere of David Lang’s “the public domain” with the London Symphony Chorus at the Barbican Centre in 2019. Augustina is very diligent, always extremely well prepared, full of musical questions, and always seeking the best answers. Her stick technique is assured, as is her rehearsal organisation and technique. She is very well organised and ambitious for her groups.
Simon Halsey CBE
Chorus Director, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Choral Director, London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Conductor Laureate, Rundfunkchor Berlin
Creative Director for Choral Music, WDR Rundfunkchor Director, BBC Proms Youth Choir
Artistic Director, Orfeó Català Choirs
Artistic Adviser, Palau de la Música, Barcelona
Professor and Director of Choral Activities, University of Birmingham
Augustina has conducted in recordings for contemporary oratorios as well as for orchestral contemporary music such as with the Presteigne Festival (est.1983) and The Zemel Choir (est. 1955), the UKs leading mixed voice Jewish Choir based in London, UK.
Ms Kapoti is deeply honoured to have received a special invitation by the distinguished Musicologist, Dr Michael Beckerman, Chairman of the Music department at New York University to give lectures on Conducting and Performance Practice to graduates at New York University in Manhattan USA.
[…]A deeply thoughtful musician who studies and prepares scores in the greatest detail, she is also an inspirational figure on the podium who breaths extraordinary life into all the compositions she touches. Her knowledge of various repertoires is vast. She is simultaneously rock solid and lighter than air, and one can tell that the musicians she works with recognize this special talent.
Dr Michael Beckerman
Chair of the Department of Music at New York University, New York- New York USA Carroll and
Milton Petrie Professor of Music
Collegiate Professor of Music
Sosnoff Theatre with the TON (The Orchestra Now) New York USA
Right from our first meeting, I was impressed by her musical intelligence, strong instincts and her detailed approach to score preparation. Augustina is a very expressive and extremely musical conductor. She possesses an innate sense of phrasing combined with a very fluid and clear technique. She has a warm and sincere character which comes across strongly in her conducting. Also, she is very confident on the podium and this, combined with her thorough preparation creates an authoritative yet musically sensitive finish to her performances.
Paul Murphy
Principal Conductor, The Birmingham Royal Ballet UK
Augustina is actively involved in teaching conducting herself and in 2021 she was invited by the International Portoheli Festival and Dr Grigorios Zamparas to found the Orchestral Conducting Masterclass and teach undergraduates from the University of Tampa USA as well as students from around the world, a collaboration which continues to the present day.
Teaching the Orchestral Conducting Masterclass at the International Portoheli Festival, Αugust 2021 to present
From the very first time Ms Kapoti struck me as a very passionate teacher who brings a fresh and precise pedagogical approach to her teaching. In the Orchestral Conducting Masterclass she taught, it was obvious that she very quickly adjusted to the needs of each student creating a very supportive atmosphere and a safe environment for the students to learn
Dr Grigorios Zamparas
Professor of Music; Director of Piano Studies at the University of Tampa USA
We have been impressed by Ms Kapoti’s professionalism, energy, enthusiasm and dedication to her role and we are delighted that she has agreed to stay with us for another year.
Dr Benjamin Wolf
Senior Lecturer in Music at Regent’s University London
Music Director at The Zemel Choir
Augustina Kapoti was appointed as my assistant at St Albans Choral Society after only one trial rehearsal, having hugely impressed members of the choir with her personality and conducting style. Ms Kapoti is an exceptionally talented, committed and hard-working conductor. I have been hugely impressed by her passion for music and the ability she has to engage fully with a wide variety of musicians. She has the confidence, energy, skill, experience and, above all, ambition required for the profession.
George Vass
Artistic Director:Presteigne Festival, Nova Music Opera and Orchestra Nova
Born in Athens Greece, Augustina Kapoti is pursuing her doctorate DMA in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Houston, Texas USA awarded a scholarship with Professor Franz Krager. Ms Kapoti holds a Master’s Degree in Orchestral and Choral Conducting with full scholarship from Bard Conservatory of Music, New York USA with late Harold Farberman and Dr James Bagwell. She has a further Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting with Simon Halsey CBE from the University of Birmingham UK and has also studied Orchestral Conducting with Sian Edwards at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Augustina also studied Orchestral Conducting with Dimitri Agrafiotis and Alexis Agrafiotis and she holds a Bachelor’s and Integrated Master’s Degree in Musicology from the School of Philosophy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She also studied Composition with George Tsontakis, Dr Panos Liaropoulos and Joan Tower in New York and Boston USA.
Augustina Kapoti was given two further accolades – being awarded a Special Commendation from the 2017 International Orchestral Conducting Competition in Graz Austria and was also chosen from 50 conductors to perform at the final concert of the Conductors Institute, New York in 2014.
More recently, she has been invited among others by Colin Metters, Sian Edwards, Johannes Schlaefli, Marin Alsop, Kenneth Kiesler and Jukka-Pekka Saraste to be part of their orchestral conducting masterclasses organised variously, among others, by the Southbank Centre, Royal Philharmonic Society, University of St Andrews in Scotland and the Royal Academy of Music, London.
