Music School of Trikala
The Music School of Trikala is one of 49 currently operating in Greece. It is based in Trikala, the seat of the county of Trikala, and accepts students from all over the county. Currently, it has 310 students and employs 85 teachers of which 50 are General Education teachers and 35 teach music studies. Our students are selected via entry exams and they study in our school for all six years of high school. Upon finishing school, our students can participate in exams for entrance to the university, both on music studies and any other subject they want.
Our school was founded in 1997 and has been operating continuously for 21 years. Our students study European and Byzantine music, both vocal and instrumental. We run courses for students across all grades for traditional, assorted, symphonic, byzantine and electronic music as well as jazz music. Our students present their work at the end of each year to our town as well as other music schools with which we collaborate. We have participated in competitions with distinction, gaining first prizes for piano, guitar and choir. Our students have taken part and gained first prize at competitions of varying subjects such as the French language, photography, musical setting and orchestration and a world competition of fairy tales in Spanish; they have also gained distinctions in short film production on solidarity and racism. Some of our talented students have continued their music studies at Universities abroad and are building a career on the subject. Some of our students have returned to our school as teachers which demonstrates their association and comprehensive presence at our school. At the same time, many of our students continue to take part in oratory events organized by another high school in our town as well as a poet’s symposium for students and staff, also organized by a high school in our town. Our school has also collaborated with the Department of Music of the University of Arta in a concert of traditional music with our choir and orchestra. We participate in the European exchange program of Erasmus+ as well as the music festivals of Xanthi and Kavala; we are frequently visited by other music schools from Alimos, Karditsa, etc. We have collaborated with visiting poets and literary figures as well as distinguished scientists, such as Dionysis Simopoulos, for lectures and discussions with our students on their area of expertise. Great musicians that have worked with our music ensembles include Christos Nikolopoulos and Babis Tsertos. We have run seminars on composers such as Virvos and Tsitsanis, notable literary pieces like Erotokritos and authors such as Kazantzakis.
