About us

Prof. Konstantia Gourzi – Komponistin und Dirigentin, Künstlerische Leitung opus21musikplus

Konstantia Gourzi studied composition and conducting in Athens and Berlin. She can frequently be seen in the double role of composer, and conductor of a concert. Her artistic and musical wish is to make connections – as a composer, between traditional and contemporary sound worlds; as a conductor with new conceptual emphases.

Her work as a composer includes opera, film music, works for musical theatre, orchestra, numerous solo pieces, and chamber music. She has been commissioned by the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, the Lucerne Festival, the hr-Sinfonieorchester, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Nils Mönkemeyer, François Leleux, and the Heath, Minguet und Signum Quartets. Always searching for new performance concepts for contemporary music, Konstantia Gourzi has initiated concert series, and has also followed the example of her mentor Claudio Abbado and founded various ensembles such as attacca berlin, ensemble echo, ensemble oktopus and opus21musikplus.

Supporting young musicians is also very important to her, and her former students can be found in all important European contemporary music ensembles. Konstantia Gourzi’s recordings on NEOS, Sony and ECM, as composer and as a conductor, enjoy international acclaim.

Dr. Dr. Norbert Banik, Managing Director

Norbert Banik grew up in Dresden where he also finished his studies in Technical Acoustics and Measurement Technique. Subsequently he lived in Cologne, Hamburg and since 2002 in Munich. He finished postgraduate studies in Bio-Mathematics and Epidemiology and gained doctoral degrees in Applied Statistics (Humboldt University, Berlin) and in Human Biology (University of Cologne). He has been working in medical research as a Biostatistician and Epidemiologist for more than 20 years. Since 2012 he is Managing Director of a German medium-sized consulting and contract research organisation with offices in Munich.
As an enthusiast of all kinds of music he became engaged also in contemporary music already in his late adolescence. In addition to his strong interests in arts in general, taking photographs forms the most important part of his activities (www.norbertbanik.de).

Julian Merkle, Projektkoordination

Julian Merkle studied music pedagogy (high school level) and music journalism at the University for Music and performing Arts Munich. As a singer and violinist he has worked with numerous ensembles and choirs throughout Germany. He has collected his practical experience in music management during his university studies, and also through the founding of his own artist agency. Since 2009, he has been working for Bavarian Radio and Stiftung Zuhören on a freelance basis.

opus21musikplus – Mitwirkende seit 2007