Othonas Gogas
Othonas Gogas was born in Corfu. He took his first flute lessons at the “Mantzaros” Philharmonic Society and in 2003 he received his flute diploma with the grade “Excellent and First Prize” from the “Philippos Nakas” Conservatory with Professor Thomas Georgiou. He continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with a scholarship from the Royal Academy and the “Alexandra Trianti” scholarship from the “Friends of Music” Association, where he graduated in 2008 with the title Bachelor of Music with professors Michael Cox and Kate Hill in flute and Patricia Morris in piccolo.
He holds an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma from the Royal Danish Academy of Music where he studied with Ulla Miilmann.
With appearances in Greece, England, Belgium, Germany and Denmark, he has to his credit world and national premieres of works for flute, as well as important collaborations with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the Camerata Orchestra of Friends of Music, the Manson Ensemble and the Orchestra of Colors.
As a soloist he has appeared with the Münchener Kammerorchester, the Mibo Orchestra of the Royal Academy of London, the Hellenic Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, and repeatedly with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra with which he has presented the national premiere of the concertos for flute and orchestra by L. Liebermann and P. Vasks.
He has been awarded the “Barenreiter Urtext Prize“ at the ARD International Competition in Munich (2015) and the Dorothy Grienstead Memorial Prize from the Royal Academy of Music in London. He has also won prizes at the 1st Pan-European Flute Competition in Thessaloniki (2007), at the Jonathan Myall Competition for piccolo flute in England (2008).
Since 2008 he has held the position of First Principal in the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra.