Middle school clinician Georgia Ekonomou has been a string educator for 40 years; she was recently recognized with the Georgia ASTA Lifetime Achievement Award. She will be rehearsing the Hinsdale Middle School Chamber Strings (Gretchen Pearson Nerad, director), a before-school honor orchestra situated southwest of Chicago. The rehearsal laboratory offers an insider’s perspective of a master teacher at work. Structured as a public clinic, the session features proven rehearsal techniques addressing such elements as tone, intonation, rhythm, bowing, and expression. Attendee seating virtually surrounds the ensemble, enabling audience members to choose nearly any vantage point from which to observe the conductor.
Georgia Ekonomou
- Biographical Information
Georgia Ekonomou currently serves as Conductor of the Atlanta Festival Chamber Orchestra. She is the former director of orchestras at the Paideia School and the Lovett Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. During her tenure at Lovett, the Lovett Chamber Orchestra performed at the 1990 MENC National Conference in Washington, D.C.; the 1997 Georgia Music Educators Association Conference in Savannah, Georgia; and at the 1997 International Association of Jazz Educators Conference in Atlanta. She is the recipient of the Lovett School’s Woodward Award for excellence in teaching, and the Georgia/ASTA Lifetime Achievement Award in honor and recognition of her contribution to musical excellence in the state of Georgia. In 2006, Ekonomou founded the Atlanta Junior Chamber Orchestra where she was Artistic Director and Conductor. She is active throughout the United States as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. Her educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Northwestern University, and a Master’s degree in Music Education from Georgia State University. She is a member of ASTA and NAfME and has served in leadership positions at the State level for both organizations. A violinist, she has performed with the Atlanta Opera Orchestra, the Woman’s Jazz Orchestra of Los Angeles, the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra, the Atlanta Chamber Orchestra, the Emory Chamber Players, and other ensembles in the Atlanta area. www.georgiaekonomou.net