Testimonials
“We had a superb experience working with Dionysios in a baroque opera masterclass alongside Dame Emma Kirkby. Dionysios’ remarkable passion and impressive expertise on historical movement and gesture brought the music to life and his coaching transformed the performance of every singer who took part. His enthusiastic yet gentle manner made those with a mainly choral background feel at ease, and our work from a marvellous day with Dionysios will serve us extremely well as we pursue our operatic singing in the future!”
- Annabel Williams, Student Chair, Schola Cantorum of Oxford
“Dionysios handled our group of 3rd year undergraduate singers with intensity, passion and expertise. He is truly knowledgeable but also has the gift of the human touch and is able to translate his deep intellectual understanding of the historical sources into something which is practical, fun, down-to-earth and immediately understandable and applicable. In his workshop he demonstrated an innate understanding of what the singers required to create convincing dramatic and historically informed performances.”
- Marie Vassiliou, Professor of Voice, Guildhall School of Music & Drama
“Having worked with Dionysios on our recent production of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, I feel truly privileged. Not only is he hugely knowledgeable but most importantly he manages to enthuse others and enables students to use their creative freedom to take historical techniques and make them their own. Our annual opera project involves working with a very mixed ability group from young semi-pros to older adult amateurs – something Dionysios handled with ease. Our final performance was enormously entertaining and the course participants were unanimous that they want Dionysios back! We look forward to welcoming him back as a tutor on future Benslow Music courses.”
- Fane Henderson, Head of Music, Benslow Music Trust
“I have been very impressed by the teaching and direction Dionysios has given as part of the International Rameau Summer School faculty. His knowledge of and passion for historical gesture overflows to his students and gives them confidence to fuse these skills with their vocals as part of their performing. Dionysios’s enthusiasm is infectious, his attention to detail is to be admired and I would wholeheartedly recommend him.”
- Lawrence Olsworth-Peter, Artistic Director, International Rameau Ensemble
“Dionysios’s encyclopaedic knowledge of historical gesture and clear passion ad enthusiasm for the topic was palpable and he was a joy to work with at Hawkwood. He was able to introduce the group to the basics of baroque gesture in a very accessible way and then allow us to make it more naturalistic and relevant for our specific concerts. The text work in particular opened up a whole new world of rhetoric and dramatic potential in our Lute song repertoire which made for an exciting and newly invigorated concert!”
- Emily Owen, Soprano, Dowland Works
“Dionysios is an inspiring coach and excellent teacher, and his approach to the lute song was very rewarding for all of us”
- Sam Brown, Lutenist, Dowland Works
“Working with Dionysios has been both extremely fun and pedagogical. His particular way of bringing historical acting to life in his workshops and in rehearsals made me discover and learn – in a very human and understandable way – what it really meant to do baroque acting. His equally developed experience with singing and acting seems to help him convey his ideas when directing an operatic/theatrical production, such as the one I participated in, The Fairy Queen (May 2016). I hope I have a chance to work with him again!”
- Sofia Kirwan-Baez, Theatron Novum, University of Oxford
“I found Dionysios’ acting classes immersive, and thoroughly enjoyable. The fact that he was always calm and in good humour made the rehearsal pass quickly. I’ve worked with directors before who just tell you to improvise, and give you no help beyond that, which I have found pretty useless. But his advice was useful and constructive, and I felt by the time of the shows that I could really take on a character.”
- Andy Doll, Theatron Novum, University of Oxford
“Working with Dionysios Kyropoulos has been a wonderful, fabulous, magical and absolutely terrific life experience. I had the pleasure of working with him during the preparation and performances of Henry Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas and The Indian Queen at the Teatro Principal de Burgos (Spain) in 2014 as part of a project organized by AIMAntigua. He has a long set of outstanding skills as a stage director such as a remarkable ability to organize rehearsals, a restless focus on studying all the scenes and creating the artistic and technical elements for the performance (including his own costume designs), effective communication skills that make the company and crew feel completely engaged from the very first working day, and his human vision backstage and outstage. His hard work and passion made the project something really enjoyable.”
- Ana Bau Fernández, Baroque Opera Ensemble, University of Burgos
“I have collaborated with Dionysios in productions of Handel’s Rodelinda and Partenope. Dionysios used his detailed knowledge of period performance and gesture to direct these productions with great confidence and success. His preparation and organizational skills are outstanding, as are his individual coaching skills. The resulting productions were very successful, and all who took part learned a great deal and enjoyed the experience.”
- John Mears, Pigotts Baroque Opera Weekend
“Dionysios is an extremely creative and enthusiastic person. He has not only an impressive background in Baroque Gesture (he is running a very interesting and surprisingly innovative investigation in this field) but also the ability to engage other people in his projects.
He worked with us directing a performance of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Teatro Principal de Burgos, involving more than 60 musicians (baroque orchestra, chorus, and singers). He optimized our budget and the result was an excellent semi-staged opera with the participation of both professional and amateur musicians. Our surveys showed a very high degree of satisfaction among the attenders.
Moreover, he taught Baroque gesture in the workshops we ran in the University of Burgos, and once again the students showed a high satisfaction -they discovered how important gesture is in period performance and they let us know they would be happy learning more about it in further editions.
Working with him in AIMAntigua (Burgos, 2013) was an unforgettable experience both for students and us, the organisers. Hopefully we will work with him again soon!”
- Pep Gorgori Gonzàlez, AIMAntigua, Univesity of Burgos
“I've had the pleasure of working with Dionysios as part of the City Opera Ensemble. His fantastic charisma and direction of the opera ensemble brought about a well acted and musically accurate production. He was a true inspiration to many of the aspiring opera singers, giving advice and support whenever they needed it.”
- Lucy Harris, City Opera Ensemble, City University London
“Mr Kyropoulos worked very well with our student singers, helping them to perform at a very high standard”
- Dr Alexander Lingas, City University London
“Dionysios created an excellent pattern of study for the University's best vocal students, which included work with acting, movement, and language coaches as well as intensive studies on operatic scenes with repetiteurs and an orchestra. Dionysios's extensive experience as an operatic bass singer and director contributed to the success of the Ensemble, and he worked extremely hard to achieve the best results for the students.”
- Dr Christopher Wiley, City University London
- Annabel Williams, Student Chair, Schola Cantorum of Oxford
“Dionysios handled our group of 3rd year undergraduate singers with intensity, passion and expertise. He is truly knowledgeable but also has the gift of the human touch and is able to translate his deep intellectual understanding of the historical sources into something which is practical, fun, down-to-earth and immediately understandable and applicable. In his workshop he demonstrated an innate understanding of what the singers required to create convincing dramatic and historically informed performances.”
- Marie Vassiliou, Professor of Voice, Guildhall School of Music & Drama
“Having worked with Dionysios on our recent production of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, I feel truly privileged. Not only is he hugely knowledgeable but most importantly he manages to enthuse others and enables students to use their creative freedom to take historical techniques and make them their own. Our annual opera project involves working with a very mixed ability group from young semi-pros to older adult amateurs – something Dionysios handled with ease. Our final performance was enormously entertaining and the course participants were unanimous that they want Dionysios back! We look forward to welcoming him back as a tutor on future Benslow Music courses.”
- Fane Henderson, Head of Music, Benslow Music Trust
“I have been very impressed by the teaching and direction Dionysios has given as part of the International Rameau Summer School faculty. His knowledge of and passion for historical gesture overflows to his students and gives them confidence to fuse these skills with their vocals as part of their performing. Dionysios’s enthusiasm is infectious, his attention to detail is to be admired and I would wholeheartedly recommend him.”
- Lawrence Olsworth-Peter, Artistic Director, International Rameau Ensemble
“Dionysios’s encyclopaedic knowledge of historical gesture and clear passion ad enthusiasm for the topic was palpable and he was a joy to work with at Hawkwood. He was able to introduce the group to the basics of baroque gesture in a very accessible way and then allow us to make it more naturalistic and relevant for our specific concerts. The text work in particular opened up a whole new world of rhetoric and dramatic potential in our Lute song repertoire which made for an exciting and newly invigorated concert!”
- Emily Owen, Soprano, Dowland Works
“Dionysios is an inspiring coach and excellent teacher, and his approach to the lute song was very rewarding for all of us”
- Sam Brown, Lutenist, Dowland Works
“Working with Dionysios has been both extremely fun and pedagogical. His particular way of bringing historical acting to life in his workshops and in rehearsals made me discover and learn – in a very human and understandable way – what it really meant to do baroque acting. His equally developed experience with singing and acting seems to help him convey his ideas when directing an operatic/theatrical production, such as the one I participated in, The Fairy Queen (May 2016). I hope I have a chance to work with him again!”
- Sofia Kirwan-Baez, Theatron Novum, University of Oxford
“I found Dionysios’ acting classes immersive, and thoroughly enjoyable. The fact that he was always calm and in good humour made the rehearsal pass quickly. I’ve worked with directors before who just tell you to improvise, and give you no help beyond that, which I have found pretty useless. But his advice was useful and constructive, and I felt by the time of the shows that I could really take on a character.”
- Andy Doll, Theatron Novum, University of Oxford
“Working with Dionysios Kyropoulos has been a wonderful, fabulous, magical and absolutely terrific life experience. I had the pleasure of working with him during the preparation and performances of Henry Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas and The Indian Queen at the Teatro Principal de Burgos (Spain) in 2014 as part of a project organized by AIMAntigua. He has a long set of outstanding skills as a stage director such as a remarkable ability to organize rehearsals, a restless focus on studying all the scenes and creating the artistic and technical elements for the performance (including his own costume designs), effective communication skills that make the company and crew feel completely engaged from the very first working day, and his human vision backstage and outstage. His hard work and passion made the project something really enjoyable.”
- Ana Bau Fernández, Baroque Opera Ensemble, University of Burgos
“I have collaborated with Dionysios in productions of Handel’s Rodelinda and Partenope. Dionysios used his detailed knowledge of period performance and gesture to direct these productions with great confidence and success. His preparation and organizational skills are outstanding, as are his individual coaching skills. The resulting productions were very successful, and all who took part learned a great deal and enjoyed the experience.”
- John Mears, Pigotts Baroque Opera Weekend
“Dionysios is an extremely creative and enthusiastic person. He has not only an impressive background in Baroque Gesture (he is running a very interesting and surprisingly innovative investigation in this field) but also the ability to engage other people in his projects.
He worked with us directing a performance of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Teatro Principal de Burgos, involving more than 60 musicians (baroque orchestra, chorus, and singers). He optimized our budget and the result was an excellent semi-staged opera with the participation of both professional and amateur musicians. Our surveys showed a very high degree of satisfaction among the attenders.
Moreover, he taught Baroque gesture in the workshops we ran in the University of Burgos, and once again the students showed a high satisfaction -they discovered how important gesture is in period performance and they let us know they would be happy learning more about it in further editions.
Working with him in AIMAntigua (Burgos, 2013) was an unforgettable experience both for students and us, the organisers. Hopefully we will work with him again soon!”
- Pep Gorgori Gonzàlez, AIMAntigua, Univesity of Burgos
“I've had the pleasure of working with Dionysios as part of the City Opera Ensemble. His fantastic charisma and direction of the opera ensemble brought about a well acted and musically accurate production. He was a true inspiration to many of the aspiring opera singers, giving advice and support whenever they needed it.”
- Lucy Harris, City Opera Ensemble, City University London
“Mr Kyropoulos worked very well with our student singers, helping them to perform at a very high standard”
- Dr Alexander Lingas, City University London
“Dionysios created an excellent pattern of study for the University's best vocal students, which included work with acting, movement, and language coaches as well as intensive studies on operatic scenes with repetiteurs and an orchestra. Dionysios's extensive experience as an operatic bass singer and director contributed to the success of the Ensemble, and he worked extremely hard to achieve the best results for the students.”
- Dr Christopher Wiley, City University London