Zela Papageorgiou.

Artistic associate for kids programming, percussion.

Image by Daniel Rabin.

 

  • I always loved being creative as a kid which I believe came from my parents. My mum taught art and craft at a primary school and my dad is an engineer who’s just really good with DIY stuff and creative solutions, so they would always collaborate at home on projects like building props for the school concert or fete. I think this is why I’m just generally drawn to the idea of making things.

    I started learning music to be in the school wind band program for fun - I don’t think I was planning on making a career out of it at the time, I just followed the path all the way to uni without really thinking about it. So it took a while but finally started to make sense for me a bit later on, once I was introduced to the work of Speak Percussion and discovered the limitless creative possibilities of collaborating on projects with others and developing new works. This approach to music and art making felt natural and exciting to me, all thanks to observing that creative energy from my folks!

  • I absolutely loved our 2021 performance of Diimpa’s compositions at Heide Museum of Modern Art - it was a really special day in such a beautiful outdoor location.

  • The house that I grew up in was owned by Australian artist Albert Tucker (speaking of Heide Museum!). I have fond memories of visiting him with my parents a few times to pay our rent. I was around 5 years old and had no idea how important he was – I just loved exploring his house and playing hide and seek!

  • Too difficult to choose! But I can confidently say that my favorite categories of art are immersive installations and experiences – especially when encountered unexpectedly or with no real prior knowledge of the work. Here are some absolute favorites that have remained unforgettable to me:

    Matthias Schack-Arnott – Chrysalis

    Marina Abramović – Counting The Rice

    Jess Johnson and Simon Ward - TERMINUS

  • I was really lucky to be studying music at University at the same time as composer and electronic musician Carolyn Schofield, aka Fia Fiell. Carolyn created a beautiful duet for electronics and vibraphone titled Shallows that we premiered in both of our uni recitals and then performed again a few years later for a Melbourne Music Week show presented by Play On. I can honestly say that Carolyn is my favorite composer and performing this piece was a total dream come true, so I feel incredibly fortunate that I was able to have that experience.

Zela Papageorgiou is a Naarm-based percussionist whose practice focuses on contemporary, classical and experimental music. She is passionate about discovering new ways in which traditional and experimental percussion can reach diverse audiences beyond the Classical and New Music communities, and has appeared in collaborative projects with groups such as punk outfit HEXDEBT, and electronic dance musicians Sleep D. In 2019, Zela was an Artist in Residence at the Australian Tapestry Workshop, where she composed short pieces that combined tapestry materials with percussion instruments, and created a system to transcribe rhythms from images, based on the process of preparing a tapestry.

Zela is an enthusiastic contributor to Narrm’s music scene, regularly appearing with ensembles such as Speak Percussion and Ad Lib Collective, and participating in local improvised sets and collaborations. She has performed in major festivals including Melbourne Festival, Midsumma Festival and Melbourne Music Week, where she performed a number of solo sets presented by Play On Music in 2017. Zela is currently participating in Speak Percussion’s professional development program as a 2020 Bespoke Artists. She is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, completing a Bachelor of Music with honours in 2016 under the tuition of Peter Neville and Leah Scholes, and attended the Australian National Academy of Music in 2017.