AphroditePatoulidou

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  • Soprano

About Aphrodite

Rising star soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou, whose "elegance as both singer and actress put her a class above" (LA Times), was one of the first artists to take part in Barbara Hannigan’s Equilibrium Young Artists Initiative. She has gone on to make debuts with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Gothenburg Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, SWR Sinfonieorchester, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and Danish Radio Symphony.

On the operatic stage, she has performed at the Staatsoper Berlin, La Monnaie, Teatro Real Madrid, and Greek National Opera. Aphrodite recently toured with the London Symphony Orchestra across Europe, performing Mahler’s 4th Symphony and Vivier’s Lonely Child. She has collaborated with conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Barbara Hannigan, Christian Reif, and Dalia Stasevska, directors such as Sasha Waltz and Pierre Audi, and has performed in concert halls such as the Berliner Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Gothenburg Konserthuset, Barbican London, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Philharmonie Köln, Rotterdam de Doelen, Brussels Bozar as well as in music festivals such as Ojai in California, Klara Festival, Aldeburgh, Ludwigsburg and Sansusi.

She is known for her skill at curation, and the development of programmes that create a musical dialogue between folk music and classical traditions, brought to life through her self-accompaniment on the nyckelharpa. Outside of her musical career, Aphrodite is a skilled mixed-media artist, working in photography and painting.

Aphrodite is based in Berlin

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Contact

For Opera Bookings

Kate Robson

Kate Robson

Associate Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Season Highlights

Oct 2026
St. Louis, USA
La Mer St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Dalia Stasevska (Conductor)
Nov 2026
Oulu, Finland
Beyond the Sky Oulu Symphony Orchestra Dalia Stasevska (Conductor)
Nov 2026 - Jul 2027
Berlin & Cologne, Germany
Dido and Aeneas (Belinda) Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin & Oper Köln
Jan 2027
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
NTR ZaterdagMatinee Series Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Samy Moussa (Conductor)
Mar 2027
Hamburg, Germany
Beethoven No. 9 Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra
Mar 2027 - Apr 2027
Ottawa, Canada
Lonely Child National Arts Centre Ottawa David Robertson (Conductor)
Apr 2027
Beaune, France
Hippolyte et Aricie (Phèdre) Les Talens Lyrique
May 2027
Gothenburg, Sweden
From A Great Height Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra Christoffer Nobin (Conductor)

Selected Repertoire

Argento

Miss Havisham's Wedding Night (Miss Havisham)

Beethoven

Fidelio (Marzelline)

Bellini

I Capuletti ed I Montecchi (Giullieta)

Bizet

Carmen (Micaëla)   •   Les pêcheurs de perles (Leïla)

Donizetti

Elisir d’amore (Adina)   •   Anna Bolena (Anna)   •   Don Pasquale (Norina)

Gounod

Roméo et Juliette (Juliette)   •   Faust (Marguerite)

Monteverdi

L’incoronazione di Poppea (Poppea)

Mozart

Le Nozze di Figaro (Susanna)   •   Così Fan Tutte (Fiordiligi, Despina)   •   Die Zauberflöte (Pamina)   •   Idomeneo (Ilia)

Poulenc

La Voix Humaine (Elle)   •   Les mamelles de Tirésias (Thérèse)

Puccini

La bohème (Mimì)   •   Gianni Schicchi (Lauretta)   •   Suor Angelica (Suor Genovieffa)   •   Turandot (Liù)

Purcell

Dido & Aeneas (Belinda)

Rossini

Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

Stravinsky

The Rake’s Progress (Anne Trulove)

Verdi

Othello (Desdemona)   •   Falstaff (Nanetta)   •   La traviata (Violetta)

Weber

Der Freischütz (Agathe)

Zimmermann

Weisse Rose (Sophie Scholl)

Projects

Songs From the Other Side

Laced with a generous dose of black humour, Aphrodite uncovers the helplessly dark romantic allure of a realm where emotion and fantasy eclipse logic.

Learn about this project
  • Projects

    Songs From the Other Side

    Laced with a generous dose of black humour, Aphrodite uncovers the helplessly dark romantic allure of a realm where emotion and fantasy eclipse logic.

    Learn about this project
  • Projects

    My Bloody Valentine

    Accompanied by the celebrated German pianist Eric Schneider, Aphrodite Patoulidou performs a diverse programme featuring music that spans from the great Romantic composers’ pieces to adaptations of jazz compositions and traditional songs, all set against an evocative Gothic backdrop. The programme presents works by Wolf, Clarke, Loewe, Mahler, Menotti, Britten, Rachmaninoff, Riadis, Rogers, Sibelius, Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Strauss, Zemlinsky, and others.

    Learn about this project

Sample Programmes

  • My Bloody Valentine

  • Danse Macabre

  • The Folk Recital

News

Press

  • La Clemenza di Tito

    Les Talens Lyrique
    Jun 2026
    • [...] singing with clarity and precision..Patoulidou’s aria, “Deh! se piacer mi vuoi” developed into a full blossomed tonal palette as her voice eased into it. I especially enjoyed her lower notes at the ends of phrases such as “Chi ciecamente crede, Impegne a serbar fede" […] Her coloratura was her vocal high point[…] The audience applauded her generously after this aria. [...] “Non piu di fiori” was a special moment in Patoulidou’s performance and the opera seria.

    • Spontaner Beifall brandete bereits nach der ersten temperamentvollen Arie von Aphrodite Patoulidou auf. Als erzürnte Kaisertochter Vitellia stiftet sie ihren Geliebten Sesto (mit zunehmend packender Intensität: Maite Beaumont) an, Tito zu ermorden, weil er nicht sie zur Gattin gekürt hatte. [translated] Spontaneous applause broke out immediately after Aphrodite Patoulidou’s first spirited aria. As Vitellia, the enraged daughter of the emperor, she incites her lover Sesto (played with increasingly gripping intensity by Maite Beaumont) to murder Tito because he had not chosen her as his wife.

    • Recitative occupies much of the work, and the sung dialogues were despatched here fluently and launched in a non-nonsense manner by Greek soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou as the vengeful Vitellia. Her transformation from manipulator to pleading wretch was wholly believable, mirrored in an imperious ‘Deh, se piacer mi vuoi’ where she breathed fire and brimstone when demanding Sesto’s loyalty. A more placatory tone wrapped itself round her Act 2 ‘Non più di Fiori’ (a lovely basset horn in support) as Vitellia’s conscience dictates the need to save Sesto by confessing her actions to Tito. With this outstanding rendition the emotional temperature soared and lifted this concert performance to a new level.

    • Aphrodite Patoulidou captured the wounded brilliance and hurt pride of Vitellia admirably, with her final aria in the second act a great showpiece success, a real high point of the evening.

    • Aphrodite Patoulidou shot off like a rocket, all incendiary fire and fizz allied to formidable control across her range ad spectacular strength at the top. Such was her flammable charisma in the opening scenes (especially in the white-hot passion of “Deh, se piacer mi vuoi”) that you feared she might scorch the stage bare for everyone else…absolute firecracker

    • Patoulidou managed to dominate Act One, despite the paucity of arias, because of her command of recitative. Patoulidou made Vitellia wonderfully vituperative and manipulative. She made a powerful and intense contribution to the trio in Act One when Vitellia realises that her thirst for vengeance has made things go awry. Patoulidou has a lithe voice which achieved surprising power, yet there was remarkable delicacy in the passagework too… her final great aria ‘Non più di fiori’ was compelling.

    • It was clear from the moment she strode onto the stage in her flame-red dress that Aphrodite Patoulidou was going to be a scorching Vitellia, but her strength was not just in her fiery arias but her controlled moments of delicacy such as the phrasing of the opening of ‘Non più di fiori’ – all Vitellias reach over the bar lines at times but all are not so capable of scaling down the voice when required.

    • Aphrodite Patoulidou, in a flame-red dress that matches her character’s fiery nature, uses exquisite facial expressions and body language as well as her fabulous voice to convey her changing emotions. Scheming, manipulative and volatile, her Vitellia is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with.

  • Changing Light, Saariaho

    Helsinki Philharmonic and Pekka Kuusisto
    Sep 2024
    • Performed with focused intimacy by Kuusisto and soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou, Changing Light was rendered in candlelight manner, its musical conversations accounted in whispers of engrossing color and nuance.

  • Les Illuminations, Britten

    Deutsches Symphonie Orchester led by Dalia Stasevska
    Jun 2024
    • Benjamin Britten’s song cycle “Les illuminations”, on the other hand, is often performed, but rarely with such verve as by Aphrodite Patoulidou, who performed Rimbaud’s verses in a way that did justice to both her first name and the title of the work. The soprano’s dramatic talent and intonation artistry border on the miraculous; even extreme exaltation does not endanger her credibility and certainly does not endanger her supple timbre. One has to resort to comparisons with Barbara Hannigan to characterize the radically personal performance art of the Greek, who currently lives in Berlin.

  • Lonely Child, Vivier

    Barbican, London
    Mar 2023
    • Patoulidou, her voice a mixture of silk and steel, was utterly mesmerising.

    • The compelling soloist was Aphrodite Patoulidou, a remarkable Hannigan protégée whose repertoire extends from Purcell to heavy metal.

    • Hannigan’s orchestral control was outstanding, producing from the players a dazzlingly coloured and finely textured musical response, while the silver-voiced Aphrodite Patoulidou, ululated and declaimed her way through the challenging solo part with supreme confidence.

  • Symphony No. 4, Mahler

    On Tour with the London Symphony Orchestra and Barbara Hannigan
    Mar 2023
    • Pure voice, excellent diction, impeccable accuracy, reduced and magnificently dosed vibrato, the Greek soprano sings her part magnificently and opts with good reason for a bias of welcome simplicity, without trying to bring the listener back at all costs to the green paradises of the childhood.

    • The Greek singer Aphrodite Patoulidou makes a remarkable appearance. Holding an extremely rich and woody voice in the bass, but also clear and assured in the treble, she draws lines of sung lyrics with a joyful and celestial narration. Combining classical and contemporary registers, this multi-talented artist who also sings metal music, offers an intensity of timbre and impeccable prosody bringing a personal touch to the opus in record time.

    • Soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou delivered a marvellous performance, her innocent and youthful tone carrying an ominous and haunting quality. The final line, “The angelic voices rouse the senses so that everything awakens with joy”, concluded the soprano-child’s praising of the afterlife, leaving the audience feeling transported, if somewhat uneasy.

    • Aphrodite Patoulidou gave an impressive Philharmonie debut. She not only sang in an understandable way with a clear, beautiful and confident voice, but also designed every line of the childishly naive lyrics that tell of the “heavenly joys”. She was accompanied sensitively by the orchestra – let’s not forget that a fellow singer made sure that the voice was always present over the orchestra. By the way, the resume of Patoulidou is interesting to read: her repertoire not only ranges from Purcell to Claude Vivier, but she occasionally sings heavy metal and is also artistically versatile outside of music.

    • In Aphrodite Patoulidou, Hannigan had found a singer who knew how to describe the “heavenly joys” of the Wunderhorn verses with balanced singing and wonderfully designed arches.

    • The Greek soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou steps in. She sings of the “heavenly joys” without flattering timbre, with a clear sense of the hidden allusions to murdered innocence. The applause is big and respectful.

    • The soloist made her entrance silently yet theatrically at the start of the finale, and she sang, appropriately, like an angel.

    • A soul image of inwardness, devotion and gentle madness emerged, which unfolded its very own charm.

  • Igorrr + Otto Von Schirach

    Electric Brixton, London
    Apr 2022
    • „The mesmerising vocals of Aphrodite Patoulidou were simply amazing and proves that an opera voice definitely belongs in the experimental music setting“

    •  The tension built and light and darkness juxtaposed via sublime soprano vocals from new vocalist the incredibly talented Aphrodite Patoulidou … Partway through the set, a technical issue with the microphone means we’re treated to the full power of Aphrodite’s voice as she projects her voice to the audience, without the PA to assist keep them entertained whilst the offending cable was fixed, what a voice… 

  • Lonely Child, Vivier

    Ojai Music Festival,
    Jun 2019
    • The soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou was an entrancing soloist in Vivier’s “Lonely Child"