Phoenix Rousiamanis is a composer of instrumental and electronic music, a songwriter and a performer. She usually composes around themes of folklore, queerness, nostalgia and magic and she is interested in creating genre-defying music that finds beauty in dark, violent and uncomfortable contexts. Her involvement in the trans community, interest in ballroom culture, voguing and activism are also integral in her artistic practice.
She is currently touring in Europe and the US with Lucy Dacus and Jasmine 4.t. Her works have been performed by ensembles such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s Ensemble 10:10, the Greek National Radio Orchestra (ERT), Elias String Quartet, Riot Ensemble, Trans Chorus of Los Angeles and Psappha Ensemble and she has been commissioned for festivals such as WOMEX, Darmstadt Zeitströme, Leicester International Music Festival and Tête-à-tête Opera Festival. Phoenix was the 2022 winner of the RNCM ‘Gold Medal Competition’, she was shortlisted for the finals of the Royal Musical Association’s ‘Tippett Medal’, received the ‘Right to Music Award’ by the Athens State Orchestra and won first prize at the Larissa Panhellenic Piano Competition. She was chosen for the London Philharmonic Orchestra Young composer scheme, the Onassis Foundation artist residency, Psappha’s 2021 ‘Composing for’ scheme and Brighter Sound's 2023 ‘Trans_formation' residency.
As a performer and recording artist, she recently worked on Lucy Dacus’ upcoming album ‘Forever is a feeling’ and Jasmine 4.t’s ‘You are the morning’ that was produced by supergroup Boygenius. For these she arranged and recorded violin, vocals, piano and other keyboard parts as well as doing choral arrangements and sound design. Previous collaborations include New Order, Sea Fever, That old Quiet Lighthouse and Sylvette as well as performing as part of multiple orchestras and ensembles. Phoenix owes her well-rounded musicianship to her early music education in her native country, Greece. There, she studied violin, piano, saz (folk instrument), higher music academics and Byzantine music.
She studied composition at the Royal Northern College of Music for which she was awarded scholarships by the Countess of Munster Trust, George Henry Peters and the Vaughan Williams Foundation, receiving the highest final portfolio mark on record.
She is the composer of the freak-folk duo ‘Knowing the Oak Tree’, which is a collaboration with Zurich-based saxophonist Grace Macdonald. KtOT creates fantastical electro-acoustic music that draws from folklore, magic and queer club culture and delivers ritualistic performances with elements of BDSM, voguing and moments of gentleness and intimacy. They have toured in Switzerland, Germany and the UK with support from Stiftung Erna und Curt Burgauer and Stadt Zürich. The duo have received the ‘Francis Chagrin Award’ and the ZHdK ‘Music Förderpreis 2023’.
She is currently in the R&D period of a large-scale opera project t.b.a. soon.
Works
art: Chrysanthi Tsichti
Songs of descent
Songs of Descent is a 43-minute monodrama for singer and sinfonietta ensemble. It retells the myth of Persephone as an allegory to psychological descent and specifically struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder. It’s a surreal gothic tale about compassion, shame, sexuality, cancel-culture and finding beauty in the darkest of situations. It is genre defying piece, with elements of baroque, pop, cabaret and contemporary classical high drama all fused in a highly dissonant yet beautiful sound world
Unfamiliar Flesh
A piece for chamber orchestra and dance made in collaboration with Irene Fiordilino and Sarah Santos, written for the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Unfamiliar Flesh is a piece that explores the fine line between pleasure and pain, beauty and grotesqueness, intimacy and violence. Sometimes concepts that we consider polar opposites exist on a möbius strip rather than on either ends of a line.
Song for a sleepless wolf child
Piano trio originally composed for the RNCM Gold Medal Competition. It is a mischievous yet melancholy piece that with sounds of lullabies, music boxes and detuned strings.
THE SUN, THE MOON AND THEIR LOBSTER CHILDREN
A collection of four miniatures for violin and cimbalom composed for the Psappha ‘Composing for’ scheme.
The Sun and the Moon are parents to two lobsters children. The Moon takes care of one while the Sun takes care of the other. On the rare occasion of them meeting (during an eclipse, when the two celestial bodies are in conjunction) they are filled with excitement for the few moments they have to play and reminisce. After a few moments of play they part and dream of the time when they can be together again. Their separation is bittersweet and never ending yet they understand it is a part of the mystical cycle of life and nature.
DAMNOMENEIA
Originally, released as single as sexwithmdonna and then rereleased through NMC recordings as part of the Big Lockdown Survey.
FIVE PUNK MINIATURES
Five miniature punk-ethos pieces for symphony orchestra.
SPINE (SIGIL 3. ATHANASIA)
A piece for piano and electronics written for composer, pianist and beautiful friend Athanasia Kontou.
EMAK BAKIA
Written as a soundtrack to the surreal silent film of the same name by Man Ray for amplified string quartet and electronics.
juliet the moon
A eighty-minute long sound installation for the reading room of Manchester Central Library’s reading room for four sopranos, singing glasses and five cellos. Commissioned by the Hallé and Manchester After-hours Festival and composed in collaboration with composer Deane Smith, Juliet the Moon is a heartbreaking and immersive piece based on the letters sent between Frank Merrick, pianist and tutor at the RNCM, and his wife Hope Squires throughout Merrick’s imprisonment during WWI for being an opponent to the war.
Collaborations
ARRanger and recording artist
Phoenix is a highly experienced arranger and recording artist.
arranged and recorded violin and piano parts