Zoi Tsokanou

Conductor Zoi Tsokanou served as chief conductor and artistic director of the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, becoming that group's first female conductor and the first woman to lead a major Greek orchestra. In the 2020s, she began to make guest appearances internationally. In 2014, she became permanent conductor at the Theater Erfurt in Germany, building a large operatic repertory. She remained associated with that theater after stepping down in 2017, gaining wide attention in 2018 for conducting Gaspare Spontini's rarely-heard opera Agnes von Hohenstaufen there. In 2017, Tsokanou was named chief conductor and artistic director of the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra. In 2023, she made her recording debut with that group on the album Topos: 20th-Century Greek Orchestral Music.