Fani Kosona (1969, Greece), composer, pianist and mathematician, holds a degree in Mathematics from the University of Athens. She studied piano at the National Conservatory of Athens, the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, then with Bernard Ringeissen; counterpoint and fugue at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (classes with J.-P. Holstein and M. Merlet); orchestration in the Scola Cantorum in Paris (classes with P. Sciortino); composition with Theodore Antoniou. She obtained a PhD in music composition from the Ionian University of Greece. Her recent work is focused on mathematical modeling in music composition, introducing the concept of “topological design” as a generalization of micro-structural concepts, resulting to a broader concept of the musical form and structure; also proposing, through catastrophe theory models, a dynamical generalization of deconstructive attitudes in the micro and macro-structural level.

Her music has been awarded in composition competitions and workshops, and is increasingly appearing in discography.

Website: fanikosona.wordpress.com

About the work

Ichnos (2018) is dedicated to my students of all times. The structure of the piece is based on mathematical tools from the field of Topology (a broader notion of Geometry applied on abstract “spaces”). These mathematical tools are applied here in order to examine and codify several ways of propagating a gesture in a closed system. Codified messages that contain systems of properties and characteristics are emitted from a source (which for most of the time here is the Clarinet), to be filtered through the nature and capabilities of each one of the other instruments, as they try to reflect (or better, refract) what they get. They respond by sending back new versions, carrying a new feedback every time, thus setting the same interactive process in motion again and again.

The title Ichnos is the greek word for ‘trace’. The piece refers to the traces of every effort spent, which survives through multiple mutations, due to interaction among unique individuals.