AMTF 2025

Name: AMTF 2025 — The Sonic Frontier: AI and the Future of Music
Start: 2025-11-07T18:00:00+02:00
End: 2025-11-07T22:00:00+02:00
Location: Athens Concert Hall (Megaro Mousikis)

"The Sonic Frontier: AI and the Future of Music"

The Athens Music Technology Forum 2025 will be the first music event of its kind. Under the theme of "The Sonic Frontier: AI and the Future of Music", AMTF 2025 will feature presentations, talks, and live performances surrounding music technology and AI, along with showcases of AI-driven music tools and applications. It will be an immersive experience at the intersection of sound and technology.

The program of AMTF 2025 has been designed to be an interactive experience for all. The audience will have various opportunities to engage with the presenters, not only through Q&A sessions, but also by collaborating with them as a musician. AMTF 2025 will be an innovative and hybrid space transcending the boundaries between entertainment, research, and creativity.

November 7 @ 6:00pm

The Sonic Frontier: AI and the Future of Music

AMTF 2025 Program

5:00 PM

Doors Open

6:00 PM

Opening Remarks: Athens Music Technology Forum 2025

6:10 PM

Module 1

Introduction to Music Technology & Artificial Intelligence

Patrick Yao & Marilia Voynas

Xavier Serra Music and Artificial Intelligence

José Oros Generative AI and Musical Creativity

Monique Mead & Felix Li Extending Resonance: Technological Pathways for Sound Healing

6:30 PM

Module 2

Jazz Music and Technology

Önder Focan

6:50 PM

Module 3

Somax2 – Real-Time Improvisation with AI in Solo and Ensemble Contexts

Tilemachos Moussas

Performance with Somax2

Patrick Yao (Piano)
Marilia Voynas (Electric Guitar)
Thea Vasilaki (Violin)
Dafni Mousa (Musical saw)
Leona Zhu (Guqin)
Tilemachos Moussas (Somax2)

7:30 PM

Intermission

7:50 PM

Module 4

Is AI Democratising or Demoralising Music?

Bob Katsionis

8:10 PM

Module 5

The Rise of AI Singing in the Music Industry – Sounding Shadows in Plato's Cave

Anastasia Georgaki

8:30 PM

Module 6

Medusa in Somno: The Making of a Composition for Cello and Live Electronics

Konstantinos Karathanasis

Performance of Medusa In Somno

Ilia Tiliakou (Cello)
Konstantinos Karathanasis (Max/MSP)

9:20 PM

Closing Remarks & Acknowledgements

Venue

Athens Concert Hall (Megaro Mousikis)

Giannis Marinos Hall @ The Friends of Music Society

Learn more about the venue →

Speakers

Önder Focan

Önder Focan is a Turkish musician, songwriter, composer. He started music by playing mandolin at the age of 8. He switched to guitar at 15 and concentrated on jazz in 1975. Being mainly self-taught, he has become a jazz musician most sought after as a guitarist, player, composer arranger and lyrics writer. In 1986, he got married to Zuhal Focan, with whom he founded the Nardis Jazz Club in 2002. From 1996 to 1999, he conducted Jazz Ensemble courses at the Istanbul Academy. In 1997, he performed in the Guitar Night organised by MIDEM (Marché International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale) with 11 international guitarists representing Istanbul Culture and Arts Fund (IKSV). Önder has released 13 CD's. His 1998 album "Beneath The Stars" honoured him as the first Turkish Jazz musician to have released an album on Blue Note label.

Tilemachos Moussas

Tilemachos Moussas is an Athens based composer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and educator. He is invested in the creation and performance of subversive music, from instant composing to avant-garde. He produces and performs experimental music and opera-theatre that fuses the musicality of speech, poetry, classical music, jazz and electronic sound art. He has collaborated with institutions such as Brooklyn Academy of Music, Stanford University's CCRMA, IRCAM Centre Pompidou, National Theatre of Greece, and Onassis STEGI. Tilemachos has performed at international festivals and venues such as Copenhagen Opera Festival, BAM/NYC, Operadagen Festival of Rotterdam, and Singapore Arts Festival. He is the founder of the Tilemachos Moussas quartet, and is currently a researcher at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Bob Katsionis

Bob Katsionis is one of Greece's most renowned heavy metal musicians and producers, with a career spanning over 30 years and more than 170 albums. He has also directed over 270 music videos and has toured the world extensively as a performing artist. He is the only musician to ever win the "Best Keyboardist" in Greek Metal Hammer's Annual Readers' Polls for 5 years in a row (2006–2011). In 2014, he started his own records label "Symmetric Records" to help bands and artists he produced/worked with in Sound Symmetry Studio release their works. To date, Symmetric Records has 14 official releases.

Anastasia Georgaki

Anastasia Georgaki studied Physics (University of Athens, 1986) and Music (accordion, piano, harmony, counterpoint/Hellenic Conservatory of Athens, 1981- 1990). She continued her studies at IRCAM (Paris, 1990-1995) in computer music and music technology (DEA and PhD in Music and Musicology of the 20th century, IRCAM/EHESS). During the period 1995-2002 she taught as a lecturer in Music Acoustics and music technology at the Music Department of the Ionian University at Corfu. Since 2002, she has been a lecturer in music technology and is currently Head of the Department of Music Studies at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens. Since 2008, she has taught three different Master programs at the University of Athens and the School of the Fine Arts. Her research interests include the acoustic analysis of the singing voice, voice synthesis, creative technologies in education, as well as acoustic ecology.

Konstantinos Karathanasis

As an electroacoustic composer, Konstantinos Karathanasis draws inspiration from modern poetry, artistic cinema, abstract painting, mysticism, Greek mythology, and the writings of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. His compositions have been performed at numerous festivals and have received awards in international competitions, including Musica Nova, SIME, SEAMUS/ASCAP, Música Viva and Bourges. Recordings of his music are released by SEAMUS, ICMA, Musica Nova, Innova, Equilibrium and HELMCA. Konstantinos holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from the University of Buffalo. Aside from being a Stavros Niarchos Foundation Fellow since Spring 2020, he is also a Professor of Composition & Music Technology at the University of Oklahoma.

Performers

Thea Vasilaki

Thea Vasilaki is a 17-year-old violinist and multi-instrumentalist. She has been playing the violin for more than 10 years. She has an extensive background in classical music, with most of her concerts - both solo and with her orchestra - being in this genre. She is a member of the Underground Youth Orchestra, which has performed both in Greece and abroad. Thea is also involved in the jazz genre, having participated in jazz bands and ensembles.

Ilia Tiliakou

Ilia Tiliakou is a Greek cellist based in Athens and Corfu. She began her musical journey in 2011 under the guidance of Angelos Liakakis, later continuing her studies at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Music Department of the Ionian University in Corfu. Her repertoire spans from classical solo works to chamber music. Over the past four years, she has been actively exploring the boundaries of free improvisation and experimental performance.

Guest Presenters

Xavier Serra

Xavier Serra is Professor at the Department of Engineering of Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, where he founded and directs the Music Technology Group (MTG). With a PhD in Computer Music from Stanford University (1989), he is internationally recognised for his contributions to sound and music computing, particularly in the analysis, description, and synthesis of musical signals, and in the development of AI-based methodologies for music understanding. He currently directs the UPF-BMAT Chair on Artificial Intelligence and Music, which is dedicated to fostering ethical, transparent, and context-aware AI technologies that can empower the music sector and support creators, educators, and users.

Monique Mead

Monique Mead has been a lifelong advocate for the healing power of music. Her career as a professional violinist spans three decades performing on major international stages throughout North America and Europe. This artistic excellence infuses her Sound Healing practice, trainings, and research. As Teaching Professor and Director of Music Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Monique has created the first university course in sound healing, established a student-run sound bath program at CMU and most recently trained medical students at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). In 2025, she will launch a CMU course called Sonic Innovation: AI, Sound Healing, and Entrepreneurial Solutions for Global Wellness.

José Oros

Jose Oros is a PhD candidate in Information Systems Management at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College. His research examines how digitization and disruptive technologies impact media markets. He uses empirical methods and machine learning to evaluate how platform policies and innovations affect consumers, creators, and firms. In recent work with Spotify, he studies how on-platform promotion influences off-platform outcomes such as concert demand, identifying ways these tools can support artists' career growth while advancing platform goals. He is also interested in the opportunities and risks of generative AI in creative industries. In recent experimental work, he studies how AI-assisted creation shapes music and listener perceptions. Before his PhD, Jose worked as a data analyst at Pandora Media.

Felix Li

Felix (Xiaofeng) Li is a master's student in Music and Technology at Carnegie Mellon University. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Felix began his journey in audio engineering in high school, recording his school's ensembles during the pandemic. Now based in Pittsburgh, he has collaborated with a diverse range of local artists and professional ensembles, including Chatham Baroque and the Pittsburgh Opera, with many of his recordings featured on WQED-FM. Passionate about education, Felix also serves as a teaching assistant for all courses offered in the Vlahakis Recording Studio. Felix has previously held internship roles at Bryte Labs, Harvard FAS CAMLab, and Universal Creative. His research interests center on spatial audio, interactive sound design, and audio-visual system integration.