Vanessa Kourtesi
Focus Area: Vocal Technique / Vocal Performance
Vanessa Kourtesi is a vocalist, songwriter and vocal educator originally from Athens, Greece and currently based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. She is a graduate of Codarts-University of the Arts in Rotterdam, specialized in vocal performance and a master student of Voice Pedagogy in University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Her research focuses on Musical Performance Anxiety in vocalists and creative educational methods. She has studied with and followed lectures in voice pedagogy by Kerrie Obert, Elisa Monti, Heidi Moss, Keneth Bozeman, Harjo Pasveer, David Juncos and many others.
Vanessa released her first EP
In 2022 she released her first EP “Spending time with Esther”, composed and produced by her, for which she collaborated with musicians based in the Netherlands and in Greece. At the moment she is working on her album which will be recorded in 2024. In this work she is experimenting with her east Mediterranean roots and ambient and experimental sounds. She is a co-founding member and the lead vocalist of Merem (“Merem”, 2023) with whom she is performing and touring around Europe. She has various collaborations and she is a member in music groups around Europe (The Circle Orchestra, Nikos Sidirokastritis, Haris Lambrakis, Friso van Wijk, Broken Strings Music and others), participating in live concerts and festivals (O. Festival, North Sea Jazz, AnoPolis World music Festival and others) and as a recording artist.
Vanessa is teaching voice privately in Rotterdam and Athens. She is also leading vocal workshops about Greek Traditional music, vocal technique and performance in The Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Greece.
