project description
Using the universal language of music, we promote experiential learning by engaging participants in playful interaction with AI-driven instruments—without the need for verbal instruction.
Our goal is to foster music literacy in an enjoyable way and support holistic learning.
Echorroes is an artistic, research, and educational team, as well as a startup, supported by the Orange Grove Incubator and the NBG Seeds Innovation and Technology program of the National Bank of Greece.
The prototype was developed in Berlin in collaboration with three multilingual kindergartens, with funding from the Cultural Center of the Neukölln Municipality and Nobiwerk Schools.
Echorroes collaborates with the Greek National Opera, the Athens Digital Arts Festival, cultural centers such as the School of Play and Kano, and educational institutions including Argyri-Lemos Schools and Villa Emilia Schools.
By focusing on non-verbal communication, the project ensures universal accessibility—removing language barriers and enabling inclusive participation across diverse community groups.
problem-solution
the challenge
High Dropout Rate: Nearly half of children and young adults who start learning music eventually quit.
Limited Accessibility: Traditional music education relies heavily on verbal instruction and rigid teaching methods, creating barriers for many learners.
Decreasing Motivation: The learning process often disconnects from the joy and benefits of making music, leading to disengagement.
Lack of Inclusivity: Conventional approaches fail to accommodate diverse learners, including those with special needs or different cultural backgrounds.
our solution
With Echorroes, we support children from an early age, immersing them in:
The joy of creating and listening to music
The satisfaction of making music together
The excitement of building imaginary worlds through sound
If playing music is like swimming, we provide the floaties to help them get started.
interactive AI-driven instruments
Custom-built interactive AI-instruments merge traditional music with contemporary artificial intelligence. Instead of conventional instruments, colorful cylinders of various hues and textures incorporate motion and sound sensors, transforming every press, tap, or vocalization into musical expressions. This creates a continuous dialogue between human creativity and AI.
project members & roles
vision
We joined forces with a shared vision:
to reinvent the way children learn music
to understand the basis of our human experience of music
to create playful & engaging experiences
We are an interdisciplinary team of four internationally award-winning artists-designers, combining several fields of expertise:
interactive music
educational design & applied theatre
set & costume design
interactive light design
set & costume design – original version
costume design – opera version
Echorroes Team
Phivos-Angelos Kollias, PhD - Composer/Interactive Music Developer/Project Coordinator
http://phivos-angelos-kollias.com/
Phivos-Angelos Kollias is a composer-programmer of interactive music with a PhD from Paris VIII University, applying artificial intelligence to music composition. He studied Classical Composition in Cambridge, London, and Paris, supported by the Onassis Foundation, the Athens Concert Hall, the Union of Greek Composers, and the Leventis Foundation. Kollias lives between Berlin and Athens, composing interactive music for performances, virtual reality (VR) installations, and interactive games. He has received nine awards and nine nominations in international competitions, including the recent Excellence in Sound Design Award at the Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories Competition in Toronto and one of the awards at the Musicworks Electronic Music Competition.
Projects he has contributed to have won twelve awards and distinctions, including the Apple TV Game of the Year award and the Gamescom Indie Award, and have twice been featured in Forbes' top lists. He has collaborated with international institutions such as ZKM (Karlsruhe), the Greek National Opera (Athens), the German Music Council, Musikfonds (Berlin), Dell Computers (USA), Transmediale (Berlin), Ars Electronica (Linz), and IMPAKT (Utrecht). His music has been performed by international ensembles in over twenty countries worldwide in more than seventy concerts. He has lectured on music at international conferences such as ACM (Tokyo), the Xenakis International Colloquium (London), the Europe-China Cultural Forum vol.1 and 2 (Brussels and Beijing), EMS (Paris and Leicester), SMC (Berlin), and more. His scores are published by BabelScores, Paris.
Christina Stouraiti - Applied Theatre Facilitator/Educational Supervision
Christina Stouraiti is an applied theatre educator (theatre in education and community), facilitator, and performer, with a master's degree in Applied Theatre (MA Applied Theatre - C.S.S.D., London) and 17 years of experience in theatre in education and community settings. She is a coordinating member of the National Network for Theatre in Education.
She has extensive experience in educational programs and workshops focused on theatre in education, drama pedagogy, and applied theatre in various contexts such as festivals, educational and cultural institutions, social and therapeutic spaces, and theatres. She has collaborated with the Argyris-Laimou Schools, researching sensory and open-ended materials, serving as an educational consultant in the free play observation workshop, which she introduced and coordinated there. Music and singing are central tools in her pedagogy, as well as with the Karambola puppet theatre group, with which she has been creating interactive musical performances for children over the past decade.
Niki Psychogiou - Set Designer
https://www.nikipsyhogiou.com/
Niki Psychogiou is a costume/set designer with extensive professional experience in theatre. After completing her undergraduate studies in History and Archaeology at the University of Athens, she pursued studies at the University of the Arts London, specializing in Performance Design. Upon returning to Greece, she further studied fashion design, pattern-making, and styling.
She approaches theatre as a field for exploring artistic creation, blending traditional and new approaches to costume and set design while emphasizing audience interaction. She has collaborated with major Greek theatrical institutions, including the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, the Art Theatre, the National Theatre of Greece, the Greek National Opera, the Onassis Stegi, and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. Notable aspects of her work include a focus on youth theatre, with productions such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Faust, and Antigone, as well as experimental theatre, with works like The Ridiculous Darkness at the National Theatre’s Experimental Stage.
Anna Smpokou - Lighting Designer
Anna Smpokou studied at Bartlett UCL (MSc Light & Lighting) and Goldsmiths (Theatre Production) in London, where she worked on theatre, dance, opera performances, festivals, interactive installations, and site-specific projects for the past 15 years. She has collaborated with local and international teams in London, Edinburgh, New York, Los Angeles, Mexico, India, and Athens. In 2009, she was awarded the title of "Young Lighter of the Year" by the SLL (Society of Light & Lighting), and in 2016, she was listed among the "40 under 40" (Lighting Design Awards 2016) as one of the rising lighting designers worldwide. She has also taught in the Lighting postgraduate program at UNAM, Mexico City, served as a Workshop Head for the Lights in Alingsås 2015 Student Workshop in Sweden, and was part of the organizing team for the Virtual Reality Theatre Workshop at The Space in London. In parallel, she has been involved in architectural and museum lighting since 2006, participates as a speaker in international conferences, and was a board member of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) from 2014 to 2019.
Anastasia Patsouri - Strategic Advisor
Anastasia Patsouri is a Development Economist with experience in academia, business, and governance, fostering synergies and promoting sustainable development. She specializes in data, innovation, and entrepreneurship, considering them essential tools for economic growth and crisis management. She holds a degree in Economics and a master's degree in interdisciplinary crisis management. She is currently a PhD candidate at TU Berlin. Previously, she has worked as a data analyst and director of transnational business expansion in sustainable and shared mobility. She researches, analyzes, and solves multidimensional problems, develops data-driven strategies, and promotes public-private sector collaboration to address contemporary challenges.
