Mariza Vamvoukli was born and raised on the island of Lesvos. She graduated with honors from the Department of Music Studies at the Aristotelian Polytechnic of Thessaloniki. Simultaneously, she studied piano, accordion, theory of music and theatrical movement. She furthered her studies with a post-graduate scholarship in England at Middlesex University in the Department of Music Education and at York University on the subject of Community Music or “Music in Society” (music activity and appreciation, mostly for underprivileged groups).
From 2003 on, she has taught as a tenured music teacher at the elementary school level. As of 2008, she does music coaching for the pre-junior section of the children’s choir ROSARTE. From 2011, she has directed the children’s choir of the National Odeon of Neo Heraklion, Attica and from 2012 she is the chorusmaster of the cross-cultural youth choir POLYPHONICA. In conjunction with Elsa Kundig and Myrto Tikof Mariza is responsible of the musical coaching and music education of the choir.
She also works as a music teacher and music therapist in the Center for Individuals with Special Needs, in the psychiatric rehabilitation centers EPIPSI and EPAPSI, and as composer and interpreter for amateur theatre groups. She is a member of the “National Conservatoire”, of the “Koinoniko Odeio” (Social Conservatoire”), a recently founded initiative of music teachers.
The keystone of her philosophy (equally for music and teaching) is improvisation and “soundscapes” (the sensitizing to sounds around us), which lead to the creation of personal sound collage-compositions. Her main influences have been the pioneer music educators Murray Schafer and Christopher Small, men who have seen music most importantly as a teaching-instrument and not as a matter for specialists alone.