My name is Alkis Karmpaliotis, I was born in 2006, and I'm currently a Junior at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York City. I have always loved classical music, especially opera, thanks to my parents and music teacher Dr. Carol Ann Aicher.

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About Appreciate Opera

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I founded this website in 2019 when I was 12 years old. It began as a small opera-themed blog that I shared only with family and close friends. A few months later, I started working on a "How to Appreciate Opera" guide, with the ultimate goal of sharing my passion for music with the world and encouraging other young kids to appreciate opera. In late-2019, I took AppreciateOpera.org public.

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Over the next few years, I would continuously expand upon my Appreciate Opera Guide, write over forty articles covering everything from operatic history to performance reviews, and create opera-themed quizzes.

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Some of my most popular articles are:

• "Ranking the Top Ten Orchestras in the World" (58,000 views)

• "Ranking the Top Ten Opera Houses in the World" (21,000 views)

• "Where to Sit at the Metropolitan Opera" (22,000 views)

 

I have also had the pleasure of interviewing several influential musicians and scholars — all of whom I reached out to either through social media or by contacting their agencies — including three GRAMMY winners:

• Anthony Roth Costanzo — GRAMMY-winning counter-tenor

• Lawrence Brownlee — world-renowned Tenor

• Andrew Litton — Music Director of the NYC Ballet and GRAMMY winner

• Gundula Kreuzer — renowned musicologist and Acting Chair of the Yale Department of Music

• Michael Repper — GRAMMY-winning conductor

• Antonello Manacorda — conductor, recently made his Berlin Philharmonic debut

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These interviews have been read by thousands of people — and my interview with Brownlee was even cited on Wikipedia.

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In September 2023, I began accepting articles from guest writers. Now, AppreciateOpera.org has a staff of several dedicated columnists, including fellow high schoolers, college students, and adults. Later that year, I was approached by an advertising company to write an official review of a new children's book, Welcome to the Opera: Discover the Enchanting World of Opera with Mozart's "The Magic Flute" — hopefully the first of many official reviews to come.

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Since its foundation, AppreciateOpera.org has been on the constant rise. From February 2019 to January 2021, the site garnered a measly 7,000 unique visitors; but since then, the site has been viewed by over 100,000 individuals. As of June 2023, AppreciateOpera.org has nearly 2,000 subscribed members. I hope to maintain this upward trajectory and inspire more people to appreciate opera along the way.

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