Lina Koutrakos was awarded BEST DIRECTOR from both the Manhattan Association of Cabaret and Clubs and the New York City Bistro Awards. Other awards from these associations, The NY Daily News, The Village Voice and Paris’s Petite Piaf Awards include BEST FEMALE VOCALIST and BEST ARTIST OF THE YEAR (MAC) in 2007.
Though a consistent figure as both a pop/rock Diva and Cabaret singer in New York City, Koutrakos learned her craft in Cabaret rooms and makes her living directing others who are solo in the spotlight.
She has worked along side many prominent cabaret performers and fellow Master teachers both on stage and off -Nancy LaMott, Sally Mayes, Karen Mason, Eric Michael Gillette, Alex Rybeck, Marilyn May, Julie Wilson etc…She has been on staff as a Master Teacher at Yale University and The Eugene O’Neill. As director she has worked from the helping the beginer ‘learn the ropes’ and becoming their more authentic selves to crafting the shows of many already established singers.
Koutrakos has to her credit a very well respected teaching and directing career. Throughout New York and other major United States cities: Chicago, Santa Fe, D.C, Boston, Las Vegas, St. Louis and Los Angeles. Her workshop “Performance Connection” is currently on its fourth year as the Midwest Cabaret Conference in Chicago and on its 12th year in her Manhattan based intensive “Summer in the City.” She teaches an ongoing weekly workshop in Manhattan for advanced performers.
As a singer Koutrakos’s reviews are plentiful: The Daily News calls her “A smoky volcano of passion”. Backstage says “When Koutrakos sings a song, it stays sung”. Billboard Magazine calls her “The Real thing” and the Village Voice says she is “Part earth mother, part earthquake”.
As director and teacher: “Koutrakos is like a walking/talking Master Class!”
