Contrasts
Solo Piano Recital by
(Greece/England)
Solon
Michaelides (1905 –
1979, Cyprus):
Sappho’s Lyre –
prelude for piano (1934)
Lambri –
prelude for piano (1956)
Theodore
Antoniou (1935 – 2018, Greece/USA):
Prelude and Toccata (1982) *
Entrata (1983)
John
Psathas (b. 1966, Greece/New Zealand):
Jettatura (1999)
* * *
Costas Tsougras (b. 1966, Greece):
12 Variations (1995)
Manos Hadjidakis (1925 – 1994, Greece):
For a Little White
Seashell – preludes and dances for piano (1947)
March & Syrtos
Conversation with Sergei Prokofiev
& Tsamikos
Mantinada & Ballos
Nocturne & Kalamatianos
Pastorale & Grand Sousta
__________
* Bulgarian premiere
The event is held under the patronage of
H. E. Grigorios Vassiloconstandakis
(Ambassador of Greece to Bulgaria)
and thanks to the generous support of:
* * *
Konstantinos
Destounis (b. 1991 in Athens) is regarded as one of the most prominent Greek artists of
his generation.
He studied at the Hellenic
Conservatory with Prof. Agathe Leimoni and the University of Macedonia in
Greece with Prof. Igor Petrin. He went on to receive a master’s degree at the
Mozarteum University in Salzburg and an artist diploma at the Royal College of
Music in London. Currently, he teaches at the Royal College of Music, while
pursuing a doctoral degree at the same time. His research is about Theodore
Antoniou’s piano works in the context of Greek contemporary piano repertoire. He
has been a scholar of the Onassis Foundation and the Thessaloniki Friends of
Music Association.
Destounis is a prize-winner in many
international piano competitions, most notably the Grand Prix “Maria Callas” in
Athens, the Southern Highlands in
Canberra, the “Giorgos Thymis” in Thessaloniki and the Bremen European Piano
Competition. His numerous awards also include the “Gina Bachauer” Piano Prize
of the Spanish association World in
Harmony, the Young Artist Prize
of the Greek Drama and Music Critics Associations, the UNESCO Gold Medal and
the “Mykoniou” Prize of the Academy of Athens (Order of Letters and Fine Arts). As the winner of Greece’s
national competition, he represented his country at the Eurovision Young
Musicians Competition in Vienna.
His performing career has led him to
prestigious venues, such as the Royal Albert Hall and St John’s Smith Square in
London, La Fenice in Venice, Llewellyn Hall in Canberra, the Glocke Saal in
Bremen, the Megaron in Athens and Thessaloniki. As a soloist he has performed
with numerous orchestras in Greece, the UK, Germany, Spain and Australia,
including the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra,
Athens State Orchestra, Thessaloniki State Orchestra, Greek Radio National
Orchestra, UK Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra and Murcia Symphony Orchestra.
Konstantinos Destounis has recorded
4 CDs. His world première recording of Theodore Antoniou’s complete piano works
has been released by Naxos’ series Grand Piano and has received praising
reviews by various music journals, including Gramophone.