Bio
He was born in Lamia and received his diploma from the Municipal Conservatory of the city in the guitar class of D. Kontogiannis in 1992. He continued his studies in the postgraduate departments of the Athens Conservatory with professor Kostas Kotsiolis from where he graduated in 1995.
From 1997 to 2000 he studied at the Conservatorio Superior of Madrid and the Conservatorio Superior of Cordoba (Spain) with M. Jimenez and M. Barbera respectively as well as at the “Robert Schumann” Academy in Dusseldorf (Germany) with the guitarist Joaquin Clerch. He is a graduate of the Mozarteum University of Salzburg (Austria) with a Bakkalaureat and Magister Diplom in the class of M. Seidel (guitar) and J. Huebsher (department of early music) and at the same time receiving, after a recommendation from the university, the award for the best graduate of the year ( Wurdigungpreis) from the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Sciences. The distinction was given for the first time to a guitarist from the specific educational institution. He has also attended classes with S. Fontaneli (conductor of the Mozarteum modern music orchestra), L. Brouwer, E. Fisk and M. Barrueco.
He is a PhD candidate of the Department of Music Studies of Aristotle University on the analysis and recording of the 14 Fantasias for Solo Guitar by the Catalan composer F. Sor.
From his very first musical steps, he took part in pan-Hellenic and international competitions, receiving distinctions such as:
1st Prize at the Volos International Guitar Festival (1993)
3rd Prize in the International Competition “A. Segovia”, Linares (Spain 1997)
2nd Prize in the “Paco Santiago Marin” International Competition, Granada (Spain 1999)
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2nd Prize in the International Competition “Alhambra”, Alkoy (Spain 2000)
1st Prize at the “Sinaia” International Competition (Romania 2001)
1st Prize in the “Archanes” Guitar Competition (Crete 2001)
1st Prize at the “Walkersheim” International Competition (Germany 2001)
Award “J. Rodrigo” at the “Michelle Pittaluga” International Competition, Allesandria (Italy 2001)
3rd Prize in the International Competition “A. Segovia”, Herradura (Spain 2002)
1st Prize at the International Competition “Forum Gitarre”, Vienna & Special Prize for the best interpretation of the works of J. Rodrigo (Austria 2002)
2nd Prize in the “Leo Brouwer” Competition, La Habana (Cuba 2004) His successes as well as his collaborations in chamber music projects, offered him an intense concert and educational activity with recitals at important international festivals such as the Athens Concert Hall, Volos, Veria , Patras, Iserlohn, Esterghom, Tijuana, Bratislava, Mikulov, Bogorica, Il de Re, Pomferada, Wien, Laufen, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Rust. He has recorded CDs with works by V. Asencio, M, Llobet, R. Gerard, E. Pujol, A. Jose, the Sonatas for guitar by J. Turina, J. Rodrigo, M. C. Tedesco, M. M. Ponce and the works for violin and guitar by N. Paganini (including the trio for guitar violin and cello), the 6 Rossinianas by M. Giuliani, the 36 caprices by L. Legnani as well as transcriptions of works by late Baroque composers such as G. F. Telemann, J. Duphly, G. Brescianello on a replica instrument of the early 19th century.
An important part of his activities includes the performance of the guitar repertoire on baroque and classical romantic period instruments with a particular emphasis on early romantic works.
His educational activity, in addition to many years of collaboration with musical educational institutions in Thessaloniki, Lamia and Kavala, includes teaching in guitar and chamber music events, while students have repeatedly won prizes in important competitions. During the academic year 2020-21, he taught the course ̈Guitar: from technique to interpretation and creation ̈ at the Department of Music Studies of A.U.Th.
He has composed a number of works for guitar and chamber music, while in 2018 he won the 1st Prize at the International Guitar Composition Competition in Rust (Austria) with the work Rust Perpetuo.
Since 2014, he is the Founder and Artistic Director of the International Guitar Festival of Thessaloniki, now with international appeal and recognition, in which some of the most important representatives of the instrument have participated. The composition and performance competitions organized as part of the Festival are an international benchmark.
Since 2019 he is the Artistic Director of the Municipal Conservatory of Kavala.
