George Lazaridis
George – Emmanuel Lazaridis’ playing has been characterized as "special enough to be beyond comparison" (BBC Music Magazine, Adrian Jack), and of “such drama, power and conentration, that holds its own even if you stop to consider celebrated recordings of Horowitz, Argerich, Brendel and Zimmerman” (Gramophone Magazine, Bryce Morrison).
Mentored by Yonty Solomon at the RCM and Douglas Finch at the TCM in London, he has also worked with Alfred brendel, Ruth Nye, Paul Badura Skoda, Noretta Conci Leech and Domna Evnouhidou. He has received a plethora of honorary awards and scholarships such as the Hattori, Onasis, Levendis and the RCM ‘Queen Elizabeth’ scholarships, as well as medals from the prestigious Academy of Athens, the Worshipful Company of Musicians, Steinway & Sons, the Belgian RTBF, and many more.
Born in Greece and now aged 30, G.E.Lazaridis has already embarked on a flourishing international career appearing in prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican St Lukes, Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Palais des Beaux Arts, Festspielhaus, Cologne’s Philharmonie, Stockholm’s Konserthuset, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Athens concert Hall and Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, receiving great critical acclaim from audiences and critics alike. He has performed with leading orchestras such as the Hamburg Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the Strasbourg Philharmonic, the Warsaw Symphony, the Munich Symphony, the Athens Camerata, the WienerKammer Orchester, the Greek National Radio Symphony, the TSSO, the Worthing Symphony under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner, Ingo Metzmacher, Yoel Levin, Theodor Guschlbauer, Michel Tabachnik, Christopher Warren Green, Maxim Schostakovic, William Boughton, Mark Laycock, Alexander Myrat, John Gibbons and others. He has collaborated with renowned ensembles and artists such as the Medici Quartet, the Isaye Quartet, the Vienna Octet, the BT Scottish Ensemble, the Hellenic Quartet, Leonidas Kavakos, Huseyin Sermet, Dimitri Sgouros, Michael Tilson Thomas, Cyprien Katsaris, and appeared in International Festivals such as Harrogate, Athens, Montpellier, Istanbul, Patras, Trento, Nafplion, Norfolk & Norwich, Hampstead & Highgate, Demetria, the Chopin International Festival in Warsaw, the Springboard Trust concert series in London, the Monterrei International Piano Festival and many more.
In October 2009, Lazaridis is touring Europe with the St Petersburg Philharmonic under the direction of Yuri Temirkanov, performing in venues such as the St Petersburg Philharmonia Hall, Musikverein in Vienna, the ‘Bela Bartok’ National Concert Hall in Budapest and the Athens Megaron. Further engagements will see Lazaridis touring Germany with the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz under the direction of Vassili Christopoulos, appearing in Princeton-USA with the WiennerKammerOrchester directed by Mark Laycock, as well as in Istanbul with the Istanbul National Orchestra performing on two pianos with Huseyin Sermet. He will also be giving recitals in London, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Cyprus.
TSC (USA), the BBC and the Greek National Television ERT have all featured G.E.Lazaridis with special broadcast profiles. His recent CD releases of Schumann Piano Works and the R.Strauss and S.Rachmaninov sonatas for violin/cello and piano with Yuri Zisslin (Somm) as well as of Liszt’s B minor piano Sonata and Grandes Etudes de Paganini (Linn Records) have been rapturously received, with five-star reviews from the International Press, including recommendations by Gramophone Magazine, International Piano, The Pianist, Diapason, and BBC Music magazine which selected both as instrumental discs of the month. He will be releasing a new CD for LINN Recordings in 2011.
As a composer, Lazaridis has received commissions from the Greek Ministry of Culture, the Europa Cantat International Festival, The Cultural Capital of Europe 1997, the Melina Merkouri Foundation, the New Arts Generation Festival in Birmingham, the Athens International Festival, the Princeton University - USA, the Athens State Orchestra etc. His work "Sleepwalking", performed at London's Wigmore Hall, was nominated for a Sony Award and his new rhapsodic song-cycle ‘Tragic Love’, written for the legendary singer Maria Farandouri, received its world premier at the Ancient Epidaurus Theatre in July 2008.
Since 2006, G.E.Lazaridis is co-director of the ‘Music-Village’ International Festival in Mount Pelion.
