Panayotis Archontides and Natalie Tsaldarakis, piano
Panayotis Archontides is a Greek-Australian pianist born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was taught from an early age by his father, himself a pianist and artistic director of a Conservatory of Music in Athens, and then went on to study with Arrau’s pupil Elizabeth Powell, then Head of Keyboard, at the Sydney Conservatorium (University of Sydney), and later on with Dimitri Toufexis, then head of the music dept. at The American College of Greece. He also received intensive training from Moscow Conservatory’s Director Lev Vlassenko, chosen among the students of the Sydney Conservatorium as a scholar. He attended masterclasses with Frederic Rzewski, Massimo Gon, Geoffrey Govier and others. Recently he trained under Elena Riu, while studying for the Master’s degree in piano performance at Trinity College of Music, was also coached by Martino Tirimo, Philip Fowke, and was mentored by Ian Pace. He has received many scholarships and important awards, including the coveted Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 2007 for excellence.
He has given highly acclaimed recitals both solo and with the Ivory Duo Piano Ensemble in Sydney’s Opera House, Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, Athens’ Athenaeum International Cultural Centre, Steinway Hall London, Jacqueline Du Pre, Oxford, St James’ Piccadilly and St John’s Smith Square, London. His repertoire is extensive and varied; he performs both solo and chamber music, including major 20th century works, such as Barber, Prokofiev, Messiaen, Shostakovich, Ustvolskaya and works by contemporary composers.
As a performer he has worked with many musicians of international standing including Jose Cura, Jannis Georgiadis, James Judd, Linda Hirst, George Hadjinikos, Douglas Finch, Yonti Solomon, and many others.
He has recorded for the National Greek Radio (ERA-3), and has made appearances on Greek TV. In 2004 he had the honour of being selected to perform alongside tenor Jose Cura and the Feminarte Orchestra for the Athens Olympics. In 2009 he was invited to participate in the World Piano Conference in Serbia, with further repeat invitations for 2010 and 2011. The CD Romantic Dance Music for Piano Duet, recorded with the Ivory Duo Piano Ensemble and released in 2009, was requested by the Archive of Greek Music and Musicians at the Lilian Voudouris Library of the Athens Concert Hall and recently received a rave review hailed as an important musical event of international standing in the well-respected Greek music magazine Jazz kai Tzaz (April 2011, reviewed by musicologist and critic Thomas Tamvakos).
He has been on the faculty of The American College of Greece (1997-2005), where he was also artist teacher in residence, and the National Conservatory of Music in Athens Greece as piano professor and examiner (2003-2005). He also appears frequently as orchestral pianist with the Kensington Symphony Orchestra and works for Wandsworth Music Services since 2006. In 2006 he also co-founded the hugely successful Blackheath Piano Studio, based in Greenwich borough, which is planned to go into partnership as the sole music education provider for the new International Greenwich Academy in 2012 (pending council’s approval).Click here to go to the Concert Dates page.
