PRESS RELEASE
A concert by the Thessaloniki City Symphony Orchestra
STRONG
THE TCSO AT THE MEGARO
‘‘Just Beethoven…’’
Wednesday, February 20, 2019, 21:00
Thessaloniki Concert Hall – Emilios Riadis Auditorium (M2)
At a very young age he learned to play violin, piano and the church organ. By his twelfth year he was composing. He had perfect pitch, but he started to lose his hearing by age 26. He personifies the classical period, but also the new trend towards the romantic. He is the provocative composer of all eras, Ludwig van Beethoven. The Thessaloniki City Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Haris Iliadis will perform two of his most widely recognized works, the ‘’Coriolan Overture’’ and the ‘’Symphony No. 7.’’ The TCSO will also have the pleasure to accompany the distinguished Greek pianist, George – Emmanuel Lazaridis, who will perform the ‘’Piano Concerto, No. 3.’’
The concert will take place February 20, 2019, at 21:00 in the Emilios Riadis Auditorium of the Thessaloniki Concert Hall. The program will also be repeated at the Municipal Theater of Serres on February 23, 2019, at 20:00 where the TCSO will be joined by their guest artist, the young and talented pianist Melina Tsinavou.
In cooperation with the O.M.M.T.
Ticket prices: 10 euro, 5 euro (students/unemployed)
WED 20/2 21:00
Thessaloniki Concert Hall – Emilios Riadis Auditorium (M2)
“JUST BEETHOVEN”
Program:
- v. Beethoven: Coriolan Overture
- Piano Concert No. 3 in C minor, op. 37
- Symphony No. 7 in A major, op.92
George – Emmanuel Lazaridis, piano
Conductor: Haris Iliadis
Biographical notes
George – Emmanuel Lazaridis
George – Emmanuel Lazaridis is a multifaceted personality with 28 years of uninterrupted presence on the international music scene as a soloist, composer, educator and pioneer in the establishment and development of new cultural programs. He has a brilliant career with his performances being described as “… beyond comparison” (BBC) and “… so special that they retain their uniqueness even when we think of great performances by Argerich, Horowitz, Brendel, Zimerman” (Grammophone Music Magazine). He has given hundreds of concerts at international festivals and major music venues around the world such as Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Musikverein, Kölner Philharmonie, and with leading orchestras such as St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestras of Munich and Strasbourg. He has collaborated with renowned Greek and foreign maestros including Yuri Temirkanov, Sir Neville Marriner, Mikko Franck, Ingo Metzmacher, Michel Tabachnik, Maxim Schostakovic, with world-renowned chamber music ensembles such as the Medici Quartet, Ysaye Quartet, Wiener Sextet, Prism Quartet and legendary personalities such as Leonidas Kavakos, Barbara Hendricks, Michael Tilson Thomas, Dimitris Sgouros and others. He studied piano with Domna Evnochidou, Yonty Solomon, Alfred Brendel and Ruth Nye, Claudio Arrau’s only student. Mr. Lazaridis has taught at university seminars in England, the United States, Spain, etc., and has been invited to be a member on judging committees in international piano competitions. His famous recordings include, among others, works by Liszt, Schubert, Beethoven, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Strauss and have won a number of distinctions from major international music magazines. Among them, the recording of the Papillon project has been featured in the best of all times by The Pianist magazine, while the recording of Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B-minor has been designated as a “record recording” by the international BBC magazine. He has composed organic, choral and dance music upon being commissioned by Greek and European organizations such as the State orchestras of Athens and Thessaloniki, the Athens Festival, the Europa Cantat, the Birmingham New Arts Festival, Wigmore Hall, the Melina Mercouri Foundation, etc. As a founding member of the international music society ‘’Music Village’’, the group of artists for peace ADAP and other cultural programs, and as artistic director of the Thessaloniki Concert Hall since 2010, George – Emmanuel Lazaridis has been the leading founder of important institutions such as the MOYSA Youth Symphony Orchestra and the international Children’s and Youth Choir Festival.
Haris Iliadis
Haris Iliadis was born in Thessaloniki in 1972. He studied at the Music and Dramatic Arts Academy ‘’Mozarteum’’ in Salzburg with Michael Gielen and Dennis Russell Davies where he received a diploma in conducting and the academic title Magister Artium in 1997. In 1994 he attended and participated in the Debrecen Philharmonic Orchestra’s conducting seminar in Hungary where he was honored with the “Young Maestros Promotion Award”, which included an invitation to perform a concert. Since 2001 he has appeared regularly in the Thessaloniki ‘’Demetria’’ Festival, the opening concerts of which he has conducted in 2006, 2007, and 2010. He has appeared as a guest maestro in orchestral concerts throughout Greece and abroad in which he has collaborated with celebrated artists such as Cheryll Studer, Paul Badura – Skoda, Dimitris Sgouros, and Kostas Kotsiolis, to name a few. As of June 2001 he is the permanent conductor of the Thessaloniki City Symphony Orchestra. In addition to handling the artistic programming of the TCSO, he has also organized concert appearances for the orchestra in other cities throughout Greece. In February, 2007, he successfully led a performance (unrehearsed) of Strauss’s operetta Die Fledermaus at the Society for Macedonian Studies Theatre (a production of Opera Thessaloniki). In August, 2009 he was awarded the First Prize of the ‘’Duna’’ Symphony Orchestra in Budapest, where he made his debut in November, 2009.
