George-Emmanuel Lazaridis

George-Emmanuel Lazaridis (born 1978, Thessaloniki, Greece) is a Greek classical pianist, composer and mentor.

Biography

Early life Born in Greece, Lazaridis started composing at the age of four. At the age of six, he began to attract public attention, appearing in various TV art programs and a special 45-minute radio broadcast on the Greek National Radio.

Mentored by Yonty Solomon at the Royal College of Music in London, Lazaridis also worked with Alfred Brendel, Ruth Nye, Domna Evnouhidou, Paul Badura-Skoda, Noretta Conci Leech and Douglas Finch. Since the age of eleven, he has received prizes, honorary awards like the Jeunes Solistes D' Europe and the Steinway & Sons Grand Prix, scholarships from the Hattori, Onasis and Levendis Foundations, the RCM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother award and the Chappell Medal 2000. He has also received a TCM Fellowship, medals from the prestigious Academy of Athens, the Worshipful Company of Musicians and many more.

Solo performance and composition career Lazaridis enjoys an international career that has taken him from the United States and Mexico to Europe, Russia, Egypt, and the Middle East. During the past 20 years he has performed in some of the most prestigious venues worldwide like Royal Albert Hall, Barbican, Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, St Petersburg Philharmonia Hall, Palais des Beaux Arts, Festspielhaus, Cologne's Philharmonie, Stockholm's Konserthuset, Cite de la Musique in Paris, Vienna's Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Athens Megaron, Birmingham's Symphony Hall and Palace of the Arts in Budapest.

To date he has received commissions from the Greek Ministry of Culture, Europa Cantat International Festival, The Cultural Capital of Europe 1997, Melina Merkouri Foundation, New Arts Generation Festival in Birmingham, Athens International Festival, and Athens State Orchestra.

His work, "Sleepwalking", performed at London's Wigmore Hall was nominated for a Sony Award.

Teaching and other activities Lazaridis has also been a teacher, a successful artistic director and the founder of new international cultural structures. In 2000, he co-founded ADAP, an International Association of Artists giving worldwide performances for Peace (www.adapinternational.com), from which he resigned after 10 years of activity, for ideological reasons. In 2006, he co-founded the Music-Village International Festival in Mount Pelion, one of the few international music societies of its kind (www.music-village.gr). Since early 2013, he is a founding member of the KYKLOS international ensemble. He has given Masterclasses on piano performance, body language and the Psychology of live interpretation at Trinity College of Music, Birmingham City University, Megaron Halls, Manhattan School of Music, Kutztown University and at numerous conservatoires in Greece and the United Kingdom. In April 2010, Lazaridis was invited as member of the jury for the 1st Sussex International Piano Competition. Since September 2010, he has held the post of artistic director at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall "Megaron" (www.tch.gr). He also served as Head of Music Programming at the Demetria International Festival, from January 2011 to January 2013.

Orchestral and chamber music collaborations, international festivals Lazaridis has performed with orchestras such as the St Petersburg Philharmonic, Hamburg Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Warsaw Symphony, Munich Symphony, WienerKammer Orchester, The RTBF Symphony, Debrecen Symphony, London Festival Orchestra, English Symphony, all the Greek Symphony Orchestras, Athens Camerata and many more, under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner, Ingo Metzmacher, Yuri Temirkanov, Yoel Levi, Theodor Guschlbauer, Michel Tabachnik, Maxim Schostakovic, William Boughton, Alexander Myrat, Nikolai Alexeev, Michalis Economou and others.

In chamber music performances, Lazaridis has collaborated with ensembles and artists such as the Medici Quartet, Ysaye Quartet, Vienna Octet, BT Scottish Ensemble, Hellenic Quartet, Leonidas Kavakos, Huseyin Sermet, Dimitri Sgouros, Michael Tilson Thomas, Yannis Vakarelis and Cyprien Katsaris, among others. He has also performed in many International Festivals like Harrogate, Athens, Montpellier, Istanbul, Patras, Trento, Nafplion, Demetria, Norfolk & Norwich, Hampstead & Highgate, the Chopin International Festival, Springboard Trust Festival, Monterrei International Festival and many more. He has performed under the direction of such distinguished luminaries as Sir Neville Marriner, Ingo Metzmacher, Theodor Guschlbauer among others and has collaborated with renowned ensembles and artists including the Michael Tilson Thomas. He has also appeared at the Springboard Concerts Trust at the Wallace Collection in London.

Discography Schumann Piano Works (SOMM) Rachmaninov & Strauss - chamber music (SOMM) Liszt Piano Works (LINN) Schubert Piano Works (SOMM) Other audio and video excerpts can be found Here Liszt: Sonata in B minor; Grandes Études de Paganini Beethoven: Symphonies 1 & 5 (arr. Carl Czerny)