Dimitri Vassilakis

Dimitri Vassilakis began studying music in Athens, where he was born in 1967. He continued his training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he graduated with the jury’s unanimous highest honors in piano (under the tutelage of Gérard Frémy), in chamber music and accompaniment. He also received guidance from Monique Deschaussées and György Sebök. He has been a soloist with the ensemble intercontemporain since 1992. Dimitri Vassilakis premiered Incises, the most recent piano piece by Pierre Boulez, with whom he has worked, and took part in the Deutsche Grammophon recording of Boulez’s Répons and sur Incises. He has also worked with composers such as Iannis Xenakis, Luciano Berio, Karlheinz Stockhausen and György Kurtàg. His recording Le Scorpion, with the Percussions de Strasbourg, of a score by Martin Matalon won the Académie Charles-Cros Grand Prix in the category “Best Contemporary Music Recording 2004”. He has taken part in many festivals including Salzburg, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Ottawa Chamber Music and the London Proms. He has performed in venues such as the Berlin Philharmonic (under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle), Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Concertgebouw, and the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. His repertoire spans the gamut from Bach to emerging contemporary composers and includes the complete piano works by Boulez and Xenakis. He recently recorded the Goldberg Variations for the Quantum label as well as a collection of études by Fabiàn Panisello and György Ligeti for the Neos label. June 2009