Dimitris Sgouros Pianist PRESTIGE Classical Productions Foundation, Ltd. is proud to offer Dimitris Sgouros in concert More information available upon request.

Born in Athens, Greece, August 30, 1969, Dimitris Sgouros began his studies at six years of age. Within eighteen months he gained a scholarship to the Athens Conservatory of Music, where he studied with the noted pianist-teacher Maria Herogiorgiou-Sigara. He gave his first piano recital in 1977 performing two of his own compositions, for which he won two first prizes. Graduating from the Athens Conservatory in 1982 with a Professor's and Performer's Diploma, a First Prize and a Gold Medal, Dimitris won many competitions among them the UNICEF Competition in Bulgaria in 1976. In 1981 he gave his first performance in Bologna Italy, followed by appearances and tours in France, Switzerland, Holland and Venezuela. Mr. Sgouros began his orchestral career at the age of 11, performing a Mozart concerto with the Chamber Orchestra of Cannes under the baton of Phillip Bender. In the same year he performed in Germany with the Karlsruhe Chamber Orchestra in the palace where the seven-year-old Mozart had played.

In April 1982, his meteoric rise took him to Carnegie Hall in New York where he played one of the most demanding concertos in the piano repertoire, Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto with the National Symphony of Washington conducted by Rostropovich. This great Russian musician who has spoken of Sgouros as "a miracle, a creation from God" also conducted his London debut at the Royal Festival Hall in London on March 1983.

Later in that year, Sgouros returned to the Royal Festival Hall in recital, performing the premiere works of Greek composer Kalomiris. Dimitris was fortunate to have the opportunity to play for the great Arthur Rubinstein just a few months before his death. Rubinstein was deeply affected by Sgouros' playing and declared him as "the best pianist he had ever heard", which was an extraordinary tribute.

Dimitris Sgouros with Nelson Mandela at the Olympic Truce ceremony in Athens, June 2002.

Tie given by Rostropovich to Dimitris Sgouros at his 1982 Carnegie Hall debut. Gold watch was a gift from Artur Rubinstein in Geneva, two months before his death.

Dimitris Sgouros reunited with Mstislav Rostropovich, his dear friend and mentor, at the Budapest Spring Festival 2001.

Shlomo Mintz and Sgouros at the Athens Megaron Concert Hall 1998.

Dimitris Sgouros at Carnegie Hall, April 2000.

Duo recital with Salvatore Accardo.

With the King and Queen of Sweden at St James's Palace, London 1995.

With Joan Collins.

With His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent.

While pursuing his career as a concert artist, Sgouros continued his musical studies at the University of Maryland under Stewart Gordon and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, under Guy Jonson and Timothy Baxter, graduating with the highest mark ever awarded by that institution.

A phenomenal memory allows Dimitris to choose programs from a repertoire of over 45 concertos and hundreds of solo and chamber music works (including the complete piano music of Chopin, Liszt and Beethoven). He has a passionate interest in opera and has in his memory the scores of all the great operas of Verdi and Puccini. Apart from music, Dimitris has shown exceptional ability in his mathematics studies at Athens University and Oxford University and an outstanding gift for languages. Besides Greek, he is fluent in English, Spanish, Portugese, Italian, and German.

His concert schedule has included tours of the U.S.A., Russia, Japan Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Venezuela, South Africa and in every country in Europe.

He has collaborated with all the major orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, with which he made his now-legendary recording of the Rachmaninov Third Piano Concerto, at 14 years of age.

Dimitris has made five extended tours of Australia and New Zealand performing solo and orchestral concerts played to capacity audiences in all the major venues including the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Concert Hall and Auckland Town Hall. Music critics compared his extraordinary technical ability with that of Liszt and Horowitz.

Sgouros has performed in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. His three tours of Japan in 1984, 1986 and 1993 include performances with the Tokyo Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and the NHK Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In Athens on September 1988 Dimitris Sgouros gave his first performance with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Russia's greatest conductor, Yevgeni Svetlanov, to a capacity audience of 5000 in the Herodes Atticus Theatre. In May 1995, Mr.Sgouros performed in a gala recital at St. James Palace in London, attended by the King and Queen of Sweden, the Duke of Kent, and more than 300 other distinguished guests.

In 1997 he was invited by Russian President Boris Yeltsin to Moscow as part of the celebrations marking the 850th anniversary of the founding of the city. For this occasion, Dimitris performed Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto with the Russian State Philharmonic Cappella, under the baton of Valeri Polyansky. While there he was invited to perform on Tchaikovsky's piano in Klin.

In March of 1999 Sgouros undertook his first tour of South Africa, giving solo recitals as well as orchestral performances with the National Symphony Orchestra of Johannesburg in major centers of Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg.

In the year 2000, Sgouros returned to Carnegie Hall in recital, performing masterpieces by Schubert, Schumann and Brahms . The New York Times said that his playing displayed "flashes of youthful virtuosity and magisterial poise".

His historic return to Turkey in 2001 and 2002, recalled the momentous successes of his first appearances in that country in 1989 and 1990. Solo recitals as well as orchestral performances with the Borusan Philharmonic under distinguished conductors Gurer Aykal and Emil Tabakov , Mr. Sgouros performed to capacity audiences once again.

Pianist Dimitris Sgouros is one of today's most sought after classical artists, as orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician who has garnered an enviable reputation as a performer whose commanding virtuosity and impassioned music making are bringing new life to the concert stage.

His musical career has taken him to many of the world's most prestigious venues: London's Royal Festival Hall and Barbican Center; New York's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center; Salle Pleyelle de Paris; Berlin's Philharmonic Hall; Rome's Campidoglio; Vienna's Musikverein and Konzerthaus; Amsterdam's Concertgebouw; Tokyo's Suntory Hall; Athen's Odeon of Herodes Atticus; Australia's Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Concert Hall. He has collaborated with some of the world's renowned conductors such as Rostropovich, Von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, and many other distinguished conductors throughout the world; with leading symphony orchestras such as the Berlin and London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Oxford Symphony, Vienna Symphony, NHK Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Salzburger Kammerphilhamonie, National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, Dallas and Forth Worth Symphonies, Manhattan Philharmonic and American Symphony of New York, Cleveland Symphony, Icelandic Symphony, Sydney and Melbourne Symphonies and the Auckland Philharmonic, to name a few.

Several events have been established in his honor, including Sgouros Festivals in cities as far apart as Ljubljana, Hamburg and Singapore. He has been honored by the Mayor of Los Angeles for his participation in the opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympic Games, as well as the Academy of Athens, and is a recipient of the Leonardo da Vinci Award and Melvin Jones Award, along with many other prestigious international honors.

Dimitris has been the subject of numerous feature stories in publications such as, The New York Times, Time Magazine, Reader's Digest, People Magazine, Andy Warhol's Interview, and London's Daily Mirror. He has also appeared on radio and television programs around the globe.

His many recordings have received widespread critical acclaim on EMI, Elysium Recordings of New York and several others. Harold Schonberg, former chief music critic of the New York Times, hailed his Capriccio recording of the Brahms Piano Concertos with the Sophia Philharmonic as a tour de force, lauding Sgouros for his "technical command, rich piano sound, strong rhythm, power, and musical authority...They don't come better than this".

Sgouros belongs to that select number of musicians who have successfully made the transition from child prodigy to mature artist. Poignancy, vitality, commanding virtuosity tempered with sensitivity, allied to an inspired and deeply probing musical intuition - these are the hallmarks of his constantly evolving pianistic style...the genius of Dimitris Sgouros, "The Greek Myth"

Mr. Dimitris Sgouros records are available from EMI, Elysium and Naxos.