Dimitris Sgouros

Dimitris Sgouros
Born 30 August 1969
Athens, Greece
Genres Classical music
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Piano
Years active 1977–present
Website www.sgouros-pianist.com

Dimitris Sgouros (Greek: Δημήτρης Σγούρος; born 30 August 1969)[a] is a Greek classical pianist.[1] He began playing the piano at a young age, and received formal training in Athens, London, and New York. Widely acclaimed for his prodigious musical talent as a boy, Sgouros is one of the world's leading concert pianists. Arthur Rubinstein remarked that he had produced "the best playing I have ever heard;"[2] However, accuracy of this information has been challenged.[3]

Biography

Sgouros was born on 30 August 1969 in Athens, Greece,[1][2][4] the son of Sotirios and Marianthi Sgouros.[4] There was no notable record of musical talent in his family.[2] He began playing the piano at a young age and gave his first public performance at the age of seven.[2] At the age of eight, he entered the Athens Conservatoire, studying under Maria Herogiorgiou-Sigara.[1][2] Sgouros won several competitions between 1978 and 1983, including the UNICEF competition in Bulgaria (1979), a competition in Ancona, Italy (1980), and two competitions in his home city of Athens.[2] He was also the recipient of the 1982 Leonardo da Vinci International Award.[4][5]

In 1982, at the age of 12, Sgouros made his Carnegie Hall debut. He performed Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich.[1] In mid-1983, before he had turned 13, Sgouros graduated from the Conservatory with a Professor's Diploma, a Teacher's Diploma, a First Prize, and a Gold Medal.[2] Sgouros continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Arts of London and the University of Maryland, College Park, in the United States of America.[1] He graduated from Royal Academy with the highest marks the institution had ever awarded.[1] Besides his musical talents, Sgouros has undertaken postgraduate studies in mathematics at the University of Oxford.[6]

Performances around the world have included concerts in Australia,[7][8] Austria, Bulgaria, China, Cyprus, France, Germany, Hong Kong,[9] Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand,[10] Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey.[11] Sgouros has performed for the royal families of Britain, Monaco,[12][13] and Sweden, and played under the baton of renowned conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Emil Tabakov, Kurt Masur, and Yevgeny Svetlanov.[14] He has recorded for various record labels, including Dino Music[15][16] and EMI.[17] Since March 1988, three Sgouros Festivals have been instituted, in Hamburg, Ljubljana, and Singapore.[18][19][20]

Sgouros has featured prominently in the media, having appeared on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson[21] and a television concert with Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto.[22][23] He has also been profiled by Oscar-winning director François Reichenbach in a feature length documentary film.[24][25]

See also

Notes

a. ^ Sgouros's name sometimes appears as Dimitrios Sgouros.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Classical Pianist Dimitris Sgouros: Biography (c. 2008). Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Crankshaw, G. (1983): Angel Debut Recording: Dimitris Sgouros – Brahms/Schumann (notes from record jacket). Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "Opus,", No. 1 (1984), p. 35.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 World Who's Who: Dimitris Sgouros (2010). Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  5. ↑ Rotary Club Firenze: History of the Leonardo da Vinci Award (2009). Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  6. ↑ Dimitris Sgouros: A photographic portrait (c. 2009). Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  7. ↑ Newspaper articles on Dimitris Sgouros from Fairfax archive (mainly Sydney).
  8. ↑ Dimitris Sgouros Australian tours – Concert programmes & nationwide reviews
  9. ↑ Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, University of California, San Francisco – Philip Morris Collection – Dimitris Sgouros in Hong Kong (1989 Cartier Master Series)
  10. ↑ Dimitris Sgouros newspaper citations, Auckland Council Libraries
  11. ↑ Sgouros concert in Ankara – article from NTV MS-NBC (in Turkish)
  12. ↑ Hebdo Magazine feature on Sgouros (November 1984) (French)
  13. ↑ Prince's Palace of Monaco – Summer Concerts
  14. ↑ ABC Classic FM broadcast schedule – Sgouros & USSR Sym Orch/Svetlanov perform Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1
  15. ↑ ABC Classic FM broadcast schedule – Dino Music album with Sgouros
  16. ↑ Dimitris Sgouros album on Dino Music – track listing
  17. ↑ 2011 EMI Classics release with Dimitris Sgouros – 'Essential Liszt'
  18. ↑ Concert poster – Sgouros with the USSR Festival Orchestra in Singapore, 1990
  19. ↑ Concert advertisement – The Straits Times, 21 October 1990
  20. ↑ Sgouros at Victoria Concert Hall. Concert notice, The Straits Times, 22 October 1991
  21. ↑ TV guides from Ocala Star-Banner & Chicago Tribune (1982).
  22. ↑ The Miami News TV guide (1986).
  23. ↑ – TV Special – Listings. The New York Times Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  24. ↑ Google Books citation – Musik in den Medien Retrieved on 3 January 2011.
  25. ↑ – Music News Los Angeles Times (1984). Retrieved 3 January 2011.

Bibliography

External links