George-Emmanuel LAZARIDIS, piano

George-Emmanuel Lazaridis has been described as "An exhilarating soloist" (Monde de la Musique, Georges Gad), "A genius at work" (Eastern Daily Press, Michael Drake), "One of the finest pianists of his generation" (Yonty Solomon) and his playing characterised as "special enough to be beyond comparison" (BBC Music Magazine, Adrian Jack).

Mentored by Yonty Solomon (RCM), he has also worked with Douglas Finch (TCM), Domna Evnouhidou, as well as Ruth Nye and Alfred Brendel. He has received a plethora of honorary awards and scholarships, including the prestigious Academy of Athens, and the Worshipful Company of Musicians awards, the Queen Elizabeth (RCM), Cathleen Creed (TCM) the Onassis, Hattori and Levendis Foundations to name only a few.

Since his early teens, he has appeared in prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Le Corum Montpellier, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Acropolis, the Athens Concert Hall and performed with leading orchestras such as the Hamburg Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the Strasbourg Philharmonic, the Warsaw Symphony, under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner, Ingo Metzmacher, Theodor Guschlbauer, Michel Tabachnik and others. He has collaborated with renowned ensembles and artists such as the Medici Quartet, the Ysaye Quartet, the Vienna Octet, the BT Scottish Ensemble, Leonidas Kavakos, Michael Tilson Thomas and appeared in International Festivals such as Harrogate, Athens, Montpellier and Trento.

His recent performances at the Athens Concert Hall 'Great Interpreters' concert series were highly acclaimed both by audience and critics. TSC (USA) and the BBC as well as the Greek National Television ERT have featured Lazaridis with special broadcast profiles and his recent CD release of Schumann Piano Works has been selected in the Top 10 recommendations by the BBC Music Magazine. As a composer he has received commissions from the Greek Ministry of Culture, the Europa Cantat International Festival, The Cultural Capital of Europe 1997 Organisation, the Melina Merkouri Foundation etc. His work Sleepwalking, recently performed at London's Wigmore Hall, was nominated for a Sony Award.