Konstantinos Destounis (who will play the works by Debussy and Liszt in today's recital) is regarded as one of the most prominent Greek artists of his generation. He is a prizewinner in many international piano competitions, most notably ‘Grand Prix Maria Callas’ in Athens, ‘Southern Highlands’ in Canberra, ‘Giorgos Thimis’ in Thessaloniki and the Bremen European Piano Competition. As the winner of Greece’s national competition, he represented his country at ‘Eurovision Young Musicians’ in Vienna. His numerous awards also include the ‘Gina Bachauer’ Piano Prize of the Spanish association ‘World in Harmony’, the Unesco Gold Medal and the ‘Mykoniou’ Prize of the Academy of Athens (Order of Letters and Fine Arts).
Konstantinos Destounis has recorded 4 CDs. His world première recording of Theodore Antoniou’s complete piano works has been released by Naxos’ series ‘Grand Piano’. His performing career has led him to prestigious venues across Europe and Australia, such as Royal Albert Hall and St. John’s Smith Square in London, Opera ‘La Fenice’ in Venice, Llewellyn Hall in Canberra, Glocke Saal in Bremen, Athens Megaron, Thessaloniki Megaron. As a soloist he has performed with the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Athens State Orchestra, Thessaloniki State Orchestra, Greek Radio National Orchestra, UK Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, Murcia Symphony Orchestra and many more orchestras.
Konstantinos Destounis studied with Agathe Leimoni at the Hellenic Conservatory in Athens and with Igor Petrin at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece. He also received a Master’s degree at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg (Prof. R. Plagge) and an Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music in London (Prof. D. Alexeev, I. Jones, A. Zolinsky). Currently (2018) he is pursuing a Doctoral degree at the Royal College, supported by an Eleanor and Gary Brass award; his research focuses on Theodore Antoniou’s piano works. He has been a scholar of the Onassis Foundation and the Thessaloniki Friends of Music Association.
Petar Dimov (who today will play the Schumann Faschingswank aus Wien) is a Bulgarian pianist and composer based in London. He is currently studying at the Royal College of Music in the piano class of Norma Fisher, which has been made possible by the generous support of the Associative Board of the Royal Schools of Music. His musical education began in his native Plovdiv (Bulgaria) where he studied with Svetlana Koseva until his graduation with distinction in 2014.
Dimov has won over twenty prizes from International competitions and has performed in Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and the UK.
As a composer, Petar Dimov has had output for orchestra, chorus, various solo instruments and chamber ensembles.
Dimov is currently supported by the Henry Woods Trust and Talent Unlimited foundations.
Free recital (retiring collection)