Biography
Stavros Dritsas is firmly establishing himself as a creative and original pianist.
After moving to London from his native Greece, he was recognised as “a prodigious young player” (La Tercera) and “a special, thoughtful pianist, who produces a sensitive, beautiful sound” (Critics Point). He has appeared throughout the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Greece, Germany, Belgium, France, Austria and Latvia, in venues including the Barbican Centre (Milton Court), Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Elgar Room of the Royal Albert Hall, Scriabin Museum, University of Bonn, Teatro Sperimentale di Ancona, St James’s Piccadilly, Latvian National Academy of Music, Palace of the Knights in Antwerp, and the Athens Megaron.
His 2023-2024 calendar includes concertos with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Cairo Symphony Orchestra, City of Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra, as well as his USA and China debuts in partnership with Steinway&Sons and the Menuhin School, respectively.
Stavros Dritsas’s highlights feature concertos with, the City of Athens Symphony Orchestra, City of London Soloists, Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra, the Athens Sinfonietta, Magna Carta Sinfonia, and the Athens Youth Symphony Orchestra. Currently, he enjoys directing the City of London Soloists, the string chamber orchestra of which he is Artistic Director, in concerti by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. In recognition of his achievements, the Gina Bachauer International Music Association awarded him the Young Soloist of the Year Award in 2019.
An avid chamber music player, he regularly performs with his duo partner Paula Gorbanova as well as with principal players of the major Athens orchestras when back home in Greece. A keen supporter of living composers, he has given the world premieres of works by Ronald Corp, Fotis Koutzagiotis and Stephan Hodel in London.
Off stage, Dritsas has recorded works of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert for BBC Radio 3 and the Greek National Radio, appeared in the Latvian National Radio, and has also performed/broadcast in honour of the Greek Presidency of the Council of Europe. He has been a Talent Unlimited Artist since 2017.
Born in 1996, studied the piano with Agathe Leimoni at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and he continued his studies with Lucy Parham at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and with Ilja Scheps at the Euro Arts Academy. He is currently a scholar of the Fondation Ressonance in Switzerland, where he studies with Elizabeth Sombart. He has been a scholar of the Gina Bachauer International Music Association, as well as the Henry Wood and Guildhall School trusts. He has also participated in masterclasses with eminent pianists such as Fabio Bidini, Vladimir Tropp, Bernad d’Ascoli, Ian Jones, Irina Tsukovkaya, Elizabeth Sombart, and Aquiles delle Vigne.
A keen educator himself, he is a Professor of piano and chamber music at the Athenaeum Conservatoire and Nakas Conservatoire.
