Artists

Karolos Zouganelis, piano (France)

Karolos Zouganélis was born in 1977 in Athens and began studying music at the age of five. In 1992 he graduated with a First Prize from the Athens National Conservatory in the class of M. Mavrikou. The jury unanimously awarded him the mention "Excellent".

In 1996, he was admitted to the "Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris" (CNSMDP) and graduated with a First Prize in piano in 2000. At the CNSMDP he worked with Gérard Frémy, Sylvaine Billier, Anne Grappotte, Jean Koerner and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and received also diplomas in vocal accompaniment, instrumental accompaniment and chamber music. In addition, he studied the Lied and Melody genres with Ruben Lifschitz and Jeff Cohen and took part in master classes with Christian Zacharias, György Sebök, Leon Fleisher, Idil Biret and Dominique Merlet.

He is the laureate of several international piano and chamber music competitions in France, in England, in Italy, in Germany and in Greece. He has given recitals as a soloist, or as a duettist with singers in the most important halls in Europe, is guest artist in several festivals in Europe and in the United States and has given Piano Master-Classes in American Universities. He has played under Conductors such Jeffrey Milarsky, Zsolt Nägy, Janos Fürst, Ivan Fischer and Michael Gielen and has been the official pianist of the International Singing Competition "Operalia", organized by Placido Domingo.

In February 2010, he was invited to participate in the performance of the complete works by Chopin, organized by the "Société Chopin" and the "Société Générale." This recital series was televised on national French TV (France 3). On March 1, 2010, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth, he participated, at Victoria Hall, in Geneva, in the performance of the composer's entire piano Etudes. Since 2004, he has been holding the position of Professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.