About
Vassilis Tsabropoulos (born 7 February 1967 in Athens) is a Greek concert pianist, conductor, and composer. Since 2000 he has recorded for ECM.
When he was ten, Tsabropoulos became famous with the first place he received in UNICEF's contest (1977). He studied at Paris Conservatory, Salzburg Academy, and Juilliard School.
Early life
Tsabropoulos started playing the piano at the age of seven. He was an early achiever, winning the UNICEF completion when he was ten. He attended the National Conservatory of Athens, where he studied with Krinio Kalomiri, daughter of the Greek composer Manolis Kalomiris, and Myrto Mavrikou. In 1982, at the age of fifteen, he graduated with honours and received a scholarship from Alexandro's Onassis Foundation. He continued to study at the Salzburg Academy and the Juilliard School in the U.S. He later studied with great pianists such as Rudolf Serkin, Tatyana Nikolayeva, and Nikita Magaloff. His greatest influence was Vladimir Ashkenazy, a pianist whom Tsabropoulos greatly admires and respects as his mentor. He later composed and dedicated a set of six preludes for piano for Ashkenazy.
Career
With his extensive repertoire of recitals and concertos, Tsabropoulos has taken the stage with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Stockholme Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, Budapest Chamber Orchestra, Sofia Philharmonic and Italy Radio Orchestra.
His repertoire includes Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Prokoviev and Rachmaninoff. He has participated in festivals throughout Europe and has performed concerts, recitals and chamber music . He made his first U.S. tour in October 2004. He has performed with London Philharmonia and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy in piano concertos of Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. Tsabropoulos has also been involved in the Akroasis television series (2012) that was filmed in Athens for ERT1.
JazzTimes magazine called the album The Triangle a combination of jazz, tango, and classical music.