Reflections for Two Pianos

Thursday 14 Dec 2023

Piano Duo Antithesis presents the prize-winning works of the Composition Competition for Two Pianos 2022 – 2023, dedicated to Theodore Antoniou and realised in Crete. Petros Moschos and Dimitris Karydis undertook to interpret the prize-winning works of the competition outside of Crete, alongside works from the mainstream repertoire for two pianos of the 20th century.

Traditional music along with jazz and Gershwin’s pieces reflect in various ways in the composers’ scores and become their source of inspiration.

Programme

• Yiannis Constantinidis: Eight Greek Island Dances
• Stamatis Pasopoulos: Μ-101118
• Fazil Say: Black Earth
• Efstathios Chomatsas: Kaleidoscope
• Darius Milhaud: Scaramouche
• Aggelos Mastrantonis: 3 Simulacra of Songs by George Gershwin
• Percy Grainger: Fantasy on Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess

Piano duo Antithesis, Greek-born Petros Moschos and Dimitris Karydis, have been collaborating since they were studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Their musical vibrancy, unique ensemble playing and technical brilliance have been highly acclaimed by an ever-widening international audience. They have a keen interest in presenting innovating programmes as well as new works for the medium.

They have been the recipients of many top prizes and awards at major international piano duo competitions. Prizes include:

• Bronze Medal, Murray Dranoff International Competition 2003, Miami, USA
• First Prize, Donostia Hiria International Competition, 2003, Spain
• Second Prize (First prize not awarded) Schubert Competition, 2001, Czech Republic
• Aloise Slosila Special Prize for best performance of Schubert
• First Prize, V. Bellini Citta di Caltanissetta International Competition, Italy, 2000
• First Prize, Rovere d’Oro International Music Competition, Italy 1999
• Athens Academy of Letters and Arts, Award for artistic activity, 2000 and 2001

They have performed in Germany, Italy, England, Switzerland, Greece, Czech Republic, Spain, Ireland, Ukraine, Israel, Canada Venezuela and USA. Performances have included concerts at the Brno International Festival, Janáček Festival, Athens and Epidavros Festival, the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Philharmonic Hall in Odessa, Olympia Theatre in Miami, Teresa Carreno Theatre in Caracas, South Bank Centre, Fairfield Hall and St. John’s Smith Square in London, and concerto appearances with Janacek Chamber Orchestra, University of London Symphony Orchestra, Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, Israeli Festival Orchestra, Florida Classical Orchestra, Brampton Symphony Orchestra, Morley Chamber Orchestra and others.

Their first CD was with works by Mozart, Brahms and Schubert and was co-produced by Bavarian Radio and Genuin Musikproduktions. The second CD, The Carnival of the Animals, was a highly successful collaboration between Antithesis and the Nuremberg Youth Orchestra for educational purposes. They have also recorded for Czech, Israeli, Hellenic, Bavarian radios and BBC Radio 3.

Along with piano-duo work they are also involved in other multi-piano projects. They are part of the Tetrachord Piano Ensemble, a group of four pianists on two pianos, and they have been performing rare and newly commissioned works for this unusual combination. In 2019 they performed Gustav Holst’s The Planets arranged for eight pianists.

Petros Moschos and Dimitris Karydis studied in Athens with Dimitris Toufexis and Aliki Vatikioti and in London with Frank Wibaut and James Gibb. They both hold Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degrees from City University, where they have also been Honorary Visiting Fellows. Dimitris is Head of Classical Music at Morley College, London and Petros teaches piano at CityLit and Morley colleges as well as the Centre for Young Musicians – a division of Guildhall School of Music and Drama. They are also co-founders of the Heraklion Piano Festival in Greece.

Additional information

More information on the Composition Competition for Two Pianos

Starting from Crete, with a stop in Athens and ending in London, at the Hellenic Centre!

The Composition Competition for Two Pianos 2022 – 2023 is co-organised by the Region of Crete, the Union of Greek Musicians and the Heraklion Piano Festival and is dedicated to the memory of Theodore Antoniou.

The team of 5 creators of the competition worked together for two years to plan, coordinate, organise and oversee the implementation of the competition. A collective effort with the aim of giving the opportunity to Greek composers of Greek and Cypriot origins from all over the world born from 1/1/1983 onwards to compose works for two pianos, promoting contemporary music creation and enriching the already important repertoire for this medium. At the same time, it seeks to highlight and establish Crete as a place of meeting and communication of Greek creators and to connect it creatively with other cities inside and outside Greece by performing award-winning works in Athens and London with the cooperation of the Greek National Opera House and the Hellenic Centre respectively.

The members of the jury who have significant work and international recognition in the world of contemporary music are:

Giorgos Koumentakis (Composer, Artistic Director of the Greek National Opera House), Iosif Papadatos (composer, President of the Union of Greek Musicians, professor at the Ionian University), Minas Borboudakis (Composer), Erato Alakiozidou (Pianist) and Spyros Deligiannopoulos (Composer, Pianist).

The committee in the 1^st phase selected six compositions which were presented live in the final phase of the composition competition on April 29, 2023 in Crete, in the presence of the jury, which awarded three of them. Commendations were given as well as one audience award. The event was coordinated and presented by:

Ioanna Giannari (MA in Arts Management, City University of London – Special Partner of the Region of Crete for contemporary culture – responsible for the planning/coordination & curation of the Crete Festival – founding member of the Heraklion Piano Festival. She is also the Artistic Director of the project Musical Trilogy that occurs every two years in the monuments of Crete, and is president of the historical music association Apollo).

Eleni Skarkou (Composer, MSc Musicologist, Vice-President of the Union of Greek Musicians and member of the Board of Directors of the National Opera).

With the cooperation of the Hellenic Centre, the award-winning works are presented in its hall, on Thursday, December 14 at 19:30, by the Piano Duo Antithesis.