Angelos Liakakis (cello) & Titos Gouvelis (piano)

The Pharos Arts Foundation, in collaboration with the Embassy of Greece in Cyprus, present a cello and piano recital with Angelos Liakakis and Titos Gouvelis. Having forged esteemed careers as soloists in Greece and abroad, Liakakis and Gouvelis have also been collaborating as a duo for many years, presenting unique programmes and receiving praising acclaims from the press and the public. For their concert in Cyprus, on Friday 16 March 2018 at The Shoe Factory in Nicosia, the duo will present a striking programme comprising Debussy’s Cello Sonata in D minor, Grieg’s brilliant Cello Sonata in A minor – considered one of the most dramatic and intense works of the 19th century chamber music literature, as well as Beethoven’s taxing Op.102 Sonatas, Nos. 4 & 5, which are imbued with such intimate colour and transcendental disposition that they are justifiably regarded as the first of the composer’s ‘late period’ works.

PROGRAMME:

Claude Debussy: Sonata for Cello & Piano in D minor, L.135 (1915)
L.v. Beethoven: Sonata for Cello & Piano No.5 in D major, Op.102/ 2 (1815)

Interval

L.v. Beethoven: Sonata for Cello & Piano No. 4 in C major, Op. 102/1 (1815)
Edvard Grieg: Sonata for Cello & Piano in A minor, Op.36 (1883)

ANGELOS LIAKAKIS cello
Angelos Liakakis was born in Athens in 1980. He began taking cello lessons from Hristos Sfetsas and continued his studies as a scholar of the Onassis Foundation and the Greek State Scholarships Foundation with Csaba Onczay, Leonid Gorokhov and Kim Bak Dinitzen.

Liakakis frequently appears in recital and chamber music concerts in major festivals in Greece and abroad, boasting an extensive repertoire that ranges from the baroque to the avant-garde, and collaborating regularly with a number of contemporary Greek composers whose works he has premiered. As a soloist, he has appeared with a number of prominent orchestras including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, the Athens and Thessaloniki State Orchestras, the Greek National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Athens Camerata, and Orchester 1756 amongst others. Liakakis has also been a member of the renowned New Hellenic Quartet, with which he gave numerous concerts and recorded extensively for the BIS, EMI Classics, Naxos and Legend labels.

TITOS GOUVELIS piano
Titos Gouvelis studied the piano at the Athens Conservatoire before continuing his studies at the Royal College of Music in London and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, from where he graduated with a Master of Music (MMus) and distinction. During his studies, he was supported with scholarships from the Onassis Foundation, the Greek State Scholarships’ Foundation and the International Gina Bachauer Foundation. Gouvelis has also worked on a regular basis with the renowned pianist and pedagogue Dominique Merlet in Paris, and studied the organ in Athens with the distinguished British organist Nicolas Kynaston as a scholar of the “Friends of Music” Society.

Gouvelis is prize winner in a number of piano competitions including the Croydon Performing Arts Festival Concerto Competition (UK), the International Competition Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial (Serbia), the Chieri International Chamber Music Competition (Italy), the International Piano Competition “Giorgos Thymis” (Greece) and he has been awarded the Mykoniou Prize from the Academy of Athens for his artistic achievements.

Titos Gouvelis has appeared as a soloist with a number of distinguished orchestras such as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Transylvania, the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Tirgu Mures (Romania), the Athens and Thessaloniki State Orchestras, the Armonia Atenea – “Friends of Music” Orchestra, under the baton of distinguished conductors such as Emil Tabakov, Alain Paris, Alpaslan Ertüngealp, Jesus Amigo, Dimitris Chorafas, amongst others. Gouvelis’ vast repertoire ranges from the Baroque era to the 21st century, and he is especially dedicated to the endorsement of Greek contemporary music, having performed works by more than 60 Greek composers, including a number of premieres.

Tickets:
€15 / €10 Concessions & members of the Pharos Arts Foundation,
Box Office: Directly from the Foundation’s website www.pharosartsfoundation.org/Tickets_online.htm or Tel. 9666-9003 (Monday - Friday 10:00am-3:00pm)