Ermis Theodorakis
Pianist & Composer
Pianist & Composer
Ermis Theodorakis was born in 1979 in Athens, Greece, where he studied piano with Nilyan Perez-Ioannidis, composition with Yannis Ioannidis as well as musicology at the University of Athens. Subsequently he followed advanced studies on piano with Håkon Austbø at the Amsterdam Conservatory (the Netherlands) and on composition with Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf at the University of Music and Theater Leipzig (Germany). In 2016 he was awarded a doctoral degree from the University of Athens for his dissertation on the work of the composer Michael Adamis.
Since the beginning of his professional career in 1994 he has shown a strong commitment to performing 20th century and contemporary music, especially its most complex aesthetic directions. He has given solo recitals in most European countries as well as in the U.S., Canada, South America, China and Ghana. He has collaborated as a soloist with orchestras such as the Athens State Orchestra, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Nederlands Kamerorkest, with ensembles like Ensemble LINEA, Ensemble SurPlus, United Instruments of Lucilin, and with conductors including Peter Eötvös, Jean-Philippe Wurtz and Theodor Antoniou.
He has premiered many works by living composers, several of them written for and/or dedicated to him. He has worked with important contemporary composers such as Iannis Xenakis, Brian Ferneyhough, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Mark Andre, and Frank Cox.
His discography comprises eight solo CDs, including the complete piano works by Xenakis, Mahnkopf, Sicilianos, and works by Second Viennese School composers, Ioannidis, Biró and various Greek composers.
As a composer, he has written several pieces for solo instruments or chamber ensembles, performed in Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium, Cyprus and Chile.
He has been invited to hold lectures, workshops and reading sessions at universities in Germany, Greece, the UK, Brazil, Chile and Canada. From 2017 to 2024, he served as adjunct professor for Contemporary Performance Practice at the University of Music and Theater Leipzig.
He has received various awards and scholarships, including A.S. Onassis Foundation scholarships, UNESCO Prize and SACEM prizes at the International Piano Competition in Orleans.
Iannis Xenakis has said that he considers Ermis Theodorakis an ideal interpreter of his music.
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