Achilles Liarmakopoulos
Achilles Liarmakopoulos (born August 29, 1985) is a Greek trombonist and member of the Canadian Brass.
Contents
Background
As a member of the legendary Canadian Brass has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia, performing and educating in the world’s most important venues and institutions.[1]
As a soloist, Liarmakopoulos is dedicated to an expanding repertoire of new pieces, works from the archives and the standard repertoire. He has premiered a number of pieces from emerging composers who have written specifically for him.
At the age of 18 he performed as a soloist at the Walt Disney Hall as the Grand Prize Winner of the Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition, judged by members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has given solo recitals in the U.S., China, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Greece, and has performed with a number of orchestras worldwide.
Liarmakopoulos holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music (class of 2008)[2] the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Philippos Nakas Conservatory in his hometown of Athens, Greece.[1] His studies have been supported by merit-based scholarships, Bok Foundation and Milton L. Rock Annual Fellowships and scholarships from the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, Alexandros S. Onassis Foundation and the Greek State Scholarship Foundation. Yale University awarded him the Philip Francis Nelson Prize for outstanding musicianship.
In December 2010 he won the position of principal trombone of the Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he played for one season before joining the Canadian Brass. Achilles has also performed with the Malaysian Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony and European Union Youth Orchestra, among many others.[1]
Liarmakopoulos has received awards in a number of competitions, including the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe, 2nd Christian Lindberg International Trombone competition.
His debut solo album, Ástor Piazzolla: Tango Distinto, was released by Naxos Records in 2011. It is the first full album to appear with Astor Piazzolla's music played by solo trombone.[3] The album has received rave reviews worldwide.
In January 2013 he was invited to play with the famous Oregon-based genre-bending ensemble Pink Martini. Since then he has performed with them internationally[1]
Premieres
Liarmakopoulos is a supporter of new music and new works for trombone, and has premiered a number of pieces by new composers; he premiered Dream (for trombone solo, string orchestra and harp) by Andrew Cadima at the Curtis Institute of Music in May 2008.[4]
Competitions and awards
- Second Christian Lindberg International Solo Competition: Second Prize[5]
- International Trombone Festival Robert Marsteller/Conn-Selmer Competition: Winner
- International Trombone Festival Solo Competition: Winner
- International Trombone Festival Larry Wiehe Competition: Winner
- San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition: Winner[6]
- Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition: Grand-prize winner[7][lower-alpha 1]
- 2010 Yale School of Music Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition: Honorable Mention[8]
Discography
Solo
- Tango Distinto – Astor Piazzolla (2011, Naxos Records)[9]
- Discoveries – New works for trombone and piano (2014, ODEG)[10]
With the Canadian Brass
- Canadian Brass Takes Flight (2011)
- Brass Romance (2012, single)
- Carnaval (Robert Schumann's Kinderszenen and Carnaval) (2013)
- Christmas Time is Here (2013)
- Great Wall of China (2014)
Notes
- ↑ The Pasadena Showcase House of Design began as a fundraiser in 1965. It is now the largest, most successful and one of the oldest house and garden tours in the U.S.
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 http://achillestrombone.com/bio/
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.trombone.net/news/news.cfm?ID=1556
- ↑ International Trombone Association :: Events :: Cadima Premiere[dead link]
- ↑ Curtis Brass.com :: Recent News[dead link]
- ↑ http://www.sfcm.edu/pdf/April_May.pdf[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572596
- ↑ http://www.amoeba.com/trombone-discoveries-achilles-liarmakopoulos/albums/3431781/
