Dimitri Vassilakis

* 1967 in Athens; pianist; studied at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP) with Gérard Frémy; a permanent member of the Ensemble intercontemporain in Paris since 1992; close collaboration with Pierre Boulez, György Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis. He completed his studies in Paris with distinction in piano, chamber music and accompaniment; he also worked with Monique Deschaussées and György Sebök. He gave the first performance of Pierre Boulez’ “Incises” and took part in the recordings of “Répons” and “sur Incises” for Deutsche Grammophon. His repertoire ranges from Bach to the present and comprises the complete piano works of Pierre Boulez and Iannis Xenakis. In 2004 his recording of Martin Matalon’s “Le Scorpion” with Les Percussions de Strasbourg received the Grand Prix of the Académie Charles Cros for the best recording of contemporary music. He has played in Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens. For the Quantum label he recorded Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” and “Das Wohltemperierte Clavier”, for Neos etudes by Fabian Panisello and György Ligeti. Three albums connect him with Cybele. Two of them belong to the Edition Künstler im Gespräch: Hans Werner Henze and the Requiem (2010), awarded the Deutscher Hörbuchpreis 2011 for the best publishing achievement, where he plays alongside the trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich and the Bochumer Symphoniker under Steven Sloane, and Pierre Boulez and the Piano (2012), which he carries alone on the Steinway D grand and which was awarded the Opus d’Or. In 2017 the Piano Quintet in Thomas Adès’s album with the DoelenKwartet was added.