Papadakis Kostas

Born in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, Konstantinos Papadakis has been described by the press as “the greatest hopes of music”. He had his first piano lesson at the age of nine and a year later, having already won the First Prize at a Panhellenic Competition (including a Special Distinction for his own composition) he debuted as a soloist. He subsequently received a fellowship at the Hellenic Conservatory of Athens, where he studied with Costis Gaetanos. Upon his graduation he received a Piano Diploma, First Prize, and a special Award in memory of Alex Thurneyssen, while at the same time he was honored with a Golden Medal for excellence (a superior distinction awarded for the first time to a pianist.) Mr. Papadakis pursued further studies in London with Martino Tirimo and Vladimir Ashkenazy, in Moscow with Nikolai Petrov and in United States with Anthony di Bonaventura.
After the success of his world-premiere recordings of 30 piano works by Greek composers (many of them written especially for him), he was honored by the Ministry of Culture of Cyprus with the "Best Performer of the year" Award, and he was invited to appear in a series of concerts as the soloist in S.