Dimitris Kotronakis: Dimitris Performs Studies and Pieces of the Modern Guitar Repertory

Dimitris Kotronakis was born in Heraklion, Creta (Greece), in 1973. At age seven, he began studying the classical guitar, and he graduated from the International Athens Conservatory with a guitar diploma in 1992 under the guidance of Vassilis Kanaras. Following this, he did post-graduate studies with Costas Cotsiolis at the Athens Conservatory, graduating again in 1996. He also undertook advanced theoretical and musicological studies that led to his diploma in Fugue, under Giorgos Sioras, and a degree in Musicology from the University of Athens in 1996. Additionally, he holds a doctorate from the same university (2014), under the supervision of Markos Tsetsos, in which he focused his studies on the guitar in Greece.

He has been awarded many prizes in guitar competitions, including 1st prize in the Volos guitar festival (Greece 1994), 1st prize in the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria guitar festival (Spain 1996), 2nd prize in the National Conservatory composing for guitar contest (Athens 1998), 1st prize in the Sinaia guitar festival (Romania 1999) and 1st prize in the Chalkis guitar competition (Greece 2002). He also won the major honorary mention award at the 12th Web Concert Hall competition (USA - March 2011), among 39 competitors representing all classical instruments

He has so far recorded two CDs with music by Nikos Mamagakis, namely “New Excursion” for solo guitar and “Spring Synphony” for guitar and voice, based on poetry by Yannis Ritsos (IDAIA records - 2007). In cooperation with the guitar quintet “Epsilon” he recorded another CD titled “Angel guitars” (MBI records - 2006). His fourth CD titled “Echomythia” has been released in USA in the autumn of 2007 by the ClearNote publications. This disk contains pieces of the modern guitar repertoire, influenced by the streams of Jazz, Latin and Brazilian music. In 2010, he recorded the “Amsterdam Concerto” by Thanassis Moraitis for the EMI Classics. It is included in the double CD named “Pictures of the sadness of the blond girls and of Eleni”. Dimitris performs as a soloist with the collaboration of the “Camerata” Symphonic Orchestra of Athens. In his sixth album, named “Our Old House”, (Clear Note 2011) he plays music for one, two and three guitars, composed by Kostas Mylonas. His third solo CD, titled “Toryanse”, was released in spring 2016 in the USA by Soundset Records. It contains again modern music works for solo guitar, from Greek and foreign guitar literature. He also recorded the "In Somnis Veritas" concerto for guitar and orchestra (composed by Mark Francis), for Navona Records (USA 2019), included in the albume Dimensions Vol. 2. His last album, "The Guitar Etudes" (24 studies for solo guitar by prof. Apostolos Paraskevas), will be running in 4 categories at the 64th GRAMMY Awards.

He has performed in numerous guitar recitals throughout Greece, Europe, North America and China; he has also co-operated as a soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Kielce (Poland), the Philharmonic Orchestra of Craiova (Romania), the "Artave" Orchestra, (Portugal), the Orchestra of Colors (Greece), the "Camerata" Symphonic Orchestra (Greece) and the orchestra “Philarmonia” (Greece).

Dimitris teaches guitar in two music institutions in Athens, the International Athens Conservatory, and the Panarmonio Conservatory. He is also a researcher at the Laboratory for the Study of Hellenic Music, Department of Music Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

He is a board member of the historic Volos International Guitar Festival.

No less than the prestigious publication based in the UK Classical Guitar Magazine said about Dimitris’ recordings, “...the speed at which Kotronakis can “knock out” some of this music is quite breathtaking…this is a startlingly exciting recording which captures the amazing artistry of a very distinct player”. Dr Albert Kunze wrote in the Soundboard magazine: “...He sounds like a one-man Quintet of the Hot Club of Paris…Kotronakis can really fly around the guitar”. The American Record Guide raved of him, “Fascinated Performance… Kotronakis plays with admirable conviction and control, with electrifying results”.

What's the music?

Dimitris Kotronakis Classical Guitar

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