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Karolos ZOUGANELIS (Piano – Grèce)
Karolos Zouganélis was born in 1977 in Athens and began studying music at the age of five. In 1992 he
graduated with a First Prize from the Athens National Conservatory in the class of Myrto Mavrikou. The
jury unanimously awarded him the mention “Very Good”. He has also studied with Fivi Vallinda and
Elisabeth Kounalaki.
In 1996, he is admitted to the “Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris”
(CNSMDP) and graduated with a First Prize in piano in 2000. At the CNSMDP he worked with Gérard
Frémy, Sylvaine Billier, Anne Grappotte, Jean Koerner and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and received also
diplomas in vocal accompaniment, instrumental accompaniment and chamber music. In addition, he
studied the Lied and Melody genres with Ruben Lifschitz and Jeff Cohen and took part in master classes
with Christian Zacharias, György Sebök, Idil Biret and Dominique Merlet.
He was noticed early on at the “Papaïanou Panhellenic competition” in Athens, and won the First Prize in
1991. He is also the laureate of several international competitions such as the “Concorso Internazionale
Città di Senigallia” in Italy, the “Concorso Internazionale Città di Marsala” in Italy, the international
competition “Anton Rubinstein” in Alessandria, Italy, the international competition “Alfredo Casella” in
Siena, Italy, the “Flame” competition, in Paris, the “Concours Musical Régional d’Ile-de-France” in Paris,
the “International Competition of Arcachon” in France and the “International Competition of Vulainessur-Seine” in France. He is also laureate of the “Mécénat Musical Société Générale.”
He has received fellowships from the A. G. Leventis Foundation, the Académie de Musique de Villecroze
and the Lili and Nadia Boulanger Foundation.
Karolos Zouganélis is a frequent guest pianist in Greece and France, as a soloist or as a duettist with
singers. He has given recitals in Athens and Thessalonique, in Paris (at the “Cité de la Musique”
amphitheater, the Studio106 of Radio France, the “Hotel des Invalides,” etc.), at the Opéra de Lyon, the
Opéra de Montpellier, and in other French cities. He was the guest artist at several festivals, including
the “Festival International en Saintonge”, the “Ars Terra” international piano festival, the “DedansDehors” festival organized by the Cité de la Musique, the international festival “les Musicales” in Colmar,
France, the “3e Festival Européen Jeunes Talents” in Paris, the “Journées Lyriques de la Seine” festival,
the “Saison Musicale Royaumont,” the “Villa Musica Konzertsaison” in Germany, etc.
He has also played with conductors such as Jeffrey Milarsky, Zsolt Nägy, Janos Fürst and Michael Gielen
and has performed J.-S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations with accompaniment of pictures by Axel Arno, at the
“Manolis Kalomiris Festival” in Samos, at the International Festival of Corfou, as well as in the “Dimitri
Mitropoulos” hall at the Megaron in Athens.
In October 2006 and June 2007, he was the pianist for the international competition “Operalia” organized
by Placido Domingo at the Opera of Valencia, Spain, and at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris.
In October 2007, at the 4th “Concours International de Duo Chant-Piano, Nadia and Lili Boulanger” he
won the “Prix du Pianiste” and the “Prix de Duo” with the soprano Shigeko Hata.
In February 2010, he was invited to participate in the performance of the complete works by Chopin,
organized by the “Société Chopin” and the “Société Générale.” This recital series was televised on
national French TV (France 3).
On March 1, 2010, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth, he participated, at Victoria
Hall, in Geneva, in the performance of the composer’s entire piano Etudes.
M. Zouganélis is a professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de danse de Paris.