Greek pianist VASSILIS VARVARESOS is a favorite performer with both audiences and the press.  After one recital appearance, The Buffalo News reported that “Loud applause and shouts of praise filled the air,” and on another occasion, The Washington Post called him “A young master on the rise, displaying enormous technical resources, commanding power and musicianship.”

Mr. Varvaresos’ 2005-2006 concert season includes Chopin’s Concerto No. 2 with the Dearborn (MI) Orchestra Society and Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 1 in a return engagement with the JCC of Greater Washington.  He will also give recitals in Michigan, Maryland, and Connecticut.

As soloist with orchestra in the U.S., Mr. Varvaresos has performed the Haydn Concerto in D Major with the Hartford Symphony, the Grieg Concerto with the Statesboro-Georgia Southern Symphony, the Mozart Concerto No. 5 with the Modesto (CA) Symphony, the Mozart Concerto No. 20 with the Altoona (PA) Symphony, and the Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1 with the Westmoreland Symphony (PA), among others.  He has toured extensively across the U.S. in recital.

Mr. Varvaresos’ performances in his native Greece include appearances in Megaro Hall in Athens and the Rachmaninov Concerto No. 2 with the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki.  He has performed numerous times on Greek State Television, as well as on television in Belgrade and Sofia.  Mr. Varvaresos has represented Greece in a special “EuroConcert” at the Museum of Modern Art in Helsinki, at the Greek Embassy in Milan, and in a performance for the U.S. Ambassador to Greece.  He has also performed in Austria, The Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia.

Mr. Varvaresos won First Prize at the 1998 Young Concert Artists International Auditions at the age of 14, the youngest pianist ever to win the Auditions.  The Young Concert Artists Series presented his recital debuts in New York at the 92nd Street Y, sponsored by the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Prize, in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center, and a performance at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 2002 as recipient of the Summis Auspiciis Prize.  He was also awarded the Diallo Prize and the Beracasa Foundation Prize. 

Born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1983, Mr. Varvaresos started studying music at the age of five.  He began to read notes and play the piano so quickly that he was given a scholarship to the Conservatory of Northern Greece.  He continued his studies at the Conservatory of Thessaloniki with Milena Mollova.  He won First Prize in the 1995 Petar Konjovic International Competition in Belgrade and the 1996 Pan-Hellenic Young Artist Competition in Athens, and was chosen as one of eleven young musicians from around the world to perform in Monte Carlo in a special “Little Mozarts” concert organized by Italy’s RAI TV.  In 2005, Mr. Varvaresos received a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where he is currently pursuing his Master of Music degree.  He studies at Juilliard with Jerome Lowenthal.

YCA Artists are continually adding to their repertoire.  Please contact the artist management staff at Young Concert Artists if you are interested in a work which does not appear on this list.