Michel Michalakakos

Michel Michalakakos came to the viola at thirteen in Athens, where he was born in 1954, and completed the journey at the Conservatoire de Paris in the classes of Colette Lequien and Joseph Calvet, taking his premier prix in 1977 and his teaching certificate the following year. Five years with the Orchestre National de France followed, from 1979 to 1984, and then the chamber musician took over: he was a member of the Paris String Trio from 1981 to 1993, has partnered Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Gérard Jarry and Régis Pasquier, and has recorded a series of albums with the pianist Martine Gagnepain, with whom he plays regularly in recital. Tango, jazz and Romani repertoire sit beside the classical literature in his concert lists. Since 1990 he has taught viola at the conservatoire of Boulogne-Billancourt, and since 1991 has held a professorship in sight-reading at the Conservatoire de Paris; he gives masterclasses often, notably in Toulouse. In Sofia he opened the Philharmonic's 2004–2005 season on 30 September 2004 with Mozart's Sinfonia concertante in E flat, in a programme that set it beside Bach's Double Concerto and Brahms's Double Concerto for Violin and Cello. His first teacher was his father, Christos Michalakakos, and the instrument he plays was made by Gasparo da Salo in 1560. Beside the Brahms and Schumann sonatas his discography holds the complete Brahms piano quartets and quintet, concertos by Johann Christian Bach, Hoffmeister, Stamitz and Handel with the St Christopher Chamber Orchestra of Vilnius under Donatas Katkus.