Michel Michalakakos

Michel Michalakakos was born in 1954 in Athens. He began to play the viola first with his father, Christos Michalakakos, and then continued his education at the Conservatoire de Paris with Colette Lequien. From 1979 to 1984 he was a member of the Orchestre national de France and from 1981 to 1993 joined the Paris String Trio, playing with it around the world. He has made numerous appearances on television and radio programs, made recordings, received invitations to many international festivals and has performed a number of modern pieces of music. Currently Michel Michalakakos is regularly invited to concerts with orchestras from France and abroad. He has performed sonata recitals and played with distinguished chamber performers and ensembles. Since 2008, Michalakakos is the Artistic Director of the Aux Ormes Mozartiens Festival. He is attracted to various forms of music-making - he plays not just classical music, but also jazz, tango and music of various traditions from round the world (for example, in 2004 and 2007 he recorded Greece Peace 1 and 2). In addition to being a concert and recording artist, Michel Michalakakos is a dedicated educator. He teaches viola and chamber music in France and conducts master classes in Europe, Japan, Canada and the USA. Artistic Director of the International Summer Academy in Biarritz. Since 1991, Michalakakos is a professor at the Conservatory of Paris, teaching also at the Conservatory of Boulogne-Biancourt and holding regular master classes at the conservatories of Toulouse and Lille. His discography includes: Sonatas for viola and piano by Brahms and Schumann, viola concertos for viola by by J. Chr. Bach, Hoffmeister, Stamitz and Handel (with the St Christopher Chamber Orchestra of Vilnius conducted by Donatus Katkus); a complete edition of the Piano Quartets and Quintet by Brahms. Michel Michalakakos plays a viola by Gasparo da Salo of 1560.