Piano Solo Concert

Stavros Lantsias


The Opening Ceremony of the 41st EGOS Colloquium replaces the customary Keynote by a guest speaker with an artistic performance by a guest artist.

In June 2024, the Colloquium organizers in Athens approached Stavros Lantsias, a renowned composer and pianist living in Greece, with the following question:

“We have invited thousands of organizational scholars around the world to respond intellectually to the theme ‘Creativity Τhat Goes Α Long Way’. How would you feel about responding artistically to the same theme through your music?”

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Stavros responded to the challenge by preparing especially for the EGOS community a piano solo concert that showcases different expressions of creativity in his music, including personal compositions; recording and performing collectively with his group; arranging and performing other composers’ works; reinterpreting traditional motives and tunes; and composing music for stage plays and films.
 
The Athens Colloquium organizers have captured his reflections on the creative processes which generated the selected works that he will perform in the Opening Ceremony in two video-taped interviews and that will be made publicly available shortly after the end of the Colloquium. In the evening of July 2, however, we will immerse into a vibrant creative mood not through words but through the power of music: a live piano solo concert by Stavros Lantsias.
 

Stavros Lantsias

was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1966. He studied classical piano and music theory and then continued his studies in Boston, USA, at Berklee College of Music, where he graduated in 1990. He there received the “Count Basie Jazz Masters Award for pianists 1989” and the “Quincy Jones Jazz Masters Award for arrangers 1990”. After Berklee he continued his jazz piano studies with jazz ‘guru’ Charlie Banacos.
 
Stavros is in high demand as a pianist and arranger, always active performing with some of Greece’s most respected and acclaimed artists. One of his most important projects is “Human Touch”, a group he has formed with long time collaborators David Lynch and Yiotis Kiourtsoglou. In their three studio recordings “Human Touch” (1998), “Movin’” (2004) and “Colorblind” (2024), apart from composing and playing the piano, Stavros expands his playing with drums, percussion and acoustic guitar. Together they have played in several international jazz and ethnic festivals in Europe, Turkey and the Balkans, and their unique multi-instrumental approach has influenced whole generations of instrumentalists in Greece.
 
In 1999, Stavros signed a recording contract with Warner Music Greece where he released two personal albums “Return” (1999) and “The Journey of a Note” (2002). In these albums he demonstrates his compositional and orchestration skills performing with both jazz and classical ensembles. His 2011 album release “Diary Of Dreams” features the Athens Camerata String Orchestra and the world-renowned musicians Peter Erskine on drums and Lars Danielsson on bass. This compositional work was originally a commission by “Patra Cultural Capital of Europe 2006”. In December of 2012, Stavros formed the “Stavros Lantsias Trio” with acclaimed Greek musicians Andreas Polyzogopoulos (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Yiorgos Kaloudis (cello, percussion, Cretan lyra). After extensive touring in Greece and Germany, they released the album “Trio Live at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Athens”. His latest recording release – currently best-selling Greek jazz album for 2023 and 2024 – is “My Ennio Morricone” by the Stavros Lantsias Quartet, a tribute to the late great Italian film composer.
 
Stavros has inspired countless musicians also as an educator through private lessons, seminars, and master classes. In December 2023, he was awarded the “Man of the Year” award in Cyprus for his contribution to the arts.
 
More infos:
http://www.stavroslantsias.gr/; www.facebook.com/slantsias; www.youtube.com/slantsias; stavroslantsias.bandcamp.com/music