Apostolos Paraskevas is a classical guitarist and
composer as well as an award-winning film director and producer. He has
received multiple international awards for his compositions and was nominated
for a Grammy Award. He is the only guitarist ever to have a major orchestral
piece performed at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Lukas Fossand the
only musician who has performed there in a Grim Reaper outfit. He was the
founder and served for 16 years as the artistic director of the International
Guitar Congress-Festival of Corfu, Greece.
He is a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammys).
After his undergraduate
music studies in Volos he pursued advanced studies in classical guitar with
Costas Cotsiolis (diploma, 1990) and Leo Brouwer (Havana 1984, 1988), as well
as postgraduate studies in composition with Lukas Foss and Theodore Antoniou
(DMA in composition, Boston University, 1998). Paraskevas embarked on a
successful career as a guitar soloist and contemporary composer, achieving
distinctions in both disciplines: Grammy nomination for Chase Dance
(Bridge Records, 1999); first prize for Night Wanderings (Lukas Foss
Composition Competition, 2000); first prize for Phygein Adynaton
(National Composers Conference, 1997); and numerous prestigious commissions,
performances, and publications. Following teaching posts at Northeastern and
Boston Universities, Paraskevas has taught since 2001 at the Berklee College of
Music in Boston (professor of composition and classical guitar).
His eclectic compositional
style arises as an idiosyncratic integration of seemingly conflicting
influences from avant-garde approaches to harmonic structure, form, and
timbre, to pop-folk modal and rhythmical concepts amalgamated into a personal
evocative musical language, characterized by rhythmic verve, melodic grace,
dramatic (and sometimes unexpectedly humorous) gestures, and ritualistic or
theatrical elements. The latter feature has also led Paraskevas to the creation
of films, notably the acclaimed I Finally Did It (Gold award, California
Film Awards 2010), dealing wittily with Death, a recurring extra-musical theme
in his music.
The Groves Dictionary of
Music
Costas Tsougras