The Washington Post says of her that she is “…a poet of the guitar.” One of her former teachers, Leo Brouwer, is even more effusive: “If you want to hear music of the highest level of interpretation with poetical perfection, you must hear Elena Papandreou”.
The Greek guitarist Elena Papandreou was born in Athens in 1966.
Elena Papandreou studied with Evangelos Boudounis at the Greek National Conservatory and graduated in 1985. She continued her studies with Gordon Crosskey at the Royal Northern College of Music (UK) on a British Council scholarship, obtaining the Diploma in Advanced Studies in Musical Performance in 1986. She hasalso been tutored by Alirio Diaz, Oscar Ghiglia, Julian Bream, Leo Brouwer and Ruggero Chiesa.
Ms Papandreou has won first prize at three international events (the Maria Callas, Gargnano and Alessandria competitions) and second prize at the Guitar Foundation of America Competition. In the latter she also won the Naxos prize, a contract enabling her to record with our company.
Ms Papandreou has performed in eleven countries in Brazil, Japan, Venezuela and Puerto Rico, as well as in North America. She has given concerts at the Vienna Musikverein, the Koelner Philharmonie, the Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Athens Concert Hall as well as in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall. She frequently tours the U.S.A. and in March 1998 she gave her Carnegie Hall debut, to return another two times since.
Among contemporary composers to dedicate their works to Elena Papandreou are Roland Dyens, Nikita Koshkin, Nikos Mamangakis, Vangelis Boudounis, Giorgos Koumendakis and Dimitris Nicolaou.
In 1992, Elena Papandreou received the Spyros Motsenigos Prize from the Athens Academy—the most important music prize in Greece.
For Naxos Elena Papandreou has recorded a stunning recital in the Guitar Laureate series, mainly featuring works by Greek composers for the instrument, and a critically-acclaimed disc of works by Leo Brouwer.
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