To describe the performances and playing style of Dimitris Karakantas in one word, one would have to use versatility. Striving to build the longest possible musical bridges in his repertoire, he connects the origins of classical music with modernity. The choice of period instruments crossing over to the conterporary ones, the swift emulsification of modern and popular music with the earliest baroque compositions are all embodied in dynamic, energetic interpretations.
After being the first prize winner of numerous national and international competitions, Dimitris Karakantas launched his career regularly performing worldwide as a soloist with various baroque and modern orchestras in some of the most important international concert halls as the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Carnegie Hall in NY, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Harpa in Reykjavik, the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the Taipei National Concert Hall, the “Megaron” Concert Hall in Athens, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, the Mozarteum Hall in Salzburg a.o.
Since 2015 he has been the artistic director, soloist and concertmaster of the "Orchester 1756", led by the Salzburger Konzertgesellschaft and Konstantin Hiller. With the orchestra he performs in the already internationally acclaimed concert series of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in Vienna, Salzburg and Munich as well as international performances in Europe and Asia. Highlights have included major festivals such as the Handel Festival in Halle, the Kissinger Sommer, the Beijing Spring Festival and the Tartini Festival in Piran with soloists as Max Emanuel Cencic, Vesselina Kasarova, Giuliano Carmignola, Mojca Erdmann and Juan Sancho among others.
In 2018, Dimitris Karakantas founded the young orchestra "nuovo barocco". During its debut season, the young orchestra already performed internationally in numerous important venues and festivals as the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the "Bach Festival Lausanne" and the “Grands Concerts de la Chapelle de la Trinite a Lyon”.
His recordings include cooperations with the Greek, Austrian, German, Slovenian and Taiwanese radio as well as several own CD productions.
DIMITRIS KARAKANTAS
Through his career, he has been supported and sponsored by the Greek Society of Music Friends (Megaron Athens), the Greek National Scholarship, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall and the Onassis Foundation.
Dimitris Karakantas was born in 1987 in Larissa, Greece. He graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna as a student of Günter Pichler and Joanna Madroszkiewicz and continued his studies on the baroque violin at the Academy of Music "Franz Liszt" in Weimar and at the Mozarteum of Salzburg with Midori Seiler.
He performs on modern and period instruments by Paolo Antonio Testore, Marcel Pichler and Ulderikus Eberle.
