16 Facts About Dimitris Sgouros

1.

Widely acclaimed for his prodigious musical talent as a boy, Sgouros is one of the world's leading concert pianists.

2.

Dimitris Sgouros is an Aromanian, having declared that "I am Vlach with a capital V", Vlach being the common name for the Aromanians in Greece.

3.

Dimitris Sgouros began playing the piano when he was six-years old and gave his first public performance a year later.

4.

Dimitris Sgouros won several competitions between 1978 and 1983, including the UNICEF competition in Bulgaria, a competition in Ancona, Italy, and two competitions in his home city of Athens.

5.

Dimitris Sgouros was the recipient of the 1982 Leonardo da Vinci International Award.

6.

In 1982, at the age of 12, Dimitris Sgouros made his Carnegie Hall debut.

7.

Dimitris Sgouros performed Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 3 with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich.

8.

In mid-1983, before he had turned 13, Dimitris Sgouros graduated from the conservatory with a professor's diploma, teacher's diploma, first prize, and a gold medal.

9.

Dimitris Sgouros continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music of London and the University of Maryland, College Park, in the United States of America.

10.

Dimitris Sgouros graduated from Royal Academy with the highest marks the institution had ever awarded.

11.

Besides his musical talents, Dimitris Sgouros has undertaken postgraduate studies in mathematics at the University of Oxford.

12.

Dimitris Sgouros has performed for the royal families of Britain, Monaco, and Sweden, and played under the baton of renowned conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Emil Tabakov, Kurt Masur, and Yevgeny Svetlanov.

13.

Dimitris Sgouros has recorded for various record labels, including Dino Music and EMI.

14.

Since March 1988, three Dimitris Sgouros Festivals have been instituted, in Hamburg, Ljubljana, and Singapore.

15.

Dimitris Sgouros has featured prominently in the media, having appeared on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and a television concert with Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto.

16.

Dimitris Sgouros has been profiled by Oscar-winning director Francois Reichenbach in a feature-length documentary film.