BIOGRAPHY
Steinway Artist Nicolas Costantinou is renowned for impressing audiences with his daring selection of repertoire, old and new, and his ability to collaborate with extraordinary instrumental ensembles. He has been hailed by critics as “… an artist of deep emotions, who is capable of performing music with his whole being and soul…” (Kaleva, 2003) while his interpretations have been described as “colossal” and “dramatic” (Dimitri Nicolau, 2002).Nicolas has given numerous concerts in Austria, Cyprus, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, Lebanon, Portugal, Turkey, Switzerland, the UK and the USA and has performed at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Brahms Saal of the Musikverein in Vienna, the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, and the Grand Hall of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Nicolas is frequently invited to perform at international festivals around Europe such as the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, the Oulunsalo Soi Music Festival (Finland), the Gödöllő Chamber Music Festival (Hungary), and the Kypria Festival (Cyprus). His debut in London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall was received with favourable reviews. He has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Russian Chamber Philharmonic St. Petersburg, the Budapest Concert Orchestra, the Failoni Chamber Orchestra and the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, with maestros such as Konrad von Abel, Juri Gilbo, Esa Heikkilä, Notis Georgiou, Spiros Pisinos, Maciej Zoltowski and Ayis Ioannides. Nicolas is the founder and artistic director of Ledra Music Soloists, a non-profit association now in its 18th year, which organises concerts and festivals in Cyprus and abroad.
Alongside his solo career, Nicolas enjoys making music in the company of others, and occasionally engages in interdisciplinary collaborations with dancers, choreographers, painters and other multimedia artists. His chamber music collaborations have included internationally acclaimed musicians and singers such as the violinists Vilmos Szabadi, Chloë Hanslip, Simos Papanas, Nikos Pittas, Wolfgang Schroeder, Kazuhiro Tagaki, violist Maté Szűcs, the cellists Gustav Rivinius, Erkki Rautio, David Cohen, Péter Somodari, Tytus Miecznikowski, flautists János Bálint, Virginie Bove, oboist Francesco Quaranta, clarinettist Gábor Varga, and the Meta4 and Akadémia string quartets. His passion for Art-Song has led to collaborations with singers such as sopranos Margarita Elia, Zoe Nicolaidou, Theodora Raftis, mezzo-soprano Elli Aloneftou, tenors Christian Zenker, Stelios Georgiou, Marios Andreou and baritone Kyros Patsalides.
He regularly performs works by Cypriot composers in Cyprus and abroad, including several world premieres, with particular focus on the music of Constantinos Y. Stylianou (b. 1972).
During 2023, Nicolas will be releasing three CD albums under the Odradek label. The first one, titled metavasis, will be released in January 2023 and will feature C. Y. Stylianou’s 12 Préludes, Series I. The second one, with the title Past Forward, will be released in June and will contain Stylianou’s first two viola sonatas, with violist Máté Szűcs. The third one, Hedra, will be available later in the autumn. It will feature sonatas for cello and piano with cellist Péter Somodari.
Dr Costantinou performed for the first time in Cyprus Beethoven’s complete works for piano and violin (2013–14) with violinist Nikos Pittas and for piano and cello (2015–16) with cellist Péter Somodari. Furthermore, he toured with an all-Chopin programme in 2018 (Larnaca, Nicosia, Beirut and London). Later in the same year, he collaborated with Simos Papanas (the concertmaster of the Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra), Maté Szűcs (former principal viola of the Berliner Philharmoniker), and Péter Somodari (principal cello of the Wiener Philharmoniker) in a piano quartet concert featuring works by Mozart, Brahms and Schumann.
Nicolas Costantinou graduated from the Hellenic Academy of Music, the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Szeged, the Ferenc Liszt University of Music in Budapest (summa cum laude) and holds a Master of Music in Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music (U.S.). Recently, he was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) from London’s Royal College of Music under the supervision of Prof. Paul Banks, Dr Julian Jacobson and Dr Jane Roper. His dissertation is entitled “The Chamber Music of Ernő Dohnányi: Tradition, Innovation and ‘Hungarianness’”. He has also studied with Márta Gulyás, Dr Daniel Shapiro, Sándor Falvai, Ferenc Kerek, Tania Economou and Wanda Economou-Constantinou and he has participated in masterclasses held by acknowledged pianists Dmitri Bashkirov, Nicolas Economou, Vadim Suchanov and Ferenc Rados.
Dr Costantinou is currently teaching piano at the University of Nicosia and the Cyprus Music Schools. His students have won numerous prizes at international piano competitions and have participated in piano masterclasses with renowned professors. Some of his students have furthered their studies in highly esteemed academies and universities, such as the Reina Sofía Escuela Superior de Música in Madrid, the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, the Purcell School in London and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
“The Constantinou-Somodari duo’s Beethoven cycle is a revelation. Their peerless artistry sets a new standard of excellence. The duo’s performance illuminates new details that honor tradition while making the works feel fresh and new. Bravo!”
David Allen Moore
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Associate Professor, The USC Thornton School of Music
24 February 2020
“Nicolas Costantinou gave an immaculate account of Mozart’s often genial sonata K.333 on 22 July with all the tempo fluctuations sounding natural. The Andante sang consistently as well and the quite extrovert finale was spritely with moments of vehemence. It was followed with a heroic response to the originality and expressive power of Chopin’s F minor Fantasy, Op. 49. Costantinou also understood this work’s sense of freedom, its grandeur and the inevitability of its unfolding. …”
Max Harrison
Musical Opinion – September-October 2009
Max Harrison
Musical Opinion – September-October 2009
| Robert Matthew-Walker Musical Opinion - April-May 2005 |
| “…Nicolas proved himself to be an artist of deep emotions, who is capable of interpreting music with his whole being and soul…” |
| Hanna Laulajainen KALEVA – August, 4 2003 |
| “Listening, almost accidentally, to Nicolas Costantinou’s performances I must confess that I found myself confronted with colossal interpretation…” |
| Dimitri Nicolau – Composer January 2, 2002 |