NIKOS LAARIS: TWENTY GRATITUDES FOR THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS, music by GEORGE TSONTAKIS

The American composer of Greek descent George Tsontakis, a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a two-time Grammy nominee, has received commissions from ensembles such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Emerson String Quartet. Following Ghost Variations, which earned him his first Grammy nomination, he returns to the solo piano with an ambitious new cycle of pieces.
Nikos Laaris, an accomplished pianist and conductor, has presented tributes to American composers in Greece (John Cage: The Keyboards at the Onassis Stegi, Bernstein: An Anniversary at the Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, Philip Glass: Shards at Nostos Festival) and recently conducted the opera The Air of Greece by George Tsontakis at the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage.