Dr. Pantelis Polychronidis, Pianist
Senior Lecturer for Musical Interpretation Music Theatre Direction
polychronidis@mdw.ac.at
Dr. Pantelis Polychronidis is a collaborative pianist, educator and scholar. Since 2014, he is Senior Lecturer at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna at the Department of Vocal Studies and Music Theatre. Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor in Residence at the University of Nevada, as a Visiting Professor of Music at the University of Michigan, as faculty member at Vienna Conservatory and at the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) in Vienna.
He received his Bachelor in Musical Studies from the University of Athens with emphasis on ethnomusicology and historical musicology. He obtained his M.A. in Solo Piano and Collaborative Piano with Maxim Mogilevsky from Bowling Green State University, Ohio. Pantelis holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA) in Collaborative Piano (opera coaching, Lied accompaniment and chamber music) from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Martin Katz. While at Michigan he accompanied the studio class of the late Shirley Verrett. During his U.S. studies Dr. Polychronidis was supported by a Fulbright and an Onassis scholarship. He has completed two Postdoctoral Programs at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, in Lied accompaniment and Chamber music, with Charles Spencer and Roswitha Heintze respectively.
His artistic development was strongly influenced by Eric Schneider und Deen Larsen, by masterclasses with the pianists Nicolai Petrov, Bernard Ringeissen, Paul Badura Skoda, Lazar Berman, Martino Tirimo, Helmut Deutsch und Wolfram Rieger; as well as with singers like Elly Ameling, Rudolf Piernay, Edith Wiens, Christa Ludwig und Edda Moser. He also played for numerous masterclasses and workshops of Grace Bumbry in Salzburg and Vienna. Furthermore, he regularly accompanies masterclasses of well-known artists such as Karlheinz Hanser, Claudia Visca, Ileana Cotrubas and Thomas Hampson.
Highlights of his career so far were performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the European Cultural Centre of Delphi, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna.
Dr. Polychronidis is equally at home in the art song and the operatic repertoire as well as in chamber music. He is in demand as a collaborative pianist/coach and works as an official pianist for the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, the International Joseph Haydn Voice Competition and the International Johannes Brahms Song Competition, as well as the Weimar Lyric Opera Studio. He regularly collaborates with distinguished artists such as Clemens Unterreiner, Annely Peebo, Anita Hartig, Ildiko Raimondi, Melba Ramos, Lena Belkina, Rebecca Nelsen and Raehann Bryce-Davis.