Panos Karan (born 1982
) is a British
classical pianist,
conductor and composer of Greek origin. He was born in Crete,
and grew up in Athens,
where he graduated from the
American College of Greece
The American College of Greece (ACG) is a private college, graduate business school and high school in Agia Paraskevi, Greece. It is the oldest American-accredited college in Europe and a not-for-profit institution.
History
ACG was founded i ...
. He studied
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
at the
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...
as a student of
Sulamita Aronovsky. He made his professional debut performance at the
Southbank Centre
Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank.
It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...
at age 19.
Performances
St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...
on 15 April 2004;
Hermitage Theatre
The Hermitage Theatre ( rus, Эрмитажный Театр, Èrmitážnyj Teátr, ɪrmʲɪˈtaʐnɨj tʲɪˈat(ə)r) in Saint Petersburg, Russia is one of five Hermitage Museum, Hermitage buildings lining the Palace Embankment of the Neva Ri ...
on 17 January 2008;
Konzerthaus, Vienna
The Konzerthaus is a concert hall located in Vienna, Austria, which opened in 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both traditional and ...
on 6 May 2011;
Weill Recital Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by its n ...
at
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...
on 19 May 2007,
9 June 2009,11 October 2011 and 8 June 2018;
Athens Concert Hall
The Athens Concert Hall ( Greek: Μέγαρον Μουσικής Αθηνών, ''Mégaron Mousikis Athinon'') is a concert hall located on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue in Athens, Greece.
The Hall was inaugurated in 1991 with two halls. Since then i ...
on 14 January 2011 and 26 June 2013;
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
Oji Hall on 16 March 2014;
Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts European classical music, classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by ...
on 2 April 2014
and 1 April 2019;
Teatro Nacional Sucre on 13 December 2012 and 29 April 2015;
Blue Rose Hall at
Suntory Hall
The is a concert venue in the central Akasaka district of Tokyo, Japan. Part of the Ark Hills complex, it consists of a main concert hall, widely considered one of the finest in the world for its acoustics – Herbert von Karajan called it “ ...
on 14 March 2014, 3 August 2015 and 23 June 2018;
St John's, Smith Square
Smith Square Hall (formerly St John's Smith Square) is a concert hall in the centre of Smith Square, City of Westminster, Westminster, London. Its name was changed by its current operator, Sinfonia Smith Square, in 2024.
Originally a church, ...
in November 2008 and 1 June 2015;
Tokyo Opera City on 20 August 2015;
Symphony Hall, Boston
Symphony Hall is a concert hall that is home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. BSO founder Henry Lee Higginson commissioned architectural firm McKim, Mead and White to create a ne ...
on 3 April 2016;
Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall is a 950-seat capacity concert hall in Sloane Terrace in Chelsea, London, Chelsea in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England.
The resident music ensemble at Cadogan Hall is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra ( ...
on 11 June 2018;
Suntory Hall
The is a concert venue in the central Akasaka district of Tokyo, Japan. Part of the Ark Hills complex, it consists of a main concert hall, widely considered one of the finest in the world for its acoustics – Herbert von Karajan called it “ ...
on 6 August 2018;
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...
on 3 February 2020.
Karan's composition ''Surupanga'' was premiered at St.John's, Smiths Square, London on 1 June 2015.
Recordings
Karan has recorded Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 with
Toby Purser, conductor, and the Orion Symphony Orchestra.
In 2018 he recorded the 24 Chopin Études in live concert at London's Cadogan Hall.
Awards
Karan was laureate at the 2004 "
José Iturbi
José Iturbi Báguena (Valencia, 28 November 1895 Los Angeles, 28 June 1980) was a conductor, pianist, harpsichordist and actor from Valencia, Spain. He also appeared in several Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical films including ''Thousands Cheer'' (1 ...
" International Piano Competition in Valencia, Spain.
Humanitarian work
In 2011, he founded charity organisation Keys of Change,
with the motto "Can music change the world? We believe it can", an organisation aiming to use music as a tool to improve to improve and empower the lives of young people around the world.
With Κeys of Change he has completed musical projects in the Amazon, Sierra Leone, Uganda,
India,
Serbia and Japan.
In 2012, with the support of Keys of Change, he founded the
Fukushima Youth Sinfoinetta, an orchestra made up of young musicians that came together in the wake of the 2011 disaster. In April 2014 and 2019 he performed with the Fukushima Youth Sinfoinetta at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts European classical music, classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by ...
, London,
in August 2015 at the
Tokyo Opera City and in April 2016 at
Symphony Hall, Boston
Symphony Hall is a concert hall that is home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. BSO founder Henry Lee Higginson commissioned architectural firm McKim, Mead and White to create a ne ...
.
He has helped create the Kolkata Youth Orchestra and the Accra Youth Sinfonietta.
Personal life
Karan has resided in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
since 2000.
References
External links
Panos Karan's home pageKeys of Change
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karan, Panos
1982 births
Living people
Greek classical pianists
British classical pianists
21st-century classical pianists