Biography
Apostolos Palios is a piano soloist, Doctor of Musicology, and since 2026, Assistant Professor of Piano Performance in the Department of Music Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has been described as “one of the most amazing pianists of our days’’ (Aldo Ciccolini), “a marvelous artist” (Cyprien Katsaris), and “an extremely gifted, communicative and dedicated musician of great finesse, artistry and charismatic projection, who possesses excellent international potential” (Yonty Solomon).
Born in Greece (Karditsa), he began playing the piano at an early age. He graduated from the Larissa Conservatory with distinction and first prize. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a PhD with distinction from the Department of Music Studies of the University of Athens. He pursued advanced piano studies in Germany at the Berlin Hanns Eisler State Academy of Music under Prof. Georg Sava and the Leipzig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Academy of Music and Theatre under Prof. Markus Tomas, where he received his master- and highest soloist diploma (Meisterklassenexamen) with distinction. He also studied chamber music and orchestral conducting.
His artistic development was shaped both by his academic studies and his mentorship under prominent musical figures, including Aldo Ciccolini, Maurizio Pollini, Murray Perahia, Cyprien Katsaris, Yonty Solomon, Roberto Szidon, and George Hadjinikos. His acquaintance and mentorship with George Hadjinikos proved particularly decisive, while his studies in Berlin provided him with a highly creative artistic and academic environment.
He has won scholarships from the Costopoulos Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Greek National Scholarships Foundation (IKY), the State of Saxony (Leipzig), and the World in Harmony Foundation (Mundo en Armonía). He is the prizewinner of several National and International Piano, Chamber Music and Composition Competitions in Greece (S.A.O.Th, CH.O.N., Patras, Saratsi, Vikelas, and Maria Chairogiorgou-Sigara Competitions), Germany (Leipzig-Yamaha, Kuhlau, Berlin-Hanns Eisler Prize, and Wolfenbuttel Competitions), Spain (Ibiza Piano Competition), and Italy (Rovere d' Oro Competition). He was also the scholarship winner of the 2006 Gina Bachauer Prize piano competition. He has received a special award (Commendation) from the Academy of Athens and has won the prestigious prizes "Best Greek Young Artist of the Year" and “Best Recording by a Greek Artist” from the Association of Greek Critics for Drama and Music.
As a soloist, he has performed at major festivals and concerts in Greece and abroad, including in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Austria, Spain, Russia, Norway, Romania, Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, Chile, and China. He has appeared in iconic concert venues, including the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, New York Carnegie Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus, Oslo Philharmonic Hall, Granada Auditorio de Falla, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and the Athens and Thessaloniki Concert Halls (Megaron). He is a frequent guest at international festivals and he has been featured on television and music magazines and has recorded live for the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation.
He has performed repeatedly with all major Greek orchestras as well as with leading foreign orchestras, including the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, New Elbland Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Music Comedy Leipzig, Galati Symphony Orchestra, and Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, collaborating with distinguished conductors such as C. Warren Green, Rainer Koch, S. Kogan, Ph. Bender, Jiri Rosen, Andreas Wittmann. He has also collaborated with famous artists including composer Rodion Shchedrin, violinists Michael Guttman and Anton Martynov, singers Carla Dirlikov, Elisabeth Whitehouse, Mario Zeffiri, Dimitris Platanias, trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts, and guitarist Ricardo Gallen.
His repertoire spans a wide spectrum of works for solo piano, chamber music, and concertos, ranging from early baroque to the 21st century. A significant part of his activity involves promoting works by Greek and contemporary composers, having performed numerous world premieres. His discography includes recordings of piano works from the romantic period, works for the left hand, Norwegian piano music, Greek contemporary music, as well as a world-premiere recording for the Naxos label featuring the piano music of L. Margaritis and F. Petyrek. Notably, he is the only Greek pianist in recent decades to have performed repeatedly Beethoven’s extremely difficult "Hammerklavier" sonata, as well as solo piano repertoire for the left hand only.
Parallel to his soloist career, he has established a prominent presence in chamber music. He has been a member of the German piano quartet Aurora and the contemporary music ensemble Ergon Ensemble. He has also served as the artistic director of the international concert cycle "Young Classics."
University teaching forms a vital part of his professional activity. He has previously taught piano at the Department of Music Science and Art of the University of Macedonia, where he served as a lecturer, as well as Musical Interpretation and Analysis at the University of Athens. Since 2026, he serves as an Assistant Professor of Piano Performance at the University of Athens. His research work has been presented at Greek and international scientific conferences.
For Apostolos Palios, interpretation is a process of continuous quest and profound immersion. The performer acts as the messenger who conveys the composer's work to the audience—a role that connects the soloist's act with the responsibility of highlighting both the established repertoire and works that deserve to be introduced to a wider audience.