Verdi Anniversary with Irina Iordachescu & Dimitris Tiliakos

BIOGRAPHY

Irina Iordachescu
Soprano Irina Iordachescu was born in Bucharest, in a family of musicians.
She graduated the Academy of Music in Bucharest in 2000 at the singing class of professor Maria Slatinaru Nistor and the lieder-oratorio class of professor Dan Iordachescu. She has received numerous prizes in International competitions such as “G.B. Viotti” (Italy – Prize “Cesare Bardelli”); “Silvia Geszty” (Spain – 3rd Prize); “Maria Callas” (Greece – 3rd Prize); “Vincenzo Bellini” (Italy – 2nd Prize); “IVC s’Hertogenbosch” (Holland – 3rd Prize and the Prize of the Public). In 2009 she received the VIP AWARD for “Best Opera Singer of the Year in Romania”.

Her Opera debut was in 2000 at the stage of the Bucharest National Opera with Pamina in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflote”, and in 2001 Ms. Iordachescu had her international debut at the “Dante Alighieri” Theatre in Ravenna in the role of Giulietta from “I Capuleti e I Montecchi” by Vincenzo Bellini in the Ravenna Musical Festival. In 2001 she was also invited to sing in two vocal-symphonic concerts on the stage of the “Teatro alla Scala” in Milan under the musical direction of Maestro RICCARDO MUTI with the Orchestra and the Choir of “La Scala”. Her “La Scala” debut was in 2007 as Zeyno Kari in “Teneke”, an opera by Fabio Vacchi commissioned by the famous opera house.

Since 2005 soprano Irina Iordachescu has been a soloist of the Bucharest National Opera, on whose stage she has rendered high class interpretations of the roles Lucia from Lucia di Lammermoor by G. Donizetti, Gilda from Rigoletto by G. Verdi, Norina from Don Pasquale by G. Donizetti, Domizia from Decebalo by L. Leo, Fiordiligi from Cosi fan tutte, Pamina from Die Zauberflote, Susanna from Le nozze di Figaro by W.A. Mozart, Musetta from La Boheme by G. Puccini, Valencienne from Die Lustige Witwe by F. Lehar, Violetta Valery from La Traviata by G. Verdi and others.

Ms. Iordachescu also has a rich vocal-symphonic repertoire having sung Mozart’s “Exultate, jubilate”, “Requiem” and the “c-minor messe”, Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” and “The Ninth Symphony”, Haydn’s “Nelson Messe”, Brahms’s “German Requiem”, Dvorak’s “Requiem”, Rossini’s “Stabat Mater”, together with the prestigious “George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “National Radio Orchestra” in Bucharest as well as internationally, with the Symphonic Orchestra from Mulhouse (France), “L’Estro Armonico” from Luxembourg, Orchestra Clasica “Ciudad de Murcia” (Spain), the State Philharmonic Orchestra from Thessaloniki (Greece), the “Veneta” Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestra Filarmonica di Teatro “V. Bellini” di Catania from Italy and the “Brabants Orchestra” from Holland. She has performed on the same stage with great artists such as Giacomini, Kaludov, Giordani, Tumagian, Pantea and others.

Ms. Iordachescu is singing more and more outside Romania these days. In the past 12 months she has performed in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sofia, Almaty and in July 2012 she was Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme at Glyndebourne.

Dimitris Tiliakos
Dimitris Tiliakos was born in Rodos and first studied viola at the Athens conservatory, before he took up his singing lessons with Kostas Paskalis.
In 1996 he was the first prize winner of the Maria Callas foundation and finalized his studies at the Hochschule für Theater und Musik in Munich. Shortly thereafter he made his debut at the Prinzregententheater in Munich in the role of Conte Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and was awarded the W.D. Fassbaender-prize for young opera singers.

Between 1997 and 2003 Dimitris was a member of the Nuremberg state opera where he performed the major parts of the baritone repertory.

Since 2004 he has been freelancing and quickly made a name for himself through a series of guest performances, including the most important opera houses and concert halls:
Opera National de Paris (Don Carlo, Macbeth), London Royal Opera House (Don Carlos), Opera de Monte Carlo (La Boheme), Sala Sao Paulo, Teatro La Fenice (Manon Lescaut), Polish National Opera (Otello, Carmen), Athens Megaron (Simone Boccanegra), Tokyo Opera City, Greek National Opera (Don Giovanni, Carmen, Trovatore), Tcaikovsky Bolshoi Hall, Theater Bern (Carmen), Metropolitan Opera (La Boheme), Teatro Real-Madrid (Les Huquenots), Don Giovanni at the Bolshoi Opera, Trovatore at the Opera de Nice and the Theatre de la Monnaie.

Dimitris’s future projects include the main roles in: Macbeth at the Teatro Real in Madrid, La Forza del destino at the Cologne Opera, Simon Boccanegra at the Opera de Nice, Nabucco at the Vlaamse Opera and La Traviata at the Nederlandse Opera.

Dimitris Yakas
Dimitris Yakas was born in Athens in 1957. He studied the piano at the National Conservatory in Athens, from where he graduated in 1977. He continued his education at the ECOLE NORMALE DE MUSIQUE DE PARIS (piano, chamber music and piano coaching [formation de chef de chant]) and had lessons in vocal accompaniment with Dalton Baldwin.

In 1982, as a result of winning a competition, he took up a position as coach at the Paris Opera, where he remained until 1991. During this period he worked with many major conductors and singers, with whom he gave concerts in Paris as well as other French cities and at Festivals (Tours, Pau, Strasbourg, Festival de Marmande, de Sully, du Comminges etc.).

He worked many times as coach at the Opera de Lyon at the invitation of Kent Nagano. In 1990 he played at two concerts in Paris, at which the complete works of Berlioz for voice and piano were performed (with M. Olmeda, B. Uria-Monzon etc.).

In 1991 he settled in Athens and became one of the principal collaborators of the Greek National Opera and the Megaron: The Athens Concert Hall, working with conductors as M. Viotti, R. Bonynge, D. Renzetti, J. Arnel, A. Allemandi, etc. He has coached the singers for the world premieres of many operas written by Greek composers [Mikis Theodorakis: MEDEA, Bilbao 1991; Thanos Mikroutsikos THE RETURN OF HELENA, Athens 1993; Arghyris Kounadis: BACCHAE, Athens 1996 etc.] and has played for Master classes of J. Pilou, Ch. Ludwig, D. Evangelatos, Anna Tomowa – Sintow, Alison Pearce etc. He regularly gives concerts as an accompanist in Greece and abroad (M. Krilovic, J. Pilou, A. Baltsa, D. Evangelatos, D. Kavrakos, El. Vidal, A. Cognet, D. Theodossiou etc.).