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On the opera stage, Grammenos has conducted Puccini La Boheme with New Zealand Opera and English Touring Opera and has received praise for “one of the best Bohèmes I have heard in recent years” and for his “sensitivity and assurance, balancing the orchestra beautifully with the singers”. He has also conducted Rossini La Cenerentola at Neville Holt Opera, Mozart La Clemenza di Tito at the Aspen Music Festival and Verdi Il Trovatore at the Theatre Vorpommern. Prior to this, he made his opera conducting debut in Würzburg with Puccini Gianni Schicchi and has assisted Johannes Debus on productions of Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin and Mozart The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Canadian Opera Company. His performances are profoundly expressive, rich in colour and emotion, and he has been described by “Die Welt” as “one of the most promising stars of tomorrow”.
Grammenos is Founder and Artistic Director of the Greek Youth Symphony Orchestra (GYSO). Under his leadership the GYSO has performed at prestigious venues across the world including Carnegie Hall, London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Berlin Konzerthaus for the opening of the Young Euro Classic Festival, and since 2020, they have been Orchestra in Residence at the Megaron in Athens. In March ’26 Grammenos announced the founding of a new ensemble, the Orchestre Visionnaire, which will unite some of the finest musicians from across Europe, together with outstanding GYSO players and alumni. They will make their debut in 2026 by special invitation of the Concertgebouw, joined by pianist Anna Fedorova, and will perform a new work by Aziza Sadikova, specially commissioned by the Concertgebouw for the orchestra, alongside Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony.
Grammenos trained as a clarinettist at the University of Music “Franz Liszt” in Weimar, and in 2008 won the Grand Prix d’Eurovision from the European Broadcasting Union as well as the title European Young Musician of the Year, the first wind player ever to receive this title. In 2013 he won a place on the ECHO Rising Stars programme which led to performances with many major orchestras and in some of the most prestigious venues worldwide, such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Barbican Hall, London. He has also made recordings for Naïve and Warner Classics.
In 2009 Grammenos was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts and the Gold Medal of the City of Athens. After his studies in Weimar, he studied conducting at the Würzburg Music University with Ari Rasilainen, and was invited to take part in conducting masterclasses with David Zinman, Bernhard Haitink, Patrick Summers and Robert Spano. In 2016 he received a Conducting Fellowship at Aspen Music Festival and in 2018 was selected for the European Young Leaders programme, under the patronage of Jean-Claude Juncker, which aims to cultivate a European identity by engaging the most promising talents in initiatives destined to shape Europe’s future.
2025/26 season / 612 words. Not to be altered without permission.