Theodore Kerkezos | Saxophone

Theodore Kerkezos was born in Crete, graduated from Babis Farantatos’s class at the Athens Conservatoire and continued his studies in Bordeaux with Jean-Marie Londeix and in Paris with Daniel Deffayet. He was twice nominated for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in the categories ‘Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra’ and ‘Best Classical Album’.

He has performed the complete repertoire for saxophone, with orchestras including the London Symphony, London Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras, the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the Tchaikovsky Symphony of Moscow Radio, Moscow Soloists, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Bilbao Symphony, the Athens and Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestras, the Bucharest Philharmonic (George Enescu), Bucharest Radio Symphony, Slovak Philharmonic, Zurich Symphony and Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), receiving excellent reviews.

He has worked with conductors such as Vladimir Fedoseyev, Yuri Simonov, Günter Neuhold and Yuri Bashmet, to name but a few. He has given concerts at the most prestigious venues in Europe, America and Asia, such as the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Shostakovich Philharmonic Hall (St Petersburg), Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow, Tchaikovsky Hall Moscow, Tonhalle (Zurich), Opera of Rome, Athens Megaron Concert Hall, the ancient Theatre of Herodes Atticus (under the Parthenon) and the Beijing Concert Hall. Leading composers including Iannis Xenakis and Mikis Theodorakis have dedicated works to him.

Kerkezos is a professor at the Athens Conservatoire and has given masterclasses at conservatories in Moscow, Boston, and at Princeton and Boston Universities, and also at the Chopin (Warsaw), Gnessin (Moscow) and Kiev Academies.

Theodore Kerkezos has also received many awards and distinctions for his recordings.