Stefanos Korkolis

Stefanos Korkolis (Greek: Στέφανος Κορκολής; born 12 September 1960) is a Greek composer and pianist.^[1] He was born in Athens and grew up in Patissia. He is a nephew of renowned Greek composer Mimis Plessas.

He was considered a prodigy for starting playing the piano since the age of five without prior lessons. His first teacher was piano soloist Marika Papaioannou. Until the age of seven he performed as a self-taught pianist. At age eleven he enrolled in the Athens Conservatoire. His piano teacher was Phoebe Vallinda and harmony teacher was Menelaos Pallantios. Two and a half years later he partakes in an international piano contest winning the first prize, as well as a scholarship from the French government. The latter enabled him to continue his studies at École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

From the age of 17 and for 11 years, he was known as "... the French pianist Korkolis, of Greek nationality...". He attended seminars on chorus direction and instrumentation by Vladimir Horowitz, Yvonne Lefébure and others. During that period he composed music for theatrical and cinematic productions. Eleven years later he abandoned classical music which resulted in the revocation of his scholarship. As a composer and a director, he started releasing independent records some of which reached the status of gold.

In 1990, his first Greek album ("Λες κι είσαι νύχτα") was released. Famous songs from this work included "Ζωή με το κομμάτι" and "Μισό - μισό". In 1991 he moved back to Greece. He initially worked on commercials. His first work as an orchestrator was at Andreas Mikroutsikos' "Χαμένο νησί". Subsequently he released his second personal album "Οι μέρες της φωτιάς", which included a song with the same name and "Στους πέντε ανέμους", a duet with Constantina.

In 1997, targeting the European audience, he collaborated with Marinella, Vicky Leandros and José Carreras who performed "Σκόνη και Θρύψαλλα" in Carreras' gala and other European concerts. This song was included in Leandros' highly successful "Gefuehle/Συναισθήματα".

In 1998, he turned to classical music with piano recitals in Athens Concert Hall and Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Greece, as well as outside Greece. He collaborated with George Dalaras, Dimitris Mitropanos, Mario Frangoulis, Alkistis Protopsalti, Mando, Melina Aslanidou, and others.

Korkolis composed "The Hymn of Special Olympics", in 1997 and which was first performed at the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games in North Carolina, USA.

In 2003, he performed with Dulce Pontes in the Opera of Bratislava, as an official guest of Jorge Sampaio, during his visit in Slovakia. Following the performance Korkolis was awarded with a medal.

In April 2004, in a ceremony held in the ambassadors home in Hague, he gave a piano recital for the members of the International Olympic Committee as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

Since 2005, he has been working with Russian singer Linda, whom he married in January 2012.

Since 2006, collaborating with Greek singers Andriana Babali, Chrispa and Alkistis Protopsalti.

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