Biography

As soloists, Michalis and Dejan have given extensive recital tours on four continents, having won prizes at the most important guitar contests (A. Segovia, Francisco Tárrega, Havana, Doña Infanta Cristina, Printemps de la Guitare, Sinaia, Volos, etc). In Sernancelhe (Portugal), they took part of the national premiere (2004) of the famous Concierto Madrigal by Joaquín Rodrigo, with Filarmonia das Beiras under the baton of maestro António Vassalo Lourenço. On 6th of July 2019, they had a privilege to participate in a concert as a hommage to maestro Rodrigo on 20th anniversary of his death, under the patronage of Cecilia Rodrigo, the president of Joaquín Rodrigo Foundation, in Petrer (Spain). They have been invited to perform at important festivals, concert halls and series such as the Gevelsberg Festival (Germany), Guitar Art Festival (Serbia), Guimarães Guitar Festival (Portugal) and Centro Cultural de Belém (Portugal), Petrer Guitar Festival (Spain), Veria and Megaron-Thessaloniki Festivals (Greece), and Guitarra Viva concert series in Zagreb (Croatia). At that time, the idea to form a professional chamber music ensemble seemed almost impossible due to the distance (Athens and Lisbon residents) and the difficulty of having regular rehearsals in order to maintain the professional level required by their criteria. Since the beginning, the main focus of their interpretations tends to be the profound chamber music communication which underlines the music expression and character together with genuine sound timing equality. The reaction of the press was very positive, with Westfalen Post (Germany, 2007) considering them as “[…] one of the world’s greatest guitar duos […]” together with Professional Audio Magazine (Germany, 2010) confirming the same statement (“[…] for Aficionados, one of the World’s best Guitar Duos […]”). They also collaborated with composers Christopher Bochmann (Four Fancies) and Francisco Chaves (Eclipse, Ritual e Dança) on the creation and premiere of their pieces for this ensemble. In January 2020, they premiered their newest transcription of Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky for two guitars at Jijona Guitar Festival (Spain).