An interview with four internationally acclaimed pianists – Katarina Krpan, Magda Nikolaidou, Christos Papageorgiou and Ioannis Potamousis – on the occasion of the concert “PIANO 2²” at the Meleagris Art Festival
It is perhaps the quintessential characteristic of classical music: the composer makes many “voices” sound simultaneously in harmony. We asked four pianists who will perform together at Meleagris Farm to answer our questions collectively. Four voices unite into one to tell us why eight hands will join on two pianos!
What brings you to Meleagris Farm for a concert?
We are brought by the need to bring music closer to its original source: the open sky, the breathing earth, the place where humans reconnect with nature. Meleagris Farm is not just a place – it is a stage ready to be filled with sounds and silences. Above all, however, we are brought by friendship. Music is, in its essence, a conversation – between composers, performers, and audience. Having this dialogue in such a beautiful place is deeply inspiring and natural for us. This concert is about creating an atmosphere of connection – among ourselves, with the audience, and with the environment itself.
Nature inspired many composers. What does it mean for you to play so close to it?
Playing in nature is like returning to the very source of music. Nature, with its silence, rhythm, and truth, is not just a backdrop; it is a musical interlocutor. It is the most demanding yet generous listener. It doesn’t applaud; it responds with rustles, with light, with silence. The wind, the whisper, the silence of the landscape – all these become part of the performance. The sound of the piano flows like water or air. It’s as if the music breathes differently, more deeply, more authentically. The Muses, after all, were not born in a New York loft; they always resided in nature.
Pianists rarely play together. What does the collaboration between four of you mean?
The piano is an instrument that often condemns us to solitude. But when four pianists meet, solitude transforms into collectivity. It is a rare gift: two pianos, eight hands, four different voices composing a new unity. Playing becomes an experience of acoustic “cohabitation,” an exercise in trust and subtlety. The joy doubles, the expression deepens, and the result is something none of us could create alone. We experience it as a masterpiece – both for us and for the audience.
How did you agree on the program? What are its general directions?
We built the program as if weaving a story. Ioannis Potamousis laid the initial foundation – a core of works that inspired us all. On this backbone, we added ideas, made additions and subtractions, seeking not just a repertoire, but a narrative. We wanted to combine familiar paths with new discoveries. From the bright overture The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart to Saint-Saëns’ mystical Danse Macabre and Lutosławski’s Variations, Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances, the Suite from Bizet’s Carmen, as well as the Suite from Stravinsky’s The Firebird – the first nationwide performance of the arrangement for two pianos – and excerpts from Christos Papageorgiou’s musical Callas and Onassis. The program is a journey through the colors and moods of the piano.
What is the central artistic idea?
The word that accompanies us is “coexistence”: of artists, eras, schools, styles. Dialogue is at the center: between the two pianos, the four performers, composers from different times, and, of course, between us and the audience. We do not necessarily seek a single thematic narrative; what we seek is the creation of a space where an authentic musical and emotional conversation can develop. We want to please every potential listener – and invite them to become part of this experience.
What else do you hope to share with the audience?
More than an impressive performance, we hope to create a shared experience – an experience that doesn’t end with the final applause. A feeling that, even for a short while, everyone – performers and listeners – breathes in the same rhythm. A memory that is not limited to sound, but extends to silence, to nature, to coexistence. We want to share the joy of dialogue, the warmth of friendship, and the beauty of being all together, present, in such a special environment.
So you’ll stay for a glass of wine afterwards…
Of course! What? Miss the best part? Never! Wine after the concert is its natural continuation. Even if we feel a slight fatigue, the heart remains full – and wants to share. At Meleagris Farm, the music doesn’t end with the last note. It continues in the encounter with the audience, in the conversations that follow, in the authentic exchanges around a table. This is the moment when art becomes life again.
“PIANO 2²: 2 pianos – 4 pianists” at Meleagris Art Festival
Saturday, October 18, 2025, at 8:30 PM
Meleagris Farm (2nd km Spata – Artemida Avenue, Spata)Book tickets
https://www.ticketservices.gr/event/meleagris-art-festival-piano-2-2
Katarina Krpan, pianist and professor, graduated and received her master’s degree from the Zagreb Academy of Music in the class of Professor Vladimir Krpan. She continued her studies and obtained a second master’s degree at the University of Music Lausanne in the class of Professor Jean-François Antonioli.
Her distinguished recitals, chamber music concerts, and appearances with symphony and musical ensembles have established her as one of the leading Croatian artists. Numerous invitations from renowned festivals, as well as her concerts in major music centers in Europe, North and South America, Australia, and Africa, attest to her international reputation.
She has performed under the baton of the most important Croatian and international conductors, accompanied by the Zagreb Soloists, the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, as well as numerous foreign orchestras. The extensive audio archive of her performances includes a plethora of studio recordings for major radio and television stations in Croatia, Switzerland, and Italy, as well as several CDs released by domestic and international record labels.
Her albums have received many accolades in the recording industry. In her current work, in addition to an intense artistic activity in and outside Croatia, she has also developed significant pedagogical work, showing particular sensitivity to the education of young musicians, with an emphasis on their comprehensive training. Her students have won numerous national and international awards.
Katarina Krpan is particularly interested in 20th-century music and the work of Croatian composers. She has premiered and recorded an impressive number of contemporary piano works, dedicated to her by talented young composers and established creators of Croatian music (such as Milko Kelemen, Berislav Šipuš, Mladen Tarbuk). She has also conveyed her belief in the need to promote national music to her students, and in 2010 she founded HR PROJEKT, which brings together music school students and students from various departments of music academies. The project aims to study and present works by Croatian composers in concerts in and outside Croatia. For the same purpose, she continuously strengthens cooperation with the Croatian Music Youth.
The awards she has received confirm the value of her work: the Rector’s Award during her studies, the Croatian Music Institute Award, the Ivo Vuljević Award of the Music Youth, the Association of University Professors Award for the best young scientist, the May Music Festival Award (France), the Vatroslav Lisinski Award of the Croatian Composers’ Society, the Milka Trnina Award of the Croatian Music Society, the Neven Award of the St. Mark’s Festival, and the Plaque of the City of Zagreb.
From 1991 to 2024, she collaborated as a piano duo with her father, the late Vladimir Krpan, with numerous concerts, a repertoire for four hands and two pianos, as well as with various ensembles and many orchestras. The result of this collaboration is four albums and one DVD release.
In 2019, the #kkkk duo was founded with violinist Katarina Kutnar. The Kutnar/Krpan duo received an equally warm reception from the audience and critics. They won the Porin award for the best classical music album (“Berislav Šipuš: Zajedno”) in 2019, while for the album #KKKK Sanjarenje/Daydream in 2022, they were nominated in all classical music categories.
Katarina Krpan is a full professor with a permanent title at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, and a lecturer and head of the elective course Contemporary Piano Music since the academic year 2021/2022, within which students have so far performed and recorded more than 100 contemporary works by composers from Croatia and abroad.
She is also responsible for the piano summer school of the International Cultural Centre of Croatian Music Youth in Grožnjan.
Pianist and musicologist Magda Nikolaidou was born in Athens. Covering a wide range from classical repertoire to contemporary music, she is active both as a piano soloist and in chamber music with lecture-recitals and concerts in many European countries, Egypt, and Russia.
Among her collaborations, her work with the late Alexander Ivashkin, one of the most important cellists of his generation, stands out. Together they performed in concerts at the Bellonio Cultural Center in Santorini, the University of London in the UK, the Cairo Opera House, and the Alexandria Opera House in Egypt.
She represented Greece in Cork, Ireland – European Capital of Culture December 2005. Her achievements include premieres of repertoire works, as well as works written for her and her ensembles. Of particular artistic significance are the World Premiere of 4 Greek Dances by N. Skalkottas at the Rachmaninoff Institute (Tambov, Russia) and the World Premiere of Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Symphony (Athens Conservatoire, Aris Garoufalis Hall), transcribed for two pianos by her collaborator Nasos Grozas. Currently, she is recording for two pianos, in Nasos Grozas’ transcription, N. Skalkottas’ tonal works “36 Greek Dances,” “The Sea,” and “Dance in C minor.”
In recent years, her study of S. Rachmaninoff’s work stands out, with lecture-recitals on his piano writing at the Rachmaninoff University (Tambov, Russia), the University of London (Goldsmiths College – Deptford Town Hall), and the Athens Concert Hall.
She has recorded works for solo piano and piano duo for Subway Recording Studios and LabMat (NKUA).
Her experience in contemporary performance includes collaborations with directors, actors, visual artists, and writers such as: Medea (directed by Rafika Saouis, Abbey Festival London), Retrospective Stella and Takis Kavallieratos (with visual artists Stella and Takis Kavallieratos, Benaki Museum, Athens), Mikael (by Theofanous Ioannou, with soprano Maira Milolidaki and actor Vassilis Liakos, Music Library of the Athens Concert Hall),…Towards the Ultimate Light…(directed by Rafika Saouis, Philippi Kavala Festival) etc.
A piano graduate from the Athens Conservatoire, she continued her studies in Paris (Piano Diploma École Nationale de Gennevilliers, Chamber Music Diploma École Nationale de Gennevilliers, Maîtrise de Musicologie, Sorbonne – Paris IV) and London (Master of Performance and Related Studies, University of London), under the guidance of professors Josette Morata, Jeanne Claude Bouvresse, Pr Philippe Cathé, Pr Alexander Ivashkin, Andrew Zolinsky and Pr Christopher Elton. She is currently completing her dissertation at the Sorbonne University (Paris) under the supervision of Pr Philippe Cathé on S. Rachmaninoff’s Études – Tableaux op. 33 and op.39 with the sponsorship of the Athanasios and Marina Martinos Public Benefit Foundation – Aegean.
She was a founding member and artistic director of the international “Sound and Image” Festival in Santorini, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture (2008 – 2016). Since 2023, she has been the artistic director of the Meleagris Art Festival (Spata – Attica).
During her stay in Paris, she worked as a piano teacher and was a member of examination committees in state conservatories.
She teaches piano and chamber music at the National Conservatory of Chalandri and the Erateio Conservatory, while her students often distinguish themselves in international and national competitions for their performances in solo piano and chamber music.
Christos Papageorgiou, as an internationally acclaimed musician with continuous artistic activity, has successfully operated for many years across a wide range of musical endeavors as a composer, pianist, music producer for radio and television shows (“Searching for the Lady with Strychnine” ET2 / ERA3, “Megaro Station” ET2, “OMMA in Arts” ET1), as well as live educational performances and concerts, both as a solo performer and in collaboration with significant ensembles and artists such as the Athens State Orchestra (“Journey to the Center of Music”), Thessaloniki State Orchestra, ERT National Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Orchestra of the Friends of Music, etc. He also serves as a professor (Ionian University, State School of Dance, etc.), artistic director of conservatories (National Conservatory of Kifissia, Central Conservatory), administrative executive (Director of the Third Program, Advisor on Artistic Affairs for ERT), and speaker at public and private institutions, festivals, and various state bodies such as universities, municipalities, schools, etc.
Awards and distinctions he has received include the 1st prize of the international composition competition “2 Agosto” 1999 in Bologna, from the “Union of Greek Critics, Theater and Music,” for his composition “Pyrrhichios,” a special distinction from ASCAP for its American premiere (Buffalo Philharmonic), etc. In 2013, he was declared “Artist in Residence” of the award-winning Aegean Summer Festival in Syros.
On June 21, 2023, his musical “Callas and Onassis” premiered at the Varna Summer Festival by the Varna State Opera to an enthusiastic reception, and also at the annual winter festival in Sofia in the presence of two Presidents of the Republic and a packed theater with rave reviews.
To date, he has appeared in major music centers worldwide, such as Carnegie (Weil) Hall, Lincoln Center, Berlin Philharmonie, Barbican Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Kensington Palace, St James Palace, Kioi Hall, Codaira Hall, Casals Hall, Rudolfinum Dvorak Hall, and collaborated with important orchestras (Philharmonia, Orchestre Symphonique du Capitale de Toulouse, Odessa Philharmonic, Munich Symphony, Malaga Symphony Orchestra, NHK, Orchestra Sinfonica del Emiglia Romagna “Arturo Toscanini”, Czech Radio Symphony, State Symphony Orchestras of Istanbul, Izmir, etc.).
Ioannis Potamousis was characterized as an “Greek virtuoso” by New Jersey Press critics and a “Colossus of the Keys” by the newspaper Passiatempo, and is internationally recognized as a “charismatic and passionate pianist who stands out for his artistry as well as his inner and poetic expression.” The Kölner Stadt Angeiger wrote about his performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Concerto: “…Ioannis Potamousis impressed the audience with his dynamic presence and his ability to create a dialogue with the orchestra,” “stunning virtuosity… unique atmosphere” wrote the Cincinnati Post. The Voice of America wrote, “Ioannis Potamousis, in his debut at Symphony Space in Manhattan, performed Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto with tremendous success. He received flattering comments and reviews.” The Gulf News wrote about his concerts in Dubai: “…it is worth listening to pianist Ioannis Potamousis perform Liszt’s Spanish Rhapsody. As we watched him identify with the music, we too were captivated by the music which literally took our breath away…” “…everyone should see and hear Ioannis Potamousis on stage; he can be stormy at times, humorous at others, and can become as gentle as air.”
He has performed in major venues in Europe, the Middle East, and America. In Greece, he has appeared with the Athens State Orchestra in 2000 and at the international Symi Festival. He has also performed in Cyprus in a solo recital at the PASYDY theater. On his last tour in the Middle East, he played four solo recitals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi; he also collaborated with the Emirates Orchestra as a soloist, followed by a series of recitals in Jerusalem.
His appearances in New York have been part of the “Trinity Concert Series” music institution, as well as the Schumann and Bach festivals at Mannes College of Music, Steinway Hall in Manhattan, the Harvard Club, the Metropolitan Club, Symphony Space, the German Consulate, among others. He has also performed in Schenectady, New York, the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati, Memphis University, Margaret Williams Hall in New Jersey, the concert hall of New Mexico Music University, among others. He has collaborated as a soloist with many orchestras: New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Collegium Music Koeln, the Summit Festival Orchestra New Jersey, the New Jersey City Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Concert Association Symphony Orchestra, Dearborn Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Community Orchestra, Musica Da Camera, and Rutgers Symphony Orchestra.
During his studies, he won significant awards in international competitions. In 2001, he won second prize at the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati; the same year, he won first place in the International Piano Concerto Competition of NASO, New York. In the international piano competition in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he won first place in the concerto category performing Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto (2004). He is also among the award winners in the international piano competition for the best Beethoven sonata in Memphis, Tennessee.
Since 2015 in Abu Dhabi, he is the co-founder of the concert series for young artists “Pollen – spreading the seeds of Music” and artistic director of the young artists’ competition under the auspices of NSO Abu Dhabi. He serves as a member of the jury for all major piano competitions in the UAE, including the Chopin competition in Abu Dhabi, while also being the head of the piano department at Brighton College, Abu Dhabi, and a piano professor at New York University Abu Dhabi. Also, since 2022, he has been included in the list of Steinway Artists. His recordings are available on platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, produced by Subways Music.
