On May 15, 2018, at 20:00 the Urban Music Hall (33 Rishelievska Street), will host the concert of the Greek Musical Ensemble “Transcription Ensemble” composed of the piano trio including:

Christos Gribas (cello)
Nikos Zafranas (piano)
Giorgos Candilidis (violin)

The ensemble was created in 2007. The three successful soloists belong to a new generation of Greek musicians who are busy with giving numerous concerts of chamber music in Greece as well as in Europe and North America. The musicians complement their rich artistic life including radio and television recordings with teaching.
The concert program includes works by Nikos Skalkottas, Sergey Rakhmaninov, Yannis Konstantinidis, Solon Michailidis, Dmitriy Shostakovich and Astor Piazzolla.

Admittance by invitations invitations that can be obtained at the HFC Branch (20 Krasny Provulok).

Program of the concert

The concert will be held with the support of the Boumbouras Foundation.

Transcription Ensemble
The Transcription Ensemble occupies an important place in the cultural life in Greece and abroad. Its performances include collaboration with the Concert Hall of Thessaloniki, the State Museum of Contemporary Art and the 48th Dimitris Festival (2013), in which the musicians in cooperation with T. Kulieva and Anna Nechevko from the Moscow Bolshoy Theater, Russia made use of multimedia that simultaneously demonstrated masterpieces of poetry, painting and music of the twentieth-century Russian avant-garde, the presentation by Concertino Martin to the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki, under the name of the Resident Ensemble in the Concert Hall of Thessaloniki, the use of live music from the ensemble’s repertoire in the documentary film “Step forward”. The ensemble has performed in such halls and institutions as the Tate Gallery in London, the Museum of the Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Concert Hall in Athens (2012, 2017), the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall in St. Petersburg, the International Music Days in Rhodes, the International Festival of Classical Music in Cyclades, the Sunday Morning of the National Orchestra of Thessaloniki, the National Art Gallery in the series of performances of chamber music by the State Orchestra of Athens, the European Language Union, and the International Neurological Conference in Avignon (France). Through its concert performances, the ensemble aims to distribute a rich repertoire of popular music in transcription for a small group and unknown pieces of chamber music as well as present famous pieces for small ensembles.

Christos Gribas (cello)
Born in Thessaloniki, he began playing cello at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki (class of D. Patras), continued his studies in Berlin (University of Arts) and received his post-graduate degree in chamber music from the Folkwang Hochschule Essen (class of V. Mendelssohn). He was a member of the Young Rhine Orchestra, the World Orchestra of Young Musicians and the Young Musicians Orchestra of the European Union. He took second prizes at the Greek National Contest for Young Soloists (Volos 1997) and the International Chamber Music Competition at the ÉELEXPO – International Exhibition in Thessaloniki (1998). As a soloist, he collaborated with the State and Municipal Orchestra of Thessaloniki, the Volos Symphonic Orchestra, the Sliven Municipal Orchestra and the Sofia Symphonic Orchestra. He recorded his music with the Greek Broadcasting Orchestra. Concurrently, he continued his education through the implementation of the programs of the Embassy of Greece in Germany and the Secretariat for the Greeks Abroad for Greek schools in Germany. He received the Alexandra Triadi Scholarship from the Athens Association of the Friends of Music and the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation. He is a full member of the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki.

Nikos Zafranas (piano)
Born in Thessaloniki. He received a diploma with distinction from the National Conservatory of Athens (class of Domna Evnouchidou) and continued his studies at the University of Illinois, USA (class of Ian Hobson) and the Music University of Graz, Austria (class of W. Kamper), where he received a Magister Artium degree. He received honors in competitions both in Greece and abroad. He gave concerts, including the solo ones, in Greece, Austria, Germany, USA, Spain, Italy, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Great Britain, South Africa, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, and Czech Republic. He is one of the founders of the Piandaemonium Ensemble. He has recorded the solo piano and chamber pieces for television and radio as well as CDs. He worked as a musical developer in numerous productions of the Styriarte (Austria), the Concert Hall of Thessaloniki and the Opera of Thessaloniki. He is a Candidate of Sciences at the Faculty of Education at Brunel University in London and a lecturer at the Faculty of Music at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki.

Giorgos Candilidis (violin)
Born in Balkhash, Kazakhstan. He began playing violin at the age of six in Shimkent and then at the State Conservatory in Thessaloniki from which he graduated with a diploma with distinction (class of Dadi Dosio). He continued his studies at the Academy of Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan) with Ayman Musahhodjayeva (lecturer at the Tchaikovsky Academy in Moscow), and then received the postgraduate degree from the Music Academy of Trossingen, Germany (class of Christian Ostertag). In 1994, he performed as a soloist with the Orchestra of the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki in many cities of Greece and represented Greece at the International Festival at Novi Sad (Serbia). He occupied the position of the director of the Symphonic Orchestra of the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the Greek Camerata. As a soloist, he collaborated with the Municipal and State Orchestra of Thessaloniki, as well as the Academic Symphonic Orchestra of Sofia. He works as a teacher at the Thessaloniki Music College and is a regular member of the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki.