Apollon Kalamenios

Apollon Kalamenios had a great passion for music from an early age and aspired to become an all-round musician. He developed his musical skills by studying piano and violin as well as composition. He is currently studying piano with David Kuyken and composition with Richard Ayres at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He forms a duo with soprano Madeline Saputra.

biography

He is currently studying classical piano at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, with David Kuyken. He also took master classes with leading pianists, including Janusz Olejniczak, Aleksandar Madzar, Miguel Ituarte and Mikhail Voskresensky.

Apollon could be heard on several occasions on Concertzender, Red Light Jazz Radio and NPO, among others. One of the highlights was his performance in the Recital Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, where he performed works by composer Ellen Reid. He was also part of the Forbidden Music Festival, where musicians reperformed and recorded music banned during World War II. He enjoys performing as a pianist in chamber music concerts and has collaborated with viola player Nobuko Imai, accompanying her master classes. Together with Spanish saxophonist Neus Mínguez, he toured Spain and the Netherlands with the project ‘MusicaLorca’, in collaboration with choreographer Marta Créspo. In this project, the musical world of Federico García Lorca was brought to life through a combination of dance, theatre and music.

In the field of composition, Apollon took classes with Meriç Artaç, Maya Verlaak. He is currently studying with Richard Ayres at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. His compositions could be heard at various festivals around the world, including in Cyprus, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Finland and the United States. In 2020, his composition Echolalia, a short work for orchestra, performed as a world premiere by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of Cyprus' 60th independence celebrations. In 2022, he presented Ashερόμπασμαν, a composition for electronics and carillon, as part of the Gaudeamus Festival.

In July 2024, a composition by Apollon was performed by early music ensemble Camerata Trajectina to mark the 10th anniversary of the Wonderfeel Festival.

In addition, Apollon, together with ballet dancer and visual artist Wisse Scheele, won both the Audience Award and the Responsible AI Prize at the Goodmesh Competition 2024 with their multidisciplinary work Echoes of a Lost Bird, in which music, dance and visual arts came together to explore themes of loss and memory.

Apollon forms a duo with soprano Madeline Saputra.