Greek soloist and chamber musician, Vasilis Rakitzis, is a Doctor of Musical Arts* from City University London and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and the Conservatories of Athens and Amsterdam. A pupil of Popi and Maria Efstratiadis, Martin Roscoe, Naum Grubert, and Caroline Palmer, he also participated in masterclasses with Paul Badura-Skoda, Boris Berman, Martino Tirimo, and Leonidas Kavakos.

Vasilis regularly appears in piano recitals and chamber music concerts in Greece and England, and he has also performed in the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy. As a concerto soloist he has performed with the State Orchestras of Athens and Thessaloniki, the National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Greece (E.R.T.), and the Symphony Orchestra of the City of Athens. Vasilis was a prizewinner in national and international competitions, and he was awarded the prestigious ‘Eleni Tim. Mykoniou’ prize by the Academy of Athens. He currently resides in London and also teaches piano at Christ’s Hospital School in Horsham, and The Royal School and the Hindhead Music Centre in Haslemere (Surrey, UK).

*Vasilis Rakitzis' thesis is entitled Alfred Cortot's response to the music for solo piano of Franz Schubert: a study in performance practice. It is available at http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/16965.