Chris Vassiliades

Christopher Vassiliades, pianist and composer, received his bachelor of music degree in piano performance and his master of music degree in theory from Manhattan School of Music, where he also studied piano with Robert Goldsand. He has premiered the works of many important composers and has performed with such ensembles as the Group for Contemporary Music, the New Music Consort, and Bang on a Can. His solo and chamber performances can be heard on the Soundspells and CRI labels. For decades he dedicated himself to premiering and interpreting the works of Meyer Kupferman and has had many of Kupferman’s works dedicated to him, including his Third Piano Concerto: Foxfire, which he recorded with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. He has toured the United States in a concert surveying over forty years of Kupferman’s piano works.

Mr. Vassiliades has composed numerous operas, chamber works, musicals, and cabaret shows, often collaborating with librettist Andrew Joffe. He was artistic director of Oval Window Chamber Ensemble from 1987 to 1998. In 1987 the World Music Society commissioned his Rhapsody on Greek Songs and Dances, and he was a finalist in the prestigious Kucyna International Prize Competition for his Les Métamorphoses du Vampire.

In past years Mr. Vassiliades has dedicated himself to teaching and has been at Manhattan School of Music teaching theory and composition in the precollege division since 1984 and theory in the college division since 1992. He has also taught at Sarah Lawrence College and was a member of the adjunct faculty at SUNY Purchase.