Stathis Karapanos — Biography

Stathis Karapanos is a flutist, conductor and Artistic Liaison to Greenpeace. His work spans solo performance, chamber music, orchestral conducting, recording and film. He received the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival’s Leonard Bernstein Award in 2020 and the Rheingau Musik Festival’s LOTTO Prize in 2019.

Born in Athens in 1996, Karapanos studied at the National Conservatory in Athens and the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, graduating with distinction in 2018, before continuing with Philippe Bernold at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris. His teachers and mentors have included Renate Greiss-Armin, Mathieu Dufour, Vangelis Papathanassiou, Petra Müllejans, Henrik Wiese and Peter-Lukas Graf.

During his studies, he regularly premiered works from Wolfgang Rihm’s composition class and performed with ensembles including the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the Cologne Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. After serving as First Principal Flute of the Athens State Orchestra, he left the post to pursue his solo career and further studies.

Since 2018, he has received invitations to perform with conductors including Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev and Yutaka Sado. His chamber partners have included Vilde Frang, Matthias Goerne, Nicolas Altstaedt, Daniel Hope, Chen Reiss and Marisol Montalvo.

Highlights include his Vienna Musikverein debut in October 2023 with the Tonkünstler Orchestra and Yutaka Sado; his London debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; and the recording of Khachaturian’s Flute Concerto with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra under Kristiina Poska. His premieres include Leonard Bernstein’s For Inge and the Zorbas Suite by Mikis Theodorakis and Achilleas Wastor.

For Ondine, he recorded Hindemith’s complete works for flute with Christoph Eschenbach, the Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra and chamber partners. His recent recording with Prague Philharmonia and Stefan Asbury brings together Penderecki’s complete music for flute and orchestra.

From 2018 to 2024, Karapanos worked internationally as assistant conductor to Christoph Eschenbach. His conducting work has since led to invitations involving Gidon Kremer, Pepe Romero, Kremerata Baltica, the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra.

As Artistic Liaison to Greenpeace, he connects music, film and environmental storytelling through collaborations with Greenpeace Greece.