Achilles Liarmakopoulos

Achilles Liarmakopoulos (born August 29, 1985) is a Greek trombonist and member of the Canadian Brass since 2011.

Achilles Liarmakopoulos
Born	(1985-08-29) August 29, 1985 Athens, Greece
Occupation(s)	Musician, trombone professor
Instruments	Trombone
Associated acts	Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra (2010) Canadian Brass (2011-present) Malaysian Philharmonic Jacksonville Symphony European Union Youth Orchestra Pink Martini (2013-present)

Early life and education

Born in Athens, Greece, Liarmakopoulos started trombone lessons at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory, graduating with Excellent Unanimous and first prize. At the age of 18, Liarmakopoulos performed as a soloist at the Walt Disney Hall as the Grand Prize Winner of the Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition, judged by members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.[1]

Liarmakopoulos holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music (class of 2008)[2] the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Philippos Nakas Conservatory in his hometown of Athens, Greece.[3] His studies have been supported by merit-based scholarships, Bok Foundation and Milton L. Rock Annual Fellowships and scholarships from the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, Alexandros S. Onassis Foundation and the Greek State Scholarship Foundation. Yale University awarded him the Philip Francis Nelson Prize for outstanding musicianship.

Career

In December 2010, Liarmakopoulos won the position of principal trombone of the Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he played for one season before joining the Canadian Brass. He has also performed with the Malaysian Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony and European Union Youth Orchestra.[3]

In April 2011, he was invited to audition for the Canadian Brass and since then, he has been their trombonist touring all over the world.

Liarmakopoulos has received awards in the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe and the 2nd Christian Lindberg International Trombone competition.

His debut solo album, Ástor Piazzolla: Tango Distinto was released by Naxos Records in 2011. It is the first full album to appear with Astor Piazzolla's music played by solo trombone.[4]

In 2013, Liarmakopoulos released his second solo album titled Discoveries [5] with new works for trombone and piano, collaborating with piano soloist Amy J. Yang.[6]

In January 2013, Liarmakopoulos was invited to play with the Oregon-based genre-bending ensemble Pink Martini. Since then he is performing with them regularly all over the world.[3]

Liarmakopoulos' third album Trombone Atrevido[7] with choro music from Brazil was released in July 2015 on the ODEG label. The album was produced by guitarist Spiros Exaras and mastered by Bernie Grundman at the Bernie Grundman Mastering Studios-Los Angeles, CA [8]

In 2017 he released his fourth solo album titled Ethereal.[9] The album features six brand new compositions and five arrangements with an exceptional roster of musicians from all over the world including Fernando Suarez Paz from Astor Piazzolla's legendary Tango Quintet.[10]

Liarmakopoulos is an adjunct trombone professor at Brooklyn College in New York City.

In 2018 he formed Cuatrombon[11] with Jorge Glem on cuatro, Manuel Rangel on maracas and Bam Bam Rodriguez on bass. Together they released three singles of Venezuelan music.

Premieres

Liarmakopoulos is a supporter of new music and new works for trombone, and has premiered a number of pieces by new composers. Four Trombone concertos and several chamber pieces have been written specifically for him . He premiered Dream (for trombone solo, string orchestra and harp) by Andrew Cadima at the Curtis Institute of Music in May 2008.[12]

Dedicated works

• Anaklasis - Vagelis Simsiris (1998)
• Dream - Concerto for Trombone and Strings - Andrew Cadima (2008)
• Indigo for Trombone and Piano - John Ellis (2009)
• Tango Paradiso for Trombone and piano - John Ellis (2009)
• Chinese suite - Hua Yang (2010)
• Krakatoa for Trombone and Marimba - Stephen Feigenbaum (2010)
• Concertino for Trombone and Strings - Dinos Costantinides (2012)
• Chorinho do sol - Spiros Exaras (2014)
• Distance for Trombone and Trombone Choir - Andrew Cadima (2015)
• Sleepwalker for Trombone and harp - Andrew Cadima (2016)
• Trombonsillo forTrombone and piano - Carolina Calvache (2016)
• Nostos for trombone and harp - Spiros Exaras (2017)
• In memoriam Theodore Antoniou for trombone and harp- Michalis Andronikou (2019)
• Endlessness for solo trombone - Brandon Ridenour (2019)

Competitions and awards

• Second Christian Lindberg International Solo Competition: Second Prize[13]
• International Trombone Festival Robert Marsteller/Conn-Selmer Competition: Winner
• International Trombone Festival Solo Competition: Winner
• International Trombone Festival Larry Wiehe Competition: Winner
• San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition: Winner[14]
• Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition: Grand-prize winner[15]
• 2010 Yale School of Music Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition: Honorable Mention[16]

Discography

Solo

• Tango Distinto – Astor Piazzolla (2011, Naxos Records)[17]
• Discoveries – New works for trombone and piano (2014, ODEG)[18]
• Trombone Atrevido - Choro music from Brazil (2015, ODEG)[19]
• Ethereal - (2017, AL)
• Obvious - with harpist Coline-Marie Orliac - (2018, AL)[20][21]

EP album

• Chorinho a Tres (2009)
• Tango y Milonga (2019)
• The Dwarf Planets (2020)

Singles

• Distance - with The University of Oklahoma Trombone Choir under the direction of Irvin Wagner - Andrew Cadima [22] - 2020
• Transitions - with Andreas Rolandos Theodorou - composed by Carolina Calvache (2020)
• Milonga en Re - Astor Piazzolla [23] (2011)
• Color Perfume - Fervorchestra conducted by Gabriel Senanes [24][25] (2019)
• Teu Aniversario - Pixinguinha [26] (2019)
• Ahora - with Manuel Rangel [27] (2019)
• Chorando em Sao Paolo - with Vitor Goncalvez & Sergio Krakowksi [28]
• Transitions - with Andreas Rolandos Theodorou - composed by Carolina Calvache (2020)
• I will never forget - composed and performed along Spiros Exaras (2019

With the Canadian Brass

• Canadian Brass Takes Flight (2011)
• Brass Romance (2012, single)
• Carnaval (Robert Schumann's Kinderszenen and Carnaval) (2013)
• Christmas Time is Here (2013)
• Great Wall of China (2014)
• Perfect Landing (2015)[29]

Notes

Footnotes

1. "Achilles Liarmakopoulos | A Trombone Journey: from Tango nuevo to Choros".
2. "Full Alumni Listing". Curtis School of Music. Archived from the original on December 10, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
3. "Biography". Achillestrombone.com.
4. "Liarmakopoulos Releases Debut Album". Archived from the original on January 21, 2012. Retrieved 2013-06-03.
5. "Discoveries - Achilles Liarmakopoulos, trombone and Amy J. Yang, Piano CD". Canadian Brass Store. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
6. "Amy Yang, pianist - Official Site". www.amyjyang.com. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
7. "Achilles Liaramakopolous / Trombone Atrevido / Linus Entertainment". linus.labelstore.ca. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
8. "Bernie Grundman Credits - ARTISTdirect Music". www.artistdirect.com. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
9. "ETHEREAL | Achilles Liarmakopoulos". Opening Day Entertainment Group. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
10. Gama, Raul da (July 1, 2017). "Achilles Liarmakopoulos Presents: Ethereal - World Music Report". World Music Report. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
11. achillestrombone (May 9, 2018), 1. El Rezongón - Merengue Venezolano - LIVE - Cuatrombon!, retrieved October 7, 2018
12. International Trombone Association :: Events :: Cadima Premiere Archived February 8, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
13. Curtis Brass.com :: Recent News Archived February 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
14. http://www.sfcm.edu/pdf/April_May.pdf Archived April 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
15. "Instrumental Competition". Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
16. "Winners of the 2010 Woolsy Hall Concerto Competition Announced". Music at Yale. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
17. "PIAZZOLLA, A.: Tango Distinto (Liarmakopoulos) - 8.572596". Naxos.com. February 17, 2012. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
18. "Amoeba Music". Amoeba.com. September 25, 2018. Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
19. "Trombone Atrevido". Opening Day Entertainment Group. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
20. Obvious, retrieved June 25, 2020
21. Gama, Raul da (March 18, 2018). "Achilles Liarmakopoulos & Coline-Marie Orliac · Obvious". World Music Report. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
22. Cadima, Andrew, 1984- composer. Dream : for trombone, strings, and harp (2007/2008). OCLC 862743080.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
23. www.amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/Milonga-En-Re-Achilles-Liarmakopoulos/dp/B079GT6CQG. Retrieved June 25, 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
24. Color Perfume, retrieved June 25, 2020
25. www.amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/Perfume-Fervorchestra-Gabriel-Achilles-Liarmakopoulos/dp/B0837T465W. Retrieved June 25, 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
26. "Achilles Liarmakopoulos - "Teu Aniversario" Single Track mp3 Digital Download". Canadian Brass Store. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
27. www.amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/Ahora-Achilles-Liarmakopoulos-Manuel-Rangel/dp/B084Q8ZM5K/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=ahora+liarmakopoulos&qid=1593049672&s=dmusic&sr=1-4. Retrieved June 25, 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
28. www.amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/Ahora-Achilles-Liarmakopoulos-Manuel-Rangel/dp/B084Q8ZM5K/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=ahora+liarmakopoulos&qid=1593049672&s=dmusic&sr=1-4. Retrieved June 25, 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
29. "Perfect Landing Canadian Brass CD". Canadianbrassstore.com. Retrieved October 8, 2018.

External links

• Liarmakopoulos in the Canadian Brass
• Spanish-language review of Ástor Piazzolla: Tango Distinto