Violinist Georgios Demertzis and Pianist Maria Asteriadou Champion the Work of Composer Nikos Skalkottas; Duo Will Perform A "Nikos Skalkottas Evening," Sunday, February 20, 8 P.M., in Warner Concert Hall Story by Claire Chase and Linda Shockley
	THE PROGRAM: Sonata for Solo Violin (1925) • Allegro furioso (quasi presto) • Adagietto • Allegro ritmato • Adagio quasi recitativo - Allegro molto moderato - Adagio Sonatina No. 3 (1935) • Allegro giusto • Andante • Maestoso - Vivace Sonatina No. 4 (1935) • Moderato • Adagio • Allegro moderato Intermission Second Small Suite (1949 - composer's last work) • Poco lento - Moderato mosso • Andante • Allegro vivace 7 Pieces • Small Choral and Fugue • March of the Little Soldiers • Nocturne • Scherzo • Menuetto cantato • Gavotte • Rondo		Pianist Maria Asteriadou and Violinist Georgios Demetrzis As a young violinist, Georgios Demertzis grew accustomed to hearing the music of Nikos Skalkottas. After all, they both grew up in the city of Chalkida, on the Greek island of Evia. "On every anniversary of Nikos Skalkottas' death, small festivals would be organized and broadcast throughout Greece. By the late-1960s, on the 20th anniversary of his death, I had heard many of his pieces played in simpler forms, although I still had not heard his large symphonic pieces. I was just so charmed by his work." That childhood introduction to the twentieth-century Greek composer became a lifelong fascination for Demertzis, violinist and associate professor of violin at Lawrence University. On Sunday, February 20 at 8 p.m. in Warner Concert Hall. Demertzis will offer local audiences a chance to share in his passion when he is joined by his long-time collaborator, pianist Maria Asteriadou, for a performance entitled "Nikos Skalkottas Evening." The concert is free and open to the public. "The music," says Demertzis, "is technically difficult and challenging to perform. The composer was a virtuosic violinist; he received his diploma at 16 and then left to study with the major composers in Germany. He played fast and with an absolute ear, and that's the same way he wrote his music. Nikos Skalkottas "This is music that contains more value than it could reveal on the first hearing: the ideas, the thematic material. The more you play it, the more you like it. The music itself is not very easy to describe. It is unique, modern and personal. It reveals a composer with an immense talent, an immense density in thinking, and a unusual gift for presenting his ideas." Demertzis adds, "The thematic material is very interesting. When someone comes from a country like Greece, Czechoslovakia or Russia, there's an expectation that the music should sound 'national.' Skalkottas researched and incorporated Greek folk material in his work, and one result was his "36 Greek Dances," which is considered his major opus. Yet, he wrote in a unique, personal way that sounds international, without seeming representative of a 'national' school. In fact, he was not well-appreciated in Greece until after his death." Demertzis, a recognized champion of twentieth-century Greek music, describes Sunday's program in this way: "Our concert contains some very characteristic works of the composer: the Sonata for Solo Violin, his first "ripe" work, written in Berlin before he became a student of Schoenberg, and his last work, the second small suite - a tonal work! The program also includes two sonatinas, the third and the fourth of which were written in the composer's middle, most productive period. Seven virtuoso-violinistic pieces complement the program: a unique offering of the personal atonal language of the composer-violinist, analogous to that of Kreisler. The primary inspiration for the program was having the opportunity to actually move through the different phases of Skalkottas' creation, through violin works." Demertzis was born in 1958 and studied the violin with Stelios Kafantaris at the Hellenic Conservatory from which he graduated with the first prize. He then studied with Max Rostral in Bern. He was a prizewinner in the 1981 Alberto Curci competition and, in 1986, was awarded the Montsenigos Prize of the Academy of Athens. He has performed with all the major Greek orchestras as well as with symphony orchestras in many parts of Europe and has appeared at festivals in Europe, the USA and Australia. He is the founder of the New Hellenic Quartet with whom he has recorded music by more than 20 Greek composers. and he has premiered many Greek works (solo works, chamber music and concertos), several of which are dedicated to him. Pianist Maria Asteriadou, who has worked with Demertzis for nearly ten years, shares his passion for the little-known music of Skalkottas. "We believe that Skalkottas is one of the most important and overlooked composers of the twentieth century," she says. Also a native of Greece, Asteriadou is established as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States, Canada, and Europe. She has given premiere performances of works by numerous Greek composers and has performed with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Isai Philharmonic Orchestra and all the major Greek orchestras as well as orchestras in the United States and Canada. Asteriadou won first prize in performance from the State Conservatory in Thessaloniki, Greece. She was also a prizewinner at the Maria Callas International Piano Competition, Concerts Atlantiques, Artists International and the Dora Zaslovksy Competition. Asteriadou holds degrees from the Conservatory in Thessaloniki and from the Musikhochschule in Freiburg. She received her master of music degree from the Juilliard School and her doctorate from Manhattan School of Music, where she has also served as an associate faculty member. In 1995 she became the artistic director of the Silver Bay Summer Music Festival in New York. Demertzis has completed three recordings of the work of Skalkottas' work, all on the Swedish label BIS. The first two critically-acclaimed recordings are entitled Nikos Skalkottas Music for Violin and Piano (with Asteriadou on piano); and Nikos Skalkottas Violin Concerto, Largo Sinfonico, 7 Greek Dances (with the Malmö Symphony, Nikos Christodoulou conducting). The third recording is scheduled for a March 2000, publication.
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