Heralded as "an artist with intense personality, virtuosic flair, unusual poise and intimate contact with style" by The New York Times, Greek pianist Maria Asteriadou is an acclaimed soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue.

 

Her performances have taken her throughout the world, appearing in recitals and as soloist with orchestra in major concert halls throughout the United States, South America, Canada and Europe.  She has performed with the Moscow Radio Symphony, Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the National Symphony of Costa Rica, the Stuttgart Kamerata, Luxembourg Philharmonia, the Bucharest Chamber Orchestra, Iasi Philharmonic Romania, the Adrian (Michigan) Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Chamber Academy, the Louisiana Sinfonietta, the Athens Camerata as well as the Athens and Thessaloniki State Orchestras.

 

A devoted chamber musician, Dr. Asteriadou has collaborated with members of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and performs regularly at venues in the US and abroad. Together with her husband, violinist Kurt Nikkanen, she appears in recitals worldwide presenting programs showcasing composers from Bach to Piazzolla.

 

Her love for her native Greece and her enthusiasm for contemporary music have resulted in prestigious premieres by many of Greece's most prominent composers including Dimitri Mitropoulos, Nikos Skalkottas, Christos Samaras, and Yiorgos Sicillianos, as well as numerous collaborations with the American-born Greek composer George Tsontakis, Dinos Constantinides and Christos Hatzis. In addition, she has frequently collaborated with the American composer David Noon, most recently having premiered his Concerto for Piano and Percussion.

 

Dr. Asteriadou has recorded the complete piano and string chamber works of Nikos Skalkottas with violinist George Demertzis and the New Hellenic Quartet for the BIS label. receiving highest critical acclaim by BBC, Gramophone and Repertoire Music Magazines: "Demertzis and Asteriadou give all its rage, sadness and paranoia. A duo like Argerich and Kremer might have given us heightened psychic density and human drama. The Greek duo gave us a version that is austere, incisive and mysterious: possibly the best introduction to music that strikes us a real revelation." On the same label she has also recorded his Concertino for Two Pianos, and the complete violin and piano works of Carl Nielsen.  Other recordings include works by Greek composers Yiorgos Sicilianos, Emilios Riadis, Dimitri Mitropoulos and the American composer Ron Wasserman.

 

Maria Asteriadou is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including first prize in performance from the State Conservatory of Greece, and top prize in the Maria Callas International Piano Competition.  She also holds the distinction of being the only pianist selected from the Musik Hochschule in Freiburg to perform in honor of Maestro Pierre Boulez.

 

Dr. Asteriadou is also an energetic, dedicated and passionate pedagogue.  She teaches at Manhattan School of Music and at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, where she is Associate Professor of Music, serves as director of the Chamber Music Outreach Program and is the Artistic Director of the Kutztown University Summer Chamber Music Festival since 2011. In addition, Dr. Asteriadou has been an artist-faculty member at many festivals including the University of Michigan's Summer Arts Institute, Canada's International School of Musical Arts, El Paso Pro Musica, and the West Branch International Music Festival in New York.  She has also given master classes at the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica in the Dominican Republic, and in her native country has appeared at the Music Village Workshops, the Saint George International Festival, and the Megaron Concert Hall Piano Workshop, among others.  Her students have won prizes in many competitions, such as Bradshaw and Buono, American Protégé, and the Steinway Scholarship International Piano Competitions, to name a few. They have also given recitals and solo performances with orchestra in the US and abroad. Dr. Asteriadou also serves on the board of the Children's Foundation for the Arts and is a member of PMTA.

 

Maria Asteriadou holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Manhattan School of Music where she was a student of Constance Keene.  She received her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School as a scholarship student of Jacob Lateiner.  Maria Asteriadou started her first piano lessons with her mother, and following her undergraduate studies at the State Conservatory of Music in Thessaloniki, with Eleni Papazoglou, Ms. Asteriadou was accepted at the Musik Hochschule in Freiburg, Germany where she studied with Tibor Hazay and received her Graduate Soloist Diploma with honors. She has also worked with Domna Evnouchidou, Vitalij Margulis, Gyorgy Sebok and Richard Goode.