Kornilios Michailidis

Kornilios Michailidis is a Greek conductor and pianist, renowned for his work in both the symphonic and operatic repertoire.

He is the 1st Prize Winner and the Orchestra Award Winner of the prestigious Tokyo International Conducting Competition 2024. In the 2021/2022 season, he served as Conductor in Residence at the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, where he frequently returns as a guest conductor. Since 2018, he has maintained a special relationship with the prestigious Teatro Real in Madrid, where he made his official debut with “The Magic Flute” in 2020, conducted John Adams’ “Nixon in China” in 2023, and will be returning for “Eugene Onegin” in 2025. His operatic repertoire includes “Falstaff,” “La clemenza di Tito,” “Idomeneo,” “Médée” by Cherubini, “Only the Sound Remains” by Kaija Saariaho, among others.

On the concert podium, he has worked with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Russian National Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti, Staatskapelle Weimar, South Denmark Philharmonic, as well as all major Greek orchestras. He has collaborated with world-class soloists such as Lise Davidsen, Kristján Jóhannsson, Sir Stephen Hough, and Benjamin Grosvenor.

Having graduated from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 2018 with a Master’s degree in Conducting, he started his career as Assistant Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (2016/2017) and Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (2018-2020). Kornilios studied piano at the École Normale de Musique in Paris and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in the USA.

As a laureate of the 1st International Piano Competition in Mayenne (France), he has since performed in Europe, Israel, and the USA, giving piano recitals and chamber music concerts, and performing as a soloist with orchestras. He has collaborated with esteemed musicians such as Sergei Krylov, Valeriy Sokolov, and Juraj Valčuha.

From 2016 to 2020, Kornilios Michailidis was co-founder and director of the “Beethoven Now!” project and chamber orchestra in Finland, a collective specializing in the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, presenting his work in a modern context through innovative and historically informed interpretations.

In 2016, he founded the Koufonisia Classical Music Festival, a rapidly developing and highly regarded cultural institution held on one of Greece’s smallest islands. In addition to his musical career, he is an active aviator.