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Dr. Christos Galileas was born in Thessaloniki and is a professor and string coordinator for the George State University School of Music in Atlanta, US. He is a regular member of international music competition panels and has also taught music in many international seminars and masterclasses.
Christos took his first violin lessons with his father Kosmas Galileas and Stelios Kafantaris and upon graduating he was awarded First Prize and Gold Metal for his excellent performance. He continued his studies with a scholarship from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation under the instruction of the renowned professor Almita Vamos at the Oberlin Conservatory in the United States, where he received the Dean’s Talent Award. Later, he was awarded the Alexandra Triandi Scholarship from the Megaron Athens Concert Hall and a scholarship from the prestigious Juilliard School of New York, where he studied with the distinguished professors Dorothy DeLay and Naoko Tanaka and received his master’s degree in May 2001. In 2005, he completed his academic education with a doctorate of Musical Arts from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Since his debut appearance at the age of 14, Galileas has performed as a soloist with many orchestras, like the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, the City of Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra, the Athens State Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra Greek Camerata, the Symphonic Orchestra of Prague, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia, the Symphonic Orchestra of Florida of United States, the Canadian Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Music Academy of Vienna, the Chamber Orchestra of Lisbon and the Gustav Mahler Orchestra. He has also made appearances at various music festivals, like the Nafplio Festival, the Demetria Festival of Thessaloniki, the Kypria International Festival, the Lago di Como Festival (Italy), the Patras Festival, the Fort Lauderdale (U.S.), the Erevan Festival (Armenia) and also in Catania (Italy) and in Costa Rica.
In 1997, Christos Galileas won the First Prize in a Greek Scientific Society Competition and at the Greek National Competition for Violin, held by the Cultural Association Techni in collaboration with the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki and the Cultural Capital of Europe Thessaloniki 1997. Four years later, Galileas received the First Prize in the Kate Neal Kinley Competition of the University of Illinois in the U.S.
Christos Galileas has collaborated with significant international musicians, like Dimitris Sgouros, Leos Swarovski, Ilarion Ionescu-Galaţi, Loris Tjeknavorian, Angel Stankov, Ovidiu Balan, James Brooks-Bruzzese, Alexandros Myrat, Olaf Koch, Byron Fidetzis, Nikos Athinaios, Karolos Trikolidis, Wolfgang Roegner, Brandt Fredriksen, Atis Bankas, Andris Nelsons, Myron Michaelides, Radu Postăvaru, Louis Lane and Paul Polivnick. He has also performed the Brahms Double Concerto next to the famous cellist Mischa Maisky with the National Symphony Orchestra of Latvia and has collaborated with the Borodin Quartet of Moscow and the George Enescu Philarmonic of Bucharest.
Galileas has performed as a soloist in over 30 countries, like the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Latvia, Brazil, Argentina, Romania, Bulgaria, Armenia, Cyprus, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Uruguay and has played in the most famous concert halls, like Musikverein (Vienna), Gasteig (Munich) Smetana Hall (Prague), Carnegie Hall (New York), Kennedy Center (Washington, DC), Megaron Concert Hall in Athens and Thessaloniki.
In the summer of 2002, Galileas founded the chamber orchestra Greek Camerata and toured North, Mid and South America, staging over 30 concerts in famous halls, like Kennedy Center in Washington DC. During that time, he also released a CD album. Since 2003, he has been the artistic director of the Demetria Chamber Music Festival.