Young composer Ioannis Angelakis is the First Prize Winner of the 2012 International Composition Competition at Tokyo, Japan. Despite his young age, Ioannis has also ranked among the first in two other international competitions in Prague and Sofia.

Born in 1988, Angelakis graduated the School of Music Studies of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and he currently continues his composition studies at the College of Fine Arts of Boston University.

Une petite œuvre pour l’écho des rêves by Ioannis Angelakis, the winning composition of the competition dedicated to the significant Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, charmed both the honoree and the event’s music experts.

Awards

• 1st Prize in the International Composition Competition Toru Takemitsu (May 2012)
• Winner of the TAKEFU Composition Award of TAKEFU International Music Festival in Japan, with his work Éternelle, Inassouvie…(II) (2012)
• 1st Prize in the 11th National Composition Competition Y.A. Papaioannou, with his work Les Quatres Petites Filles for string quartet. (2011)
• 2nd Prize (among 84 composers with no age limit) in the Sofia International Composition Competition for string orchestra, with his work Quaint Tale of a Flower. (2010)
• 3rd Prize in the International Composition Competition Synthermia 2012, with his work Noir, for violin and chamber ensemble. (2012)
• Honourable Distinction and Special Prize for composing the best variations among all participants in the Antonin Dvorak International Composition Competition. (2010)
• 2nd Prize in the 3rd National Composition Competition Dimitris Dragatakis, with his work Transparent Night, for violin and piano. (2009)
• Honourable Distinction in the 6th National Competition Festival of Chamber Music, with his work Woodwind Quintet. (2008)

Ioannis was largely influenced by the work of great composers, like Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff and by his professor at the Aristotle University Christos Samaras.

Angelakis himself says, “The reason I write music is because life would have no meaning otherwise. By writing music, I get to know myself and I also come up against everything I am and against my perception of the world and existence”.

(Photo: Angelos Skanatovits)