Biography
Nikos Pittas was born in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1982. At the age of 16, he was awarded his violin diploma with distinction and was invited by Eleni Mouzala and Hara Kalomiri to give a recital at the Island of Samos in honor of the memorable musician Manolis Kalomiris. The same year, he obtained his LRSM Certificate from the Royal School of Music in England.
Nikos represented Cyprus at the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra. In 2004 he received the first prize, Gold Medal from Unicef and Unesco at the National Hellenic competition in Athens, including a recording contract from the Ministry of education in Greece. In 1999, Mr. Pittas was the first prize winner of a Pan Cyprian Competition and was declared “Soloist of the Year”. After that, he made his debut with the Cyprus State Orchestra with the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Camille Saint Saens. In the summer of 1999, he was invited to play the Bach double concerto for violin and oboe with the European Union Chamber Orchestra in Scotland.
Nikos holds a BM, GPD, and Masters in music from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he played many recitals and won several competitions such as the Baltimore Music Club Competition, the Towson University of Fine Arts competition, and the Maryland ASTA Solo Competition.
In 2002, Nikos appeared with the State Chamber Orchestra of Cyprus, with the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. In the Spring of 2004, Nikos performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC for the Fulbright Scholarship Society. In June 2004, Mr.Pittas gave his second benefit concert at the Presidential Palace of Cyprus. In August, Nikos attends the Aspen Music Festival with full scholarship where Maestro David Zinman, the director of the festival, gives Nikos the opportunity to perform in chamber music with one of the most well-known pianists and professors in the world, Leon Fleisher. In September 2005 Mr. Pittas performed H. Wieniawski’s second concerto with the Moravian Philharmonic in the festival “Kypria” in Cyprus.
Nikos has been the concertmaster and the first violin coach of the Cyprus Youth Orchestra. He has performed with the Chamber music group “The Pharos Soloists”, he was a guest concertmaster of the Ensemble Philharmonia and a member of the “Ledra Music Soloists” Foundation. In the States, he has been freelancing with numerous orchestras including The Baltimore Symphony, The Concert Artists of Baltimore, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony, and the Alexandria Symphony. He has been a member of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon in Spain, a member and soloist with the Thessaloniki State Orchestra, and a member of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He has given numerous recitals for the UN, for the relations of Cyprus with other nations and for various benefit concerts. He has also appeared in many TV and radio shows of the Cyprus Media. Nikos is a Scholar of the A.G Leventis Foundation and a Scholar of the Economou Foundation. Future engagements include recitals and concerts in Spain, Germany, and Cyprus. Since 2012 to present, Nikos is a Principal Violinist at the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra.
You can download Nikos's CV in Greek & English.
Memorabilia & Awards
