Stavros Gasparatos presents “Expanded Piano II” at the Athens Conservatoire

The Athens Conservatoire welcomes Stavros Gasparatos to the Ioannis Despotopoulos Amphitheatre, presenting the work Expanded Piano II.

This artistic project, conceived by the internationally acclaimed composer, draws inspiration from, reinterprets, and ultimately subverts the mechanical theory of the Prepared Piano.

Ten years after the premiere of Expanded Piano I at EMPAC in New York, Gasparatos continues his exploration of the instrument’s ever-evolving nature, aiming to expand its expressive and functional possibilities. Within this experimental process of sound and compositional tools, he incorporates new sensory media that develop earlier techniques pioneered by avant-garde creators, from John Cage to Aphex Twin. The result is a “hybrid” instrument that offers the performer exceptional musical flexibility.

Additional elements enrich the new work, including visual projections of light and imagery that interact with the sonic environment, transforming it into a multi-layered and multifaceted experience.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Stavros Gasparatos is a Greek composer and sound artist. In addition to his solo works, he composes music for dance, theatre, and film, collaborating with directors and artists across Europe and the United States. His music has been performed in major theatres and concert venues in Greece, as well as internationally, including New York, London, Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, Toronto, Kassel, Sofia, Amsterdam, Paris, Naples, Macau, and many other cities.

He has composed music for over 150 productions and is considered one of the most important and prolific composers of the new Greek generation. His work is characterized by minimalism, experimentation, and instrumental composition, while he also creates site-specific sound installations.

Since 2017, he has been the artistic coordinator of the Transmedia Lab at the Greek National Opera, and in 2019 he was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival.

Driven by his passion to apply his research and technological expertise, Gasparatos has deeply engaged with site-specific projects, such as sound installations and collaborative in situ performances. These can be seen throughout his long-standing collaboration with Maria Hassabi, with whom he has presented more than five works in the U.S. and worldwide, as well as with Jonah Bokaer, Alexandra Waierstall, and Manuela Hartel.

Among his most notable works are the sound installation for the opening ceremony of the Acropolis Museum (Athens, 2009), Triple Echo (2017), a sound installation commissioned by the Onassis Cultural Center New York, and Metamorphosis, a large-scale sound installation presented in 2017 at the Glass House. Other projects include DXB2, a public space light and audio installation at Burj Plaza in Dubai. His most innovative work remains Expanded Piano, a concert–sound installation that redefines the use of the instrument itself, which premiered at EMPAC NY in 2014.

His discography includes the albums Rage Park (2019), Experimentalism (2018), Expanded Piano (2015), Seven (2013), and Rehearsals (2008).