Stefan Cassomenos

Melbourne pianist and composer Stefan Cassomenos is one of Australia’s most vibrant and versatile musicians. He has been performing internationally since the age of 10, and is now established as one of Australia’s leading pianists. He has performed concertos with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra,  Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. In 2013, Cassomenos was a grand finalist and recipient of both the Second Grand Prize and the Chamber Music Prize in the prestigious International Telekom Beethoven Piano Competition Bonn (Germany). He has been a grand finalist and prize winner in various other competitions. Cassomenos has given solo recitals at many international venues and festivals, including Tonhalle Zurich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Beethoven Festival Bonn, Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Bunkamura Orchard Hall Tokyo, and Junge Stars der Klassik Kirchheimbolanden. Cassomenos now performs regularly in Australia, Germany and the UK.
Cassomenos is a founding member of acclaimed ensemble PLEXUS, with violinist Monica Curro and clarinetist Philip Arkinstall. Since launching in 2014, the ensemble has commissioned over 100 composers and premiered over 80 new works.
Cassomenos began composing at age seven, and as a teenager had his music performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (1999) and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (2001), with whom he performed his Piano Concerto No 1 at the age of 16. Awards and accolades for composition include Composer in Residence for three years at the Creative Innovation Conference 2010–12, the 2012 Lyrebird Music Society commission, the 2012 Young Achievement Award from the Hellenic Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and various awards through the Yamaha Music Foundation. His Piano Concerto No 3 was premiered in 2010 at the Melbourne Recital Centre. His critically acclaimed Double Violin Concerto (2012) has been performed around Australia by three different ensembles, with violin soloists Monica Curro and Sarah Curro. In 2014, Cassomenos was invited as the first Australian composer to be commissioned as part of “250 Piano Pieces for Beethoven”, an international composition project initiated by German pianist Susanne Kessel marking Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in 2020. In 2015, his Requiem for the End of Time was premiered at Federation Square in Melbourne by the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and PLEXUS.
Born in 1985 in Melbourne, Stefan studied with Margarita Krupina, Stephen McIntyre, Ian Munro and Michael Kieran Harvey.
Stefan is generously supported by Kawai Australia.