George Petrou
Among the leading figures in Greece's early music movement, conductor George Petrou also directs performances of operetta and musical theater. He is the artistic director of the early music group Armonia Atenea.
Petrou was born in Athens. He studied piano at Athens Conservatory and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Petrou began his career as a pianist, performing in a piano duo with Christos Papageorgiou. After switching to conducting, he became interested in historical instruments and historical performance practices, although these were fairly rare in Greece when he began his career. He quickly found opportunities as an early music conductor, making his recording debut on the MDG label in 2004 with a performance of Handel's pastiche Oreste, leading the Camerata Stuttgart. He continued to record for MDG through the 2000s decade, also leading the Orchestra of Patras on some recordings. In 2011, he led Armonia Atenea (formerly the Athens Camerata) on an MDG recording of Handel's Alessandro Severo and composer Niccolo Chalichiopulo Manzaro (also known as Nikolas Mantzaros), and the following year, he became the ensemble's artistic director, continuing to hold that position as of the early 2020s.
Petrou specializes in the music of Handel, Gluck, and other composers of the 18th century, but Armonia Atenea, under his direction, has played a range of music from the Baroque to the modern era, using both period and modern instruments. Petrou has also conducted traditional symphony orchestras, including the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Bratislava Philharmonic in Slovakia, and the Bern Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland. An unusual feature of his career is that he also conducts musical theater presentations, including those of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, and Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, as well as the operetta The Godson, by Theofrastos Sakellarides. Petrou led Armonia Atenea and other groups in Baroque vocal recordings on the Decca label. He has also recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Aparte, and, as of 2023, Parnassus Arts, where he led Armonia Ateneo in a recording of Nicola Porpora's opera Carlo il Calvo. In 2022, he became the artistic director of the Göttingen International Handel Festival.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Porpora: Polifemo
Classical - Released by Parnassus Arts Productions on Sep 8, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carlo il Calvo
Classical - Released by Parnassus Arts Productions on Jan 5, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nicola Porpora : Opera Arias
Max Emanuel Cencic, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Opera Extracts - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Mar 2, 2018
Qobuzissime24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mayr: Ginevra di Scozia
Opera - Released by Oehms Classics on Jun 2, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ludwig van Beethoven : Prometheus
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rokoko - Hasse Opera Arias
Max Emanuel Cencic, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini
Franco Fagioli, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Sep 9, 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Baroque Divas
Vivica Genaux, Mary-Ellen Nesi, Sonia Prina, Romina Basso, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Oct 1, 2015
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Christoph Willibald von Gluck : Opera Arias
Daniel Behle, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Polifemo: Scena V Aria: Alto Giove (Aci) (Single Version)
Yuriy Mynenko, George Petrou, Armonia Atenea
Classical - Released by Parnassus Arts Productions on Aug 25, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Alessandro
Max Emanuel Cencic, Julia Lezhneva, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Porpora: Opera Arias
Max Emanuel Cencic, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Mar 2, 2018
Qobuzissime16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Baroque Divas
Vivica Genaux, Mary-Ellen Nesi, Sonia Prina, Romina Basso, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Oct 1, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Ottone, HWV15, Act 2: "Alla fama, dimmi il vero"
Lauren Snouffer, Il Pomo D'oro, George Petrou
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Apr 1, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rokoko - Hasse Opera Arias
Max Emanuel Cencic, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck Opera Arias
Daniel Behle, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini
Franco Fagioli, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Sep 9, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
YoungP'sWorld
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by 3562987 Records DK2 on Apr 19, 2024
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hades (Valentine's gift)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by 3562987 Records DK2 on Feb 14, 2024
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
A Mistake
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by 3562987 Records DK2 on Mar 29, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo