Grammy nominee and Echo Klassik winner George Petrou, is a distinguished conductor, with a remarkable international career. 

He has particular interest in music of the 18th and 19th c. and is currently considered as one of the world's leading Baroque specialists. However, his activity is very wide including music of the 20 c. as well as contemporary. George Petrou was born in Greece. He studied at the Athens Conservatoire, the Royal College and the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is the artistic director of the renowned Athens based orchestra "Armonia Atenea", with which he tours and records extensively, performing both on period or modern instruments. 

Additionally he has developed a vivid interest in staging and has recently signed several successful opera and musical theater productions. He has been a regular guest of major opera houses including the Oper Leipzig, the Théâtre de Capitole du Toulouse, the opera de Strasbourg, the opera de Nice, theTheatre de Capitole du Toulouse, the Theater an der Wien, the opera de Lausanne, the Korea National Opera, the Teatro Petrucelli, the Teatro Verdi di Trieste, the Theatre Champs Elysees, the opera Royale de Versailles, the Royal opera in Stockholm, the Greek national opera just to name a few. He has performed at major festivals including the Salzburg Pfingsfestspiele, the BBC PROMS, the Klara festival in Brussels, the Handel festivals of Halle and Karlsruhe, collaborating with renowned orchestras. From the season 2021-2022 he shall be the new artistic director of the Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen.

In the past seasons he conducted: Hasse’s Siroé in Krakow, Lausanne, Wiesbaden and Amsterdam (Contergebouw); Die Zaubeflöte at the Greek National Opera; Arminio in Krakow, Karlsruhe, Vienna; La Cenerentola and L'Italiana in Algeri in Trieste; Medea in Nice; Handel’s Scipione at the Handel Festspiele in Halle; Bernstein's West Side Story in Athens; Orfeo ed Euridice in St.Gallen; La Gazza Ladra at the Petruzzelli in Bari; Orlando Finto Pazzo in Seoul; Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd in Athens; Ottone at the Festival International d’Opera Baroque in Beaune; Kypourgos’ Peace at the Athens Epidaurus Festival; Handel’s Ottone re di Germania and Zingarelli’s Giulietta and Romeo at the Theater and der Wien; Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Megaron) and Lucia di Lammermoor (Greek National Opera); La donna del lago in Lausanne; La Traviata in Toulouse; Sakellaridis’s O Vaftistikos at the Megaron in Athens; Serse in Karlsruhe. 

Amongst his plans it is worth mentioning: Orlando Furioso at the Theater an der Wien; La Donna del Lago in Zagreb; Porpora’s Polifemo at the Salzburg Festspiele; Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Les Indes Galantes and Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto in Entschede; Porpora’s Orfeo at the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca; Orlando Furioso in Moscow and Paris; La Donna del Lago in Wien; Mitridate re di Ponto in Moscow; Handel’s Scipione in Goettingen; Amadigi in Halle. 

George Petrou has been a very active recording artist, collaborating with the world's major recording companies, including Deutsche Gramophone, DECCA, MDG. All his recordings have received the highest critical acclaim from the international press (Preis der Deutsche Schalplattenkritik, Choc-Monde de la Musique, Gramophone-Editor’s Choice, Diapason d’Or, BBC Mag/Recording of the Month, CD of the week-Sunday Times, Recording of the month in Musicweb, Crescendo Bestenliste Platz 1, etc.). Tamerlano received the prestigious ECHO KLASSIC 2008, and Alessandro the Recording of the Year at the International Opera Awards. He was recently honored as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London (ARAM) and was awarded the title of "Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres" from the French government.

February 2019