BIOGRAPHY
Chief conductor of the Niederbayerische Philharmonie
Composer at Universal
From the 2023/24 season on Ektoras Tartanis serves as the chief conductor of the South Bavarian Philharmonic, with which he is establishing a new symphony concert and podcast series, making classical music accessible to a wide audience. The focus of his work builds the great romantic repertoire that he exposes with an emphasis on the works of Anton Bruckner.
Upcoming highlights of this season include among others his debut at the Musikverein in Vienna, where he will conduct and premiere his own symphonic rhapsody “Ilion”.
He was awarded the „Young Artist of the Year“-prize for the season 2023/24 by the Union of Greek Critics for his „outstanding and groundbreaking interpretation“ of Beethovens’ 5th symphony.
In June 2021 Ektoras Tartanis got the „Special Prize“ of the "International Khachaturian Conducting Competition 2021" in Jerewan for the best interpretation of Kchachaturians Adagio from the ballet „Spartacus“.
Prior to his current positions he was the 1st Kapellmeister at the Opera House in Freiburg for six season, where he collaborated with renowned directors such as Herbert Fritsch, Kornél Mundruczó and Andrij Zholdak. Ektoras Tartanis began his professional career as the musical assistant of the Symphony Orchestra and Opernhaus Wuppertal and later on as 1st Kapellmeister and associate general music director of the Stadttheater Bremerhaven and Symphony Orchestra, were he acquired a wide operatic and symphonic repertoire.
Significant highlights of his career so far were the musical direction of the „Lucia di Lammermoor“ production with MuiscAeterna Orchestra and Choir at the Perm Opera Ballet and Theater in March 2019. His debut with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg together with Patricia Kopatchinskaja was highly acclaimed by the audience and the press. He also assisted Teodor Currentzis and Peter Sellars at the Salzburger Festspiele in summer 2019 with the production „La clemenza di Tito“.
Ektoras has worked, among others, with orchestras including the Münchener Rundfunkorchester, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe, MusicAeterna Orchestra and Choir, the Athens and Thessaloniki State Orchestra, the Vorarlberger Symphony Orchestra (AUT) and the Lucern Festival Strings (CHE).
Next to his conducting activities Ektoras Tartanis puts a lot of emphasis on composing and his music gains increasingly attention of a wider audience. His first CD „Mystic Encounters“ with his own chamber music was released in June 2024 and his second will be released in Winter 2025.
He deepened his conducting studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with Clark Rundell and Mark Heron and at the Anton Bruckner Conservatoire in Linz with Ingo Ingensand, where he graduated with honours. He rounded out his academic studies by masterclasses with conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Sir Mark Elder, Juanjo Mena, Lothar Zagrozek and Mark Shanahan.