Stratis Minakakis

Composer Efstratios (Stratis) Minakakis studied composition, theory and piano performance in his native Greece, the United States. and France. His output includes work for solo, chamber and orchestral ensembles, as well as music for theater. His compositional idiom has been described as "at once highly complex and strikingly organic” with "an impeccable sense of dramatic intensity.” Also active in the field of music theory, his current research interests include avant-garde movements of the European periphery and issues of form and content in post-1945 music. A recipient of numerous artistic and academic honours, his recent awards include a bronze medal in the 2nd International Composition Competition of the Centre for Mediterranean Music, the Toru Takemitsu Award of the US-Japan Society of Boston, the PRISM Quartet Young Composer Commissioning Award, and the University of Pennsylvania’s award in composition, which he received in four consecutive years. His academic and pedagogical work at the University of Pennsylvania earned him the Dean’s Scholar Award 2006-2007, the Award in Teaching by Graduate Students, and the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching. Stratis Minakakis’ music has been performed and commissioned by leading institutions and ensembles, such as the Arditti String Quartet, the PRISM saxophone quartet, Ensemble Counter)induction, the Second Instrumental Unit, Chamber Music Now, and Princeton University. He has been invited to lecture in Europe, and the United States, on the music of Milton Babbitt and the Greek avant-garde.