Iakovos Pappas (Harpsichord)

Born: April 29, 1964 - Athens, Greece

The Greek-born French-based harpsichordist and conductor, Iakovos Pappas, studied the harpsichord with Anne-Marie Paillard Beckensteiner and Bob van Asperen.

Iakovos Pappas' pronounced taste for vocal music led to his interest in rhetoric and declamation, the indispensable means of reaching a proper understanding of the music of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Thanks to this experience he is one of the few people in France capable of teaching sung declamation. As a continuo player he very quickly began to work with almost all the French Baroque ensembles, and with such well-known singers as Rachel Yakar, Sandrine Piau, Véronique Gens.

Iakovos Pappas was a chef de chant at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles from 1993 to 1997. In 1992 he founded the vocal and instrumental ensemble Almazis, with which he strives to put his research into practice. His close collaboration with a number of theatre directors has resulted in such productions as Zémire et Azor of André Modeste Grétry, L'Isle des Foux of Egidio Duni, Les Amants Magnifiques of Lully-Molière, Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda of Monteverdi), and the Histoires Sacrées of Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

The ensemble 'Almazis-Iakovos Pappas' has appeared at many festivals, among them Ambronay, Pontoise, St Guilhem-du-Désert, Tarentaise, Oppède, Simiane La Rotonde, the Printemps des Arts at Nantes, Versailles, La Chabotterie, the Festival delle Nazioni, and the Festival of Sacred Music of Salamanca.

The discography of Iakovos Pappas is diverse. Of particular note are his recordings of the complete harpsichord pieces of Pancrace Royer, harpsichord sonatas by Giovanni Battista Platti, the transcription of Antonio Vivaldi's Sonatas Op. 1 harpsichord pieces by Gaspard Le Roux and harpsichord pieces of Jean-François Dandrieu.

Source: Opentopia Website; Almazis-Iakovos Pappas Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (February 2007)

Iakovos Pappas: Short Biography | Recordings of Instrumental Works

Links to other Sites

Iakovos Pappas (Opentopia)
Almazis-Iakovos Pappas ensemble (Official Website) [French/English]

Concertclassic.com : Nouvelle génération baroque ; interview de Iakovos Pappas [French]