He studied in Paris with Marcel Ciampi (piano) and Edouard Lindenberg (conducting), and in 1961, following studies with Sergiu Celibidache, he won the Concours International des Jeunes Chefs d'Orchestre in Besançon.
Sergiu Celibidache | Sergiu Nicolaescu | Sergiu Comissiona | Sergiu Luca | Sergiu Dan | Sergiu Celibidache's |
Early influences can be traced in Sergiu Celibidache's views on aspects of ambience and acoustic space (Athanasiadis attended Celibidache's Munich seminars in 1994), and in composers such as Christou, Feldman and Takemitsu.
During its long and venerable history, the orchestra has performed with such luminaries as Clemens Kraus, Hans Knappertsbusch, Sergiu Celibidache, Kurt Eichhorn, Vaclav Neumann, and Christoph von Dohnányi.
Other acclaimed recordings are her renditions of the Brahms Violin Concerto (including one with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sergiu Celibidache) and Tchaikovsky's with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted Basil Cameron.
He had an international career, visited 40 countries, and played under conductors such as Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Adrian Boult, Sergiu Celibidache, Sergiu Comissiona, Antal Doráti, Josef Krips, Lorin Maazel, Harold Byrns, Yuval Zaliouk and Alfred Wallenstein.
The choir collaborates with the orchestra Münchner Philharmoniker, and has been conducted by prominent conductors such as Gustav Mahler, Hans Pfitzner, Krzysztof Penderecki, Rudolf Kempe, Herbert von Karajan, Sergiu Celibidache, Carlo Maria Giulini, Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, James Levine.
He also appeared as a soloist with such illustrious conductors as Sergiu Celibidache, Antonio Guarnieri, Carlo Maria Giulini, Igor Markevitch, Jonel Perlea, Paul van Kempen, Erich Leinsdorf, etc., and with other equally famous instrumentalists including Andrés Segovia, Alain Meunier and Dino Asciolla.