Achilles Liarmakopoulos
Achilles is renowned for his lyrical expressiveness and technical brilliance.
After 13 years of captivating audiences worldwide as a member of the Canadian Brass, he has been a member of the Athens State orchestra in Athens, Greece, and performs often with Pink Martini.
He has toured extensively throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia, performing and educating in the world’s most important venues and institutions.
Achilles holds degrees from the Yale University School of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, San Francisco Conservatory and the Philippos Nakas Conservatory in his hometown of Athens, Greece. Upon completion of his studies, he won the position of principal trombone of the Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra. Achilles has also performed with the Malaysian Philharmonic, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony and European Union Youth Orchestra, among many others.
At the age of 18, he gave two solo performances at Walt Disney Hall as the Grand Prize Winner of the Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition judged by members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has gone on to win prizes at the Christian Lindberg International Competition, the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe (YMFE) and the International Trombone Festival’s Robert Marsteller/Conn-Selmer and Larry Wiehe solo competitions, to name a few. Achilles was also awarded the Alexandros S. Onassis Foundation and Greek State Scholarship Foundation educational scholarships.
His discography includes six solo albums – “Volar” with the Venezuelan group “Cuatrombon” with Venezuelan Music, “Obvious” with French Harp Soloist Coline-Marie Orliac, “Ethereal” with 20th and 21st-century lyrical works from around the world, “Trombone Atrevido” dedicated to Choro music from Brazil, “Discoveries” with contemporary compositions on the ODEG label, “Tango Distinto” with Astor Piazzolla’s music on the NAXOS label – fifteen Solo singles, dozens recordings with the Canadian Brass and numerous appearances on classical, pop, Latin, and other albums.
In 2013 salsa icon Ruben Blades invited him to perform at his concerts at Lincoln Center and Madison Square Garden.
More than 25 works for trombone have been written and dedicated to him.