Nicolas Economou - Precocious Talent

Precocious Talent

Nicolas Economou was the first child of his family. His parents, who loved classical music, decided to expose him to music as a creative outlet rather than a career. At the age of five, he started taking piano lessons and he soon revealed his extraordinary talent by improvising on the piano and composing short pieces of music. When Solon Michaelides, the celebrated Cypriot composer, conductor, musicologist and friend of the family heard him play for the first time, when Economou was not yet seven years old, he declared: "This child is a blessing to his parents, Cyprus and the World". On his advice, Economou's musical training was undertaken by George Arvanitakis.

The turning point in Economou's life came at the age of ten. It had to be decided whether he would eventually take up music as a career. Again Solon Michaelides, who was following Economou's progress, suggested that his musical education should be continued outside Cyprus where he would have greater opportunities. In September 1964, after an audition, he was accepted at the Special School of Music of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, a preparatory school for youngsters to enter the Conservatory. In December of that year, in Athens, he won the "Keti Papaioannou" Panhellenic Competition for young musicians up to the age of seventeen. Events themselves were now forming the course of Economou's life. The following year at the age of twelve, far away from his family and culture, he began his musical studies in Moscow.

After three years of studies, his piano teacher suggested that he should enter the Tchaikovsky Competition, a world-renowned international music competition. After a year of preparation and at the age of sixteen, he participated in the competition, gaining favorable reviews from the Press, Radio and Television. A year later, he was admitted to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory itself. Leaving Moscow in 1972, he moved to Düsseldorf, before settling in Munich, Germany.