Dimitris Sgouros is an
Aromanian, who said "I am Vlach with a capital V",
Vlach being the common name for the Aromanians in Greece. Sgouros is the son of Sotirios and Marianthi Sgouros. There was no notable record of musical talent in his family. and gave his first public performance a year later. In 1982, at the age of 12, Sgouros made his
Carnegie Hall debut. He performed
Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the
National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by
Mstislav Rostropovich. Performances around the world have included concerts in Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Cyprus, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey. Sgouros has performed for the royal families of Britain, Monaco, and Sweden, and played under the baton of renowned conductors such as
Herbert von Karajan,
Leonard Bernstein,
Emil Tabakov,
Kurt Masur, and
Yevgeny Svetlanov. He has recorded for various record labels, including Dino Music, M.E.I. Records and
EMI. Since March 1988, three Sgouros Festivals have been instituted, in
Hamburg,
Ljubljana, and Singapore. Sgouros has featured prominently in the media, having appeared on NBC's
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and a television concert with Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto. He has also been profiled by Oscar-winning director François Reichenbach in a feature-length documentary film. ==See also==