Greek-French pianist Dimitri Vassilakis has been a leading figure in performing music from the contemporary French school, and has been closely associated with the Paris group Ensemble InterContemporain. He is unconnected with the Greek saxophonist whose name has been transliterated Dimitri Vassilakis or Dimitrios Vassilakis. Vassilakis was born in Athens in 1967. He took up the piano at age seven, and his talent was recognized by teachers there. Sent to Paris for further study, Vassilakis was enrolled at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, studying with Gérard Frémy, György Sebök, and Monique Deschaussées. From CNSM he earned a unanimous first prize for piano as well as several other prizes. In 1992 Vassilakis joined the Ensemble InterContemporain, the internationally recognized contemporary music group founded in 1972 by Pierre Boulez. There, he has worked closely with European composers identified with high modernist styles. Among them was Boulez himself, for whose piece Incises he gave the world premiere in 1995. He has also collaborated in the development of works by György Kurtág, Luciano Berio, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Iannis Xenakis. Vassilakis has been especially active in the experiment-friendly European festival scene, appearing at the Lucerne, Salzburg, Edinburgh, Autumn in Warsaw, and Ottawa Chamber Music festivals, among others. He has also performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, New York's Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Vassilakis toured South America as part of a tribute to Boulez's 80th birthday. Vassilakis is also a member of the György Trio and has performed other chamber pieces with members of Ensemble InterContemporain. His recording career has focused on contemporary music with the exception of several albums of Bach's music released on Quantum. As early as 1996 he appeared on Ensemble InterContemporain chamber music recordings. In 2018 Vassilakis was featured on an album of chamber music by Boulez and Schoenberg on the Stradivarius label. His recording of Boulez's Incises appeared in the complete box set of Boulez's music issued by the Deutsche Grammophon label. ~ James Manheim