Eschenbach Conducts Mozart & Bruckner

The search for inspiration is a never-ending and vital journey in a person‘s life. In the case of the Greek artist Stathis Karapanos, he found this inspiration by playing the flute and conducting. His international career spans solo, orchestral, chamber, and increasingly, symphonic repertoire. He studied at the National Conservatory in Athens and the University of Music in Karlsruhe, which he completed with distinction in 2018.

He has performed as a member of youth and professional orchestras, such as the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and others. His teachers and mentors included Mathieu Dufour, Vangelis Papathanassiou, and Peter Lukas Graf, as well as Prof. Philippe Bernold at the Conservatoire National Superieur in Paris. After his graduation, he was appointed principal flute of the Athens State Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2018, Karapanos has been invited to perform with renowned conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, and Yutaka Sado; orchestras like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra; and artists such as Gidon Kremer, Vilde Frang, Matthias Goerne, Nicolas Altstaedt, Daniel Hope, Chen Reiss, and Marisol Montalvo.

In May 2024, Karapanos released a critically praised album, Hindemith’s Complete Works for Flute on Ondine Records, followed by recordings of Michael Shapiro’s In the Light of the Sun with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been featured on international podcasts and media and is increasingly active in environmental and cross-cultural projects.

In 2025, he was named Flutist Artistic Liaison to Greenpeace, reflecting his commitment to musical ‘artivism’ and together they have released a series of videos on online platforms to help raise awareness of some of today’s most pressing environmental issues.

Karapanos has received several awards for his musical skills, such as the Bernstein Award of the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival (2020), the Lotto Prize of the Rheingau Festival (2019), and numerous prizes at international competitions.

He regularly performs on a wide range of flutes including alto, bass, contrabass, piccolo, pan-flute, recorder, conch shell, and ancient Greek lyra—blending classical, contemporary, and traditional idioms into a distinctive artistic voice.

Christoph Eschenbach is a phenomenon among the top league of international conductors. Universally acclaimed as a conductor and pianist, he firmly belongs to the European intellectual line of musical tradition, combined with a rare emotional intensity, producing performances revered by concertgoers worldwide. Renowned for the breadth of his repertoire and the depth of his interpretations, he has held directorships with many leading orchestras—including the Houston Symphony from 1988 to 1999—and gained the highest musical honors.

Born at the heart of war-torn Europe in 1940, Christoph had an early childhood scarred by a succession of personal tragedies. Music was his savior, and his life began to change when he learned the piano. Now over 80, his keen artistic curiosity is undiminished, and he still thoroughly enjoys working with the finest international orchestras.

He is also well-known as a tireless supporter of young talent—this is his greatest passion, and he values his contribution to mentoring up-and-coming talent. Moved by the energy and the drive of young people (“Those one hundred percent artists,” as he calls them), he has a personal mission to pass the torch to the next generation. Some of his notable discoveries include pianist Lang Lang, violinist Julia Fischer, and cellists Leonard Elschenbroich and Daniel Müller-Schott.

Alongside prestigious appointments from Washington, D.C. to Zurich, Christoph has always attached great importance to his extensive activities as a guest conductor, working with the world’s leading orchestras.

Over the course of six decades, Christoph has built an impressive discography as a conductor and a pianist, with a repertoire ranging from J.S. Bach to contemporary music. Many of his recordings have gained benchmark status and have received numerous awards, including the German Record Critics’ Prize, the MIDEM Classical Award, and a Grammy Award. He has been awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres; he holds the German Federal Cross of Merit and the Leonard Bernstein Award. In 2015, he received the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, known as “The Nobel Prize of music,” for his achievements as conductor and pianist.