Kornilios Michailidis

Kornilios Michailidis is a Greek conductor and pianist.

Having recently completed his tenure as Conductor in Residence of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, he is currently establishing his activity in both the symphonic and operatic worlds.

During the 2016-2017 season he was the Assistant Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Ever since, he was regularly invited to assist in major opera houses, such as the Opera of Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid.

​From 2018 – 2020 he was the Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France next to Mikko Franck.

In 2020, he gave his official debut at the Teatro Real, conducting Mozart’s “Magic Flute” and in 2023, he returned to conduct John Adams’ “Nixon in China”.

As a guest conductor he appears with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the Sinfonia Lahti, the Athens State Orchestra, the Thessaloniki State Orchestra, the Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra, the South Denmark Philharmonic, among others. He has equally conducted opera productions of Verdi’s “Falstaff” and Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” in Helsinki, and assisted in the preparation of Kaija Saariaho’s opera “Only the Sound Remains”.

Among his recent highlight appearances as a conductor is his participation at the Scrjabin Music Festival in January 2022, where he conducted the Russian National Orchestra at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in honor of the composer's 150th Anniversary, a gala concert with Lise Davidsen and the Athens State Orchestra, a gala concert with Kristján Jóhannsson and the Icelandic Opera, as well as several appearances as a guest conductor with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with world-class soloists such as Sir Stephen Hough and Benjamin Grosvenor.

Having studied piano at the École Normale de Musique in Paris and at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University in the USA, he is since 2018 a graduate of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with a Master’s degree in Conducting.

Laureate of the 1st International Piano Competition in Mayenne (France), he has since performed in Europe, Israel and the USA, series of piano recitals and chamber music concerts, in addition to soloist performances with an orchestra, in collaboration with esteemed musicians such as Sergei Krylov, Valeriy Sokolov and Juraj Valčuha.

From 2016 to 2020, Kornilios Michailidis was co-founder and leader of the Beethoven Now! Project and Chamber Orchestra in Finland, a collective specializing in the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, presenting his work in the context of the modern sunlight through innovative and historically informed interpretations.

Since 2016, he is founder and director of Koufonisia Classical Music Festival, a rapidly developing and highly regarded cultural institution, taking place in one of Greece’s smallest islands.