Orestis Magou was born in Cyprus and began his piano studies with Aimilia Michael at the Lykio Ellinidon Ammochostou, under the mentorship of Christodoulos Georgiades. During his time in Cyprus, he was the first prize winner at the Avantgarde National Piano Competition for young pianists and third prize winner at the Evangelia Tjiarri International Piano Competition. He was awarded a scholarship to pursue his Bachelor studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in the United Kingdom, where he studied under Julian Jacobson, Daniel Browell, and Robert Markham. While studying in Birmingham, he was a recipient of many prizes including first prize at the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra Concerto Competition, first prize at the Dennis Matthews competition, second prize at the Delius society competition and the Sheila and Colina Hodge Memorial Prize for the best violin-piano duo. He was also awarded the Miss Bowen Challenge cup for the most promising first-year pianist. Recent performances include Rachmaninoff’s first piano concerto with the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra and RBC Projects Orchestra, Liszt’s First Piano Concerto in Italy, Rachmaninoff’s complete suites for two pianos, a three-concert tour of Cyprus performing violin sonatas by Strauss, Faure, and Delius, and numerous solo and chamber music concerts in Romania, Hungary, UK, and Cyprus.
He has participated in masterclasses with musicians such as Cyprien Katsaris, Martino Tirimo, Simon Trpčeski, Claudio Martínez Mehner, Kennedy Moretti, Jeffrey Cohen, Fedele Antonicelli, Colin Stone, Fali Pavri, Carole Presland, Davide Cabassi and Katya Apekisheva. Orestis completed his Master’s Degree at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with the support of the Bilateral State Scholarship and under the tutelage of László Borbély and András Kemenes. He graduated with full marks and continued his studies at the Academy with Klára Würtz and Fülöp Ránki. Orestis was also a recipient of the Weingarten Trust Scholarship at the same institution in 2020. Starting in September 2024, Orestis will be a student at the Zurich University of the Arts, pursuing a Specialized Chamber Music Programme under the guidance of Eckart Heiligers.