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ToP flight Virtuoso
A Champion of Greek Music
​And classical music in Greece 

HIS TECHNICAL APLOMB IN VERY CHALLENGING VIOLIN WORKS QUALIFIES HIM AS A TOP FLIGHT VIRTUOSO....SMOOTH, UNRUFFLED TONE PRODUCTION, EVEN IN THE MOST TAXING PASSAGES. THE SOUND DEMERTZIS PRODUCES IS ALWAYS CLEAN AND RAZOR-SHARP, UNMARRED BY ANY ABRASIVENESS IN THE DOUBLE STOPS OR PASSAGES THAT CALL FOR ASSERTIVE BOWING. -  FANFARE

THE FINGERS RUN FLAWLESSLY BUT THE HEART HAS PLENTY OF ROOM TO HOVER IN THE HORIZON.  THREE CHEERS, THEREFORE, FOR GEORGIOS DEMERTZIS, WHO PLAYS THESE MUSICALLY AND TECHNICALLY CHALLENGING SCORES WITH AN IMPASSIONED SENSITIVITY THAT UNCOVERS REALMS OF EXPRESSION PREVIOUSLY BARELY HINTED AT... THIS MUSIC SEEMINGLY HOLDS NO TERRORS FOR HIM; INDEED HE ALWAYS MANAGES TO FIND TIME TO PERSUASIVELY SWING A PHRASE UNDER EVEN THE MOST FEARSOME TECHNICAL PRESSURE.  - THE STRAD

Testimonials

the earlier sonata by Skalkottas, is a work of concentrated achievement within the course of its four movement, twelve minute length. Even in this early-days period of his compositional development, one senses Skalkottas's occasionally bristling vocabulary.  Georgios Demertzis (BIS CD 1024).... reveals  .... the numbness that lies in the work's bloodstream and also a very slightly abrasive take on its modernity.
The Strad

Ever since I first heard Nikos Skalkottas's marvelously lyrical Violin Concerto's ….rebroadcasts of the 1967 premiere, I have longed to hear it in a good modern commercial recording - or better still in the concert hall…In such a clear account as DeMERTZIS's, the Concerto comes across as...something that could have considerable appeal, if marketed appropriately.  The soloist's melodies may be consistently chromatic, but they sound remarkable consonant….George Demertzis gives a highly impressive account of the solo part…The Malmo orchestra…provide sensitive support and the recording is a model of clarity .

Tempo



Nielsen's Early Chamber works  " were all composed before Nielsen turned 25....the uncertainties of a young man at times shine through in these scores, as do ....various influences ..... Mozart is there, and Beethoven, and Mendelssohn - and the infectious joy of a budding artist ...
The foremost defender of these scores is Georgios Demertzis.... On a previously released companion disc (BIS-CD-1284) Demertzis plays Nielsen's mature works for violin with and without piano. the critic in The Strad called the disc 'highly stimulating' with the added description: ‘Come with me, Nielsen seems to say, and Demertzis follows with a will.' "


GEORGE DEMERTZIS MAY NOT HAVE A REPUTATION AKIN TO THAT OF THE EXTRAORDINARY LEONIDAS KAVAKOS,... BUT THOSE OF US FAMILIAR WITH DEMERTZIS' PERFORMANCES AND RECORDINGS KNOW HOW BRILLIANT HE IS,   
PERFORMING THE SHOSTAKOVICH CONCERTO WAS YET ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR HIM TO PROVE HIS Brilliance – ESPECIALLY IN THE DIVINELY PLAYED PASSACAGLIA SECTION. INDEED, GEORGE DEMERTZIS HELD HIS OWN.. PLAYING WITH THE ST. PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC [Under Temirkanov]. 
HE HAS WON GREAT RECOGNITION AS A CHAMPION OF GREEK MUSIC OLD AND NEW, FREQUENTLY PREMIERING WORKS BY CONTEMPORARY HELLENIC COMPOSERS .... WHENEVER GRATITUDE IS EXPRESSED TO HIM FOR THIS COMMITMENT, HE USUALLY ANSWERS QUITE SIMPLY .... THAT TO HIM PLAYING THIS MUSIC IS NOT JUST A DUTY; RATHER IT Is A PRIVILEGE."
BETTINA MARA