Stefanos Korkolis

Stefanos Korkolis (born 12 September 1960) is a Greek composer and pianist. He was born in Athens and grew up in Patissia. He is a nephew of renowned Greek composer Mimis Plessas.

He was considered a prodigy for starting playing the piano since the age of five without prior lessons. His first teacher was piano soloist Marika Papaioannou. Until the age of seven he performed as a self-taught pianist. At age eleven he enrolled in the Athens Conservatoire. His piano teacher was Phoebe Vallinda and harmony teacher was Menelaos Pallantios. Two and a half years later he partakes in an international piano contest winning the first prize, as well as a scholarship from the French government. The latter enabled him to continue his studies at École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

From the age of 17 and for 11 years he was known as "... the French pianist Korkolis, of Greek nationality...". He attended seminars on chorus direction and instrumentation by Vladimir Horowitz, Yvonne Lefébure and others. During that period he composed music for theatrical and cinematic productions. Eleven years later he abandoned classical music which resulted in the revocation of his scholarship. As a composer and a director he started releasing independent records some of which reached the status of gold.

In 1990 his first Greek album ("Που λες κι είσαι νύχτα") was released. Famous songs from this work included "Ζωή με το κομμάτι" and "Μισό - μισό".In 1991 he moved back to Greece. He initially worked on commercials. His first work as an orchestrator was at Andreas Mikroutsikos' "Χαμένο νησί". Subsequently he released his second personal album "Οι μέρες της φωτιάς", which included a song with the same name and "Στους πέντε ανέμους", a duet with Constantina.

In 1997 targeting the European audience, he collaborated with Marinela, Vicky Leandros and Jose Carreras who performed "Σκόνη και Θρύψαλλα" in Carreras' gala and other European concerts. This song was included in Leandros' highly successful "Gefuehle/Συναισθήματα".

In 1998 he turned to classical music with piano recitals in Athens Concert Hall and Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Greece, as well as outside Greece. He collaborated with George Dalaras, Dimitris Mitropanos, Mario Frangoulis, Alkistis Protopsalti, Mando, Melina Aslanidou, and others.

He is the composer of the anthem of the Special Olympics Fact|date=July 2008.

In 2003 he performed with Dulce Pontes in the Opera of Bratislava, as an official guest of Jorge Sampaio, during his visit in Slovakia. Following the performance Korkolis was awarded with a medal Fact|date=July 2008.

In April 2004 in a ceremony held in the ambassadors home in Hague he gave a piano recital for the members of the International Olympic Committee as part of the Cultural Olympiad.