Athens State Orchestra
Cellist Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin is emerging as one of the leading musicians of his generation. He regularly appears as a chamber musician and soloist throughout North America and Europe, most recently as a soloist with conductor-violinist Leonidas Kavakos and the Athens State Orchestra. Timotheos is a founding member of Trio Zimbalist, a piano trio of Curtis Institute alumni which – through a commitment to artistic excellence – carries on the storied legacy of legendary violinist and Curtis director Efrem Zimbalist. Trio Zimbalist made their European debut in summer 2021, touring across Greece, Germany and France.
Timotheos made his first major US solo appearance in 2016 with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Robert Spano. He then gained international recognition as a prizewinner at the prestigious International Paulo Cello Competition in Finland, where he was singled out by local press for his “great and passionate soloist style: expressive, vibrant singing lines, sparkling rhythm”, and “interesting, original personality”. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Helsinki Philharmonic and Susanna Mälkki in the rarely performed Shostakovich 2nd Cello Concerto. Other notable solo performances include appearances with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Israel Camerata, the NEC Philharmonia Orchestra, the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony in C. He is the winner of the 2015 Astral Artists National Auditions. Timotheos made his Carnegie Hall recital debut in 2019, performing cello and chamber music works by renowned contemporary composer Leonid Desyatnikov.
In 2017, Timotheos was named Artist-in-Residence at ‘Performance Today’, the most listened-to classical music radio program in the US. Several of his recordings were broadcast and received with great success throughout the year, and he was re-invited for a second residency the following season. As part of this second residency, Timotheos gave recitals in Paris and Normandy.
An avid chamber musician, Timotheos has collaborated with important musical figures such as violinists Noah-Bendix Balgley, Miriam Fried, Pamela Frank, Leonidas Kavakos, Alexi Kenney, and Yura Lee, violists Roberto Diaz and Kim Kashkashian, and pianists Meng-Chieh Liu and Ignat Solzhenitsyn. He is currently a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival, where he has performed with Jonathan Biss, Joseph Lin, Samuel Rhodes, and Peter Wiley. Other festival appearances of note include Chamberfest Cleveland, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars, the Moritzburg Festival, and the Dimitria Festival.
Timotheos received his Bachelor of Music at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Peter Wiley and Carter Brey. He then entered the class of Laurence Lesser at the New England Conservatory and graduated with a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma.