Born of a Greek father and a Peruvian mother, Alexandros Kapelis grew up in both countries and enjoyed the advantages of a dual heritage.  He began playing the piano when he was five years old and at the age of 20 moved to New York, where early in his career he was recognized by the Inter Press Service (IPS) as “one of the most promising young classical musicians of any nationality working in New York today.”  The Washington Post also praised him for his “scintillating performance,” whereas the San Francisco Piedmont Post noted him for his “full range of technique in rendering the total palette of keyboard colors.” He has appeared throughout Europe, the United States, Latin America, the Middle East, and Japan.

As a soloist, Kapelis’ highlights include appearances with the Royal Philharmonic in London and the Prague Symphony Orchestra, amongst others. Currently, he is enjoying a collaboration with the acclaimed ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berliner Barock Solisten, having recently recorded the complete Bach concertos for solo keyboard and orchestra (BWV 1052-1058). Kapelis’ reading will be the first complete release since 2005. Only five pianists have ever recorded the entire set; this is also the first time that the celebrated ensemble from the Berlin Philharmonic has recorded these works. 

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An active chamber music player, he has collaborated with artists that include violinists Renaud Capuçon and Janine Jansen, violist Yuri Bashmet, cellist Mischa Maisky, clarinetist Stanley Drucker, trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov, as well as ensembles from the Philharmonia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic (Philharmonic Chamber Soloists). He came to the attention of Martha Argerich and in 2007 he moved to Brussels, where he spent four years near the great pianist, performing alongside Argerich and participating in several editions of the Lugano Martha Argerich Project.

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As a recitalist, Kapelis made his mark with an unprecedented program inspired by Greek mythology.  This recital took him to venues such as the Kennedy Center in Washington, the United Nations in New York, the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City, the Salle Cortot and UNESCO in Paris, the Lugano Festival, a recital tour through Japan, as well as the leading Italian venues, including the Parco della Musica (Rome), Auditorium LaVerdi (Milano), Teatro della Pergola (Florence), Politeama Garibaldi (Palermo), Teatro Olimpico (Vicenza), and Palazzo Labia - RAI Veneto (Venice).  Unanimously praised by the press, the concerts were recogninized as ”a program created by an artist of genius” (Giornale di Vicenza) and “a pianist building a career of mythic proportions” (Oakland Tribune).

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Off stage, Kapelis’ wide range of interests have often led him to bridge music with history, the visual arts, the environment, and other current issues. In this capacity, he has acted as Artistic Director/Advisor for various institutions. In 2016, he came to the attention of the late Pierre Cardin and teamed up with the French cultural icon as Artistic Director of the chamber music series at his Festival de Lacoste.  In Italy, he was given the title of Artist in Residence in Venice by the Malipiero Foundation in 2014, and the summer of 2021 found him leading the campaign “Renaissance: The New Breadth of Venice”, with performances aimed at restarting the city's cultural life as it gradually recovered from the pandemic. Last year, Kapelis launched Epicenter Venice, a new international music festival that sees him as Artistic Director and Founder. 

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Alexandros Kapelis holds a Bachelor’s degree from the American College of Greece, and a Master’s degree from the Mannes College of Music in New York. His main teachers have been Rosa Basurco in Peru, Dimitri Toufexis in Greece, Diane Walsh and Julius Levine in New York, and Noretta Conci and Gwenneth Pryor in London. He also attended the conducting masterclasses of Bruno Aprea (Rome Arts Academy) and Gianluigi Gelmetti (Accademia Chigiana). He conducted Handel’s opera Giulio Cesare at the Ernen Festival and nowadays leads Bach and Mozart piano concertos from the keyboard.

Since early in his career, Alexandros Kapelis has been involved with various humanitarian causes, most notably performing in London for Fight for Sight, a leading UK charity dedicated to medical research; in New York for the United World Colleges under the patronage of HRH Prince Pavlos of Greece; and in Athens for the Greek Society for the Protection and Rehabilitation of the Disabled (ELEPAP).  Under the aegis of UNESCO, in 2019 he founded PROJECT ECO (Earth Connections Orchestra), an initiative that aims to combine music and the environment. On a personal note, Alexandros Kapelis has created The Greco-Latin Trust in order to help young musicians from countries facing economic difficulties, specifically Greece and Latin America.  Inspired by his years as a student in New York, the Trust's objective is to raise funds every year in order to provide a living stipend to a full-time piano student.

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Alexandros Kapelis is a Steinway Artist.  He lives in Venice.