Achilles Liarmakopoulos

Achilles Liarmakopoulos (born August 29, 1985) is a Greek trombonist and member of the Canadian Brass.

Born in Athens, Greece, Liarmakopoulos started trombone lessons at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory, graduating with Excellent Unanimous and first prize. At the age of 18, Liarmakopoulos performed as a soloist at the Walt Disney Hall as the Grand Prize Winner of the Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition, judged by members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Liarmakopoulos holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music (class of 2008) the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Philippos Nakas Conservatory in his hometown of Athens, Greece. His studies have been supported by merit-based scholarships, Bok Foundation and Milton L. Rock Annual Fellowships and scholarships from the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, Alexandros S. Onassis Foundation and the Greek State Scholarship Foundation. Yale University awarded him the Philip Francis Nelson Prize for outstanding musicianship.

In December 2010, Liarmakopoulos won the position of principal trombone of the Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he played for one season before joining the Canadian Brass. He has also performed with the Malaysian Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony and European Union Youth Orchestra.

In April 2011 he was invited to audition for the Canadian Brass and since then he has been their trombonist touring all over the world.

Liarmakopoulos has received awards in the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe and the 2nd Christian Lindberg International Trombone competition. His debut solo album, Ástor Piazzolla: Tango Distinto was released by Naxos Records in 2011. It is the first full album to appear with Astor Piazzolla's music played by solo trombone.

In 2013, Liarmakopoulos released his second solo album entitled "Discoveries" with new works for trombone and piano, collaborating with piano soloist Amy J. Yang.

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