Glafkos Kontemeniotis

Glafkos Kontemeniotis is an active New York-based pianist, arranger, and composer. He has performed in well-known jazz clubs such as the Blue Note, Iridium, Birdland, and Kitano, and venues including Alice Tully Hall and Schomburg Theatre, as well as universities across the country including Yale and Princeton. His compositions, arrangements, and piano playing are featured in various recordings including his own trio recording Progress released in 2007. Critics have praised his work with quotes like … "an under-recognized force of jazz to be reckoned with"... and "...absolutely stunning on piano..."

He was born in Cyprus, where he started his musical studies at an early age and was in love "at first sound" with jazz in his early teens. Since migrating to New York in 1988, he has studied classical piano with Paul Sheftel and jazz piano with Harold Danko at the Manhattan School of Music. He later studied with well-known jazz educator Mike Longo and composer Anthony Branker. He holds a graduate degree in composition from Hunter College.

His work has been described as "unmistakably personal, a sound that incorporates elements and echoes from various musical and emotional experiences.” At the heart of those emotional experiences are the episodes of 1974 in Cyprus, where he experienced war and displacement at a very young age. He feels that the experiences and reflections of those years are a source of continuous inspiration. 

His second release as a leader, Yugen, featuring a program of all original compositions and a few of Νew Υork's finest musicians, Joel Frahm, Marcus McLaurine and Dave Meade, was released in September 2019. Since then, he and bassist Fred Berman have recorded two albums of free improvisations entitled Out of In and North of Now. He also recorded Places Gone, a trio album with bassist Fred Berman and drummer Scott Neumann, that was released in 2023 and features 12 new original compositions. One of his early compositions, All About Monk, won an honorable mention in the finals of the prestigious International Songwriting Competition in 2022 in the jazz category.

As a private piano teacher, he maintains a busy schedule with a full roster of students. He continues to compose jazz pieces as well as compositions for piano students.