Hailed as “Impressive” by the New York Concert Review, Yiannis Hadjiloizou achieved what is perhaps the greatest Carnegie Hall debut in history, conducting the then newly established Athens Philharmonic in Mahler’s Symphony No.2 Resurrection. "Exalted music remains the most eminent immortality that humankind may achieve. And that was what conductor Yiannis Hadjiloizou achieved at Carnegie Hall.” (The Millbrook Independent)

Yiannis was born in 1976 in Nicosia, Cyprus - the only divided capital in the world. He is the son of national composer Michael Hadjiloizou, who has been his principal mentor. Under his father, he studied piano, theory, composition, and conducting. He graduated from the Cyprus Academy of Music and Boston University. 

He has performed extensively through the continents since age 7, exposing himself to classical, world, jazz, ethnic, religious, traditional, and pop/rock music, enriching his vocabulary in ways one can witness in his emblematic presence on and off the stage. “He is a magisterial figure, holds his long baton with authority, knows his orchestra well, and has the experience to hold them in check." (ConcertoNet)

In 1983 he served a 20 year post as assistant to his father at the Nicosia Music Society (Established 1971), and in 1998 was appointed President & Artistic Director of the Cyprus Academy of Music. In 2008 he started a partnership with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra that would last a decade, and in 2010 was appointed General Manager and Artistic & Music Director of the British choir Orphean Singers Cyprus. 

Special moments include his conducting from the harpsichord of Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte in Oklahoma 2001, leading the contemporary ensemble ALEA III in Boston in 2005, conducting his father’s opera Epitafios in Nicosia in 2008, conducting the historic Cyprus Peace Concert at the abandoned Nicosia International Airport for the United Nations International Day of Peace in 2010, his tour of Australia as Ambassador Artist of the European Council in 2012, his Puccini: Messa di Gloria for “Oster Sontag Nacht Konzert” at Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral in 2015, Beethoven’s 9 for the European Capital of Culture in 2017, and his honorary invitation by The Vatican to conduct Handel’s Messiah for Pope Francis at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia in 2021.

As a composer, his music has been awarded at Festival de Cannes, soundtracked for Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince, premiered at Musikverein, and commissioned by the European Capital of Culture. His Cyprus Dance No.1 in A minor Servikos remains the most performed work of orchestral repertoire in his home country. As a conductor, he has been praised over past legends. “Tall and erect, Hadjiloizou cut a Solti-like figure on the podium, though his gestural style was both more fluid and contained than the late Hungarian maestro’s hyperactive style" (New York Classical Review).

Known for his immense musicianship, his inspiring takes on large-scale repertoire, and his gift to captivate musicians and audiences alike, Yiannis is surely among the best conductor-pianists in the world today, receiving triumphant reviews from the international press. ”Hadjiloizou has the passion of Solti, the finesse of Abbado, the austerity of Barenboim, the star quality of Bernstein, the charm of a prince, plus himself.” (Culture Point)

Yiannis is a global ambassador for world peace. He has worked with UNICEF and been honoured as Goodwill Ambassador for Red Cross. As conductor Franz Anton Krager states, “Yiannis Hadjiloizou is a person of the highest humanity, artistic sensitivity, and integrity. I see something in him that not only sets him apart musically from so many others, but makes him a leader of men. This natural leadership is born from his love of life and people, and it serves him like a bright beacon of light in the night sky.”

Yiannis Hadjiloizou is Music & Artistic Director of the Athens Philharmonic.