Yiannis Protopapas

Yiannis Protopapas is from Sitia, Crete. He completed his Bachelor of Music in Orchestral Conducting at Ionian University in Corfu, graduating first in his class. During his undergraduate studies he won the third prize in the international conducting competition with Duna Symphony Orchestra in Budapest. Yiannis completed his Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting with scholarships from the prestigious Onassis Foundation and Gerondelis Foundation and graduated with highest honors and received the first ever award given to a conducting student at CSULB. He went on to serve as the Graduate and Teaching Assistant Conductor for the CSULB Symphony and Opera Orchestra. During that time, Ioannis was named a Conducting Fellow for the Long Beach Symphony. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting on full scholarship at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and worked as Teaching Assistant for the UNLV Symphony, Chamber and Opera Orchestras.

 

As an opera conductor Yiannis has conducted many operas including Candide, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Marriage of Figaro, Cherubin, Elixir of Love, Rigoletto, Orpheus in the Underworld, Carmen, Cosi fan tutte, La Serva Padrona, Maria de Buenos Aires, Trouble in Tahiti, among others. Yiannis has collaborated with many orchestras including Athens City Symphony Orchestra, Athens Philharmonia Orchestra, Duna Symphony Orchestra, Opera Las Vegas, North Czech Philharmonic, Long Beach Symphony and the Thessaloniki City Symphony Orchestra.
 

Currently, Yiannis serves as Conductor and Planning Manager at Cultural Conference Center
in Heraklion Crete and also as a freelance Orchestra and Opera Conductor.