Biography

Kimon’s recent successes include winning the 2011 Clarinet and Saxophone Society Solo Clarinet Competition, reaching the 2012 finals of the Wind and Percussion section of the Royal Overseas League Annual Competition, and being awarded ‘Recommended Artist’ status under Making Music’s Philip & Dorothy Green Award scheme.

In 2011 Kimon completed his Master of Arts with Distinction at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Mark Van de Wiel, with financial support from the Countess of Munster Trust, the Ann Driver Trust and the Picker Award. During his undergraduate years as a Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music, Kimon studied under Richard Hosford and won the RCM Edward and Helen Hague Senior Woodwind Prize in 2008 before graduating with a First Class Honours in 2009. Kimon has played professionally on a number of occasions with the London Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia and the London Sinfonietta.

In 2010 he was on trial with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also played with the Orpheus Sinfonia, the London Firebird Orchestra, the Britten-Pears Orchestra and, in his youth, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Kimon has featured as a soloist on the Royal Academy of Music’s ‘American Icons’ CD. He has also participated on the Live Music Now! Scheme as a founder member of the Davis Clarinet Quartet.

Education

Royal Academy of Music
London, UK

Royal College of Music
London, UK

Quickfire Questions

If you were going to be sent to a desert island, which three items would you take with you?
My favourite pair of tracksuit bottoms, a lifetime supply of Coca Cola and a rowing machine.

If you could play another instrument, what would it be?
The cello. Its such an expressive instrument that holds so much colour and character. Hearing the solo cello movement in Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, moves me to tears.

What is your most embarrassing or amusing musical moment?
Turning my phone off onstage at a gig in Windsor Castle, without realising I was being filmed and being shown on the big screen!