Antonis Hatzinikolaou was born in Athens. Since a young age he studied classical guitar with Alexandra Christodimou. He graduated from Philippos Nakas Conservatory (Athens) where he completed a Guitar Soloist Diploma with First Prize Honours and Distinction following the unanimous vote of the jury. In 2004 he moved to London to pursue a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance at the internationally renowned Royal Academy of Music (London), where he was awarded a scholarship. Here he is studying with renowned teachers Michael Lewin, Timothy Walker, and John Mills. In 2006 he accepted a place at the Academy to complete a Master of Music Concert Project with a research project looking at “The depict of melancholy in B. Britten’s Nocturnal op.7” through J. Dowland’s Come heavy sleep”. Antonis has attended and performed in Master Classes in Greece and abroad with some of the most distinguished classical guitarists such as John Williams, Manuel Barrueco, David Russell, Roland Dyens, Hubert Käppel, Ruberto Aussel, Aniello Desiderio, Evangelos Assimakopoulos & Liza Zoi, and Yannis Petridis. Antonis has participated in workshops with eminent composers such us Richard Rodney Bennett, Nicholas Maw, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and Steven Dodgson. He has recently premiered Indian Summer written by acclaimed young composer Joe Atkins and dedicated to Antonis himself.
Antonis has received distinctions in national and international guitar competitions and festivals, including 1st prize in “Patras National Guitar Festival Competition 2001” (Greece), 3rd prize at the “International Koblenz Guitar Competition "Hubert Käppel" 2004” (Germany), 3rd prize at the “Ivor Mairants International Guitar Award 2005” (London), and the prestigious Julian Bream Prize 2006 at the Royal Academy of Music awarded by Julian Bream himself.
Future engagements include solo concerts in London, Spain, and Greece, and as well as various chamber music ensembles.
listen to Antonis Hatzinikolaou performing live at the Royal Academy of Music: