Gerasimos Tsagkarakis Born in Corfu in 1983, Tsagkarakis Gerasimos began his percussion studies at the Philarmonic Society of Corfu and took his diploma under Dimitrios Desyllas (First Award and Athenaeum’s Golden Medal) at Athenaeum Conservatory in Athens. He is a graduate of the Department of English Language and Literature of the University of Athens and a post-graduate of the Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies of the Ionian University . He has been awarded with the First Pan – Hellenic Award in the Hellenic Student Competition for Young musicians in 2001 as well as with the Third Prize in the International Snare drum Competition organized by the ITALY P.A.S. in Pescara ,Italy in 2014, the First Absolute Prize (98/100) regarding the Advanced Category of Snare drum in the competition of the International Percussion Festival (Montebello della Battaglia, Italy, July 2015) and has been selected as a substitute member of the European Union Youth Orchestra for the years 2005, 2006 and 2008. Furthermore, he has been awarded a scholarship from Onassis Foundation in order to continue his studies and improve his interpretation and solo performance skills via studying with Prof. Markus Leoson at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Weimar, Germany (2011-2012) as well as to polish his playing in terms of orchestral percussion repertory with Edoardo Albino Giachino in Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Associazione Culturale Archangelo Corelli in Rome, Italy (2012-2014). He is the author of “DICTIONARY OF PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS : Playing Techniques – Mallets/Sticks – Categories of Instruments – Effects An in – depth Acquaintance with the World of Percussion which is published by Editions Orpheus (Music House Marios Nikolaidis) in Greece. He is currently a member of the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra , Jiangsu Province, China. Due to his father’s being a water polo athlete as well as a swimming and track & field coach, he has been introduced to sports since childhood. Sports and wellness is his second passion after music, so he is actively following mobility and crossfit sessions, doing swimming training and playing cricket as a member of the Shanghai Bulldogs Cricket Club.
Finland: The Happiest Country in the World –What place does Greece hold
For the sixth time in a row, Finland ranked as the happiest country in the world according to the annual index, compiled under UN auspices.
