“Cassomenos is one of those now rare artists whose composure does not display the need for attention. Hardly has any pianist of our time played so calmly, soberly, absorbedly, and as unpretentiously as does Cassomenos.” – Tonhalle Magazine, 2015

“Such an excellent piano recital has never been heard in Kirchheimbolanden” – Die Rheinpfalz, 2015

“In his Zürich recital Cassomenos with great natural ease combined works of the classical repertoire with classical modernism and contemporary compositions. As a listener, it was difficult to decide in which domain he feels more at home.” – Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2015

“Cassomenos played with unwavering dedication, infusing vitality into each segment.” – The Age, 2014

“a satisfying combination of controlled momentum and expressiveness … an object lesson in clarity” – The Age, 2013

“a pianist of great passion and power… considerable pianistic virtuosity … high-octane intensity, drive, and forward momentum” – artsHub, 2013

“a model of clarity, depth of expression, and irrefutable musical logic” – West Australian, 2013

“a prodigious debut by a formidable talent” – John Amis, Musical Opinion Magazine, 2007

“one of Australia’s most compelling pianists” – Limelight, 2026

Internationally praised for his clarity, depth of expression, virtuosity and versatility, Melbourne-born pianist, composer, arranger and conductor Stefan Cassomenos has been performing internationally since the age of 10, and with over 20 years’ experience representing Australia on the world stage, is now established as one of Australia’s leading musicians.

In 2013, Cassomenos was a grand finalist and recipient of both the Second Grand Prize and the Chamber Music Prize in the prestigious International Telekom Beethoven Piano Competition Bonn (Germany), and he has been a grand finalist and prize winner in various other competitions, including the 2012 Rhodes International Piano Competition, the 2013 Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, the 2013 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer Awards, the 2009 Melbourne Asia-Pacific Chamber Music Competition, and the 2009 Trieste International Chamber Music Competition.

Cassomenos’ concerto repertoire now exceeds forty works, and has led to performances with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Opera Australia Orchestra, and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. He has performed as a soloist at Tonhalle Zurich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Beethoven Festival Bonn, Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, and at concert halls across Germany, Netherlands, England, Italy, Malta, Greece, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. He has performed for the Yamaha Music Foundation throughout Japan and Thailand, and for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Tokyo. He now performs regularly in Australia, Germany and the UK.

Cassomenos has founded several successful chamber ensembles, including contemporary chamber ensemble PLEXUS with violinist Monica Curro and clarinetist Philip Arkinstall, which since launching in 2014 has commissioned and given the world premieres of over 110 new works.

Cassomenos is in demand as a chamber musician, collaborating with leading Australian and international musicians including Anthony Marwood, Richard Lester, Simone van der Giessen, James Crabb, Timo-Veikko Valve, Helena Rathbone, Richard Tognetti, Satu Vanska, Stefanie Farrands, Liisa Pallandi, Lily Higson-Spence, Umberto Clerici, Christopher Moore, Zoë Black, Molly Kadarauch, David Berlin, Hannah Lane, Caroline Henbest, Andrew Haveron, Dave Elton, David Griffiths, Paul Champion, Hamish Gullick, Justin Kenealy, Anne Norman, Eliza Shephard, Emmanuel Cassimatis, Diana Doherty, Tania Frazer, Simon Cobcroft, Samuel Jacobs, Frank Celata, Carla Blackwood, Peter Luff, Michelle Wood, Jonathan Békés, Howard Penny, Chris Howlett, Holly Piccoli, Jess Ipkendanz, Sophie Rowell, Blair Harris, Merewyn Bramble, Emma Sullivan, Liz Sellars, Rohan Dasika, Michael Dahlenburg, Wilma Smith, Zoe Knighton, Flinders Quartet, Orava Quartet, Partridge Quartet, Goldner Quartet, Eclective, Douglas Rutherford, Jenny Khafagi, Jason Bunn, Buddy Lovett, Alexander Tsiboulski, Joshua Meader, Alex Raineri, Stephen McIntyre, Liane Keegan, Merlyn Quaife, Greta Bradman, Mia Robinson, Jeremy Kleeman, Nathan Lay, Aidan Hodder, Judith Dodsworth, Lee Abrahmsen, Louis Hurley, Nicholas Jones, Christian Smith, Lior, Deborah Cheetham-Fraillon, Shauntai Abdul-Rahman, Josh Piterman, Ruth Roshan, Leyland Jones, Demby McKenzie, Christopher Saunders, and the late Steve Davislim.

Born in 1985 in Melbourne, Stefan studied with Margarita Krupina, Stephen McIntyre, Ian Munro and Michael Kieran Harvey. He began his studying music at the age of four at Yamaha Music School, and completed his Bachelor of Music (Honours) on full scholarship at the University of Melbourne, majoring in Performance. He also undertook the Advanced Performance Program on full scholarship at the Australian National Academy of Music.

“Cassomenos’s unique exploration of the requiem mass was jubilant and arresting. The work is a ‘no holds barred’ affair: its brazen narrative veers between the demonic and the revelatory, juxtaposing the Latin mass ordinary with passages from the Book of Revelations. A genre-hopping musical score engages epic film music tropes, contemporary classical, jazz, pop and at times what sounds like a rave. Think ‘requiem rock opera’, to borrow the words of an excited audience member, post-concert. Cassomenos has thrown everything into this work, creating a rapturous, hour-long musical orgy that disintegrates any line between what’s sacred and profane (both musically and religiously speaking).  The requiem brought the audience to its feet in appreciation not just of the composer’s incredible efforts, but also the fantastic performances of all involved. With this visionary and eclectic concert, Plexus have continued to make their bold musical mark on Australia’s performing arts scene.” – Andrew Aronowicz, Limelight, 2015

Cassomenos began composing at age seven, and as a teenager had his music performed by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (1999) and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (2001), with whom he performed his Piano Concerto No 1 at the age of 16. Awards and accolades for composition include Composer in Residence for three years at the Creative Innovation Conference 2010–12, the 2012 Lyrebird Music Society commission, the 2012 Young Achievement Award from the Hellenic Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and various awards through the Yamaha Music Foundation. In 2014, Cassomenos was invited as the first Australian composer to be commissioned as part of “250 Piano Pieces for Beethoven”, an international composition project initiated by German pianist Susanne Kessel marking Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in 2020. 

Recent works include Piano Concerto No 3 (2010), Double Violin Concerto (2012) which has been performed many times around Australia with violin soloists Monica Curro and Sarah Curro, Requiem for the End of Time (2015) which received its second performance in November 2019, Double Piano Concerto (2018) premiered in Thessaloniki that year and repeated in Australia in 2019, Dixit Dominus (2019) premiered by the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, In The Beginning (2019) premiered in October 2019 at the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, the chamber opera Herodias (2019) which was commissioned by Victorian Opera, Piano Sonata No 1 (2020) which was premiered by Cassomenos at the 2020 Festival Neue Musik Rockenhausen, Rumpelstiltskin (2023) and Frankenstein (2024) which were premiered by Warrnambool Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stefan Cassomenos, Quintettsatz (2024) commissioned and premiered by Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Pluto (2024) commissioned by Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, Piano Sonata No 2 (2024) commissioned by InPlace as part of a month-long artist residency at Riverbend, Garambi Baan, and Eva (2025) - an opera in four acts, premiered at Port Fairy Spring Music Festival 2025.

“Upon meeting him you wonder, which of these four professions might be his main occupation: pianist, composer, conductor or festival director? Probably the true answer to this question is that he is the embodiment of all four. A multitalented man, whose love of music is expressed in all of these professions.” – Tonhalle Magazine, 2015

“An extraordinary program that linked contemporary music to classical” – Die Rheinpfalz, 2015

“In its first year of concerts last year, Melbourne violin-clarinet-piano trio Plexus provided more commissions and premieres than most professional Australian chamber groups achieve in a lifetime.” – The Australian, 2015

“A pioneering program” – Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2015

“Cassomenos assembled an imposing body of colleagues to present an inventive program ranging from Bach to contemporary Australian.” – The Age, 2009

Cassomenos is active as an artistic director, conductor and lead-director of various festivals, projects and collaborations. He has held the joint position of Artistic Director of Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, with violinist Monica Curro, since 2019.

He was curator of the Art Classics series at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, 2024-25; Artistic Director of the 2007 Melba Festival in the Yarra Valley; Guest Artistic Director of Melbourne’s Piano Landmarks festival 2009-10; Artistic Director and Conductor of the Percy Grainger Youth Orchestra 2010-11; Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Chamber Strings of Melbourne for 2011; and founding director of Creativity Australia’s ‘Our Community Sings’ Choir for 2011. Stefan completed a number modules of the 2011 Symphony Australia Conductor Development Program, working with Sebastian Lang-Lessing and Christopher Seaman, and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

Cassomenos is also active as an arranger, having arranged several large-scale orchestral works for smaller ensembles, including for PLEXUS, for Greta Bradman, for the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir, and for chamber concerts organised for Australian World Orchestra. His original arrangements include Strauss Four Last Songs, Mahler Kindertotenlieder, Britten Four Sea Interludes, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, Holst’s The Planets, and arrangements for Opera Australia, Shauntai Abdul-Rahman, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Find Your Voice Collective.

Cassomenos appears regularly as a guest member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Australian World Orchestra. 

He is generously supported by Kawai Australia.

Download Stefan’s press kit.