Yiorgos Vassilandonakis is a composer of contemporary art music, with a wide range of well assimilated influences. He is currently a Lecturer in Composition & Music Theory at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also completed his graduate studies (PhD 2006, MA 2003), having studied with John Thow, Edmund Campion, Cindy Cox and Richard Felciano. He spent two years in Paris, studying with Philippe Leroux as the recipient of the Ladd Prix de Paris, and teaching at the Centre de Création Musicale, Iannis Xenakis. He also holds a BA from UCLA, where he pursued film composition studies with Jerry Goldsmith. Yiorgos' portfolio includes music for all genres, including theatrical, vocal, instrumental, choral, orchestral, and electronic, commissioned and performed among others by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Athens Camerata, the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation, ALEA III, the Meridian Arts Ensemble, Ensemble Cairn, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Hellenic Contemporary Ensemble, and the French Ministry of Culture, and featured at the Wellesley Composer Conference, the Aspen, Ernest Bloch, Domaine Forget and Music 04' Music Festivals, as well as at the Patras Contemporary Music Days Festival, where he won the Festival Grand Prize. His opera Chorevoume (Dance with me) was commissioned and premiered by the Greek National Opera earlier this year, to critical acclaim. Additional awards include 1st Prize at the Composition Competition of the Mediterranean Music Centre, the Eisner Prize in Music, the Nicola di Lorenzo Prize, the Hellenic Composers Union award, the Henry Mancini award for his film work, an AMC composer assistance grant, two SCION/ASCAP region VIII distinctions, as well as a composer residencies at Cité des Arts, Yaddo, and I-Park. He is the composer-in-residence with the Worn Chamber Ensemble in San Francisco, and is also active as a conductor and educator.