George Kontrafouris was born in Athens in 1967. He studied classical piano at the National Conservatory in Athens. At the age of 16, he turned his interest to jazz music and he followed up jazz improvisation lessons with Markos Alexiou. He also studied with Jim Beard and Jarmo Savolainen. He holds a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Jazz Performance from Sibelius Academy in Finland.

He has performed as piano or organ player with many famous and outstanding musicians such as: Marc Johnson, Arild Andersen, Marcus Stockhausen, Andy Sheppard, Ralph Peterson Jr., David Liebman, Houston Pearson, Eric Alexander, Lou Donaldson, Sam Newsome, Benny Golson, Tim Hagans, Bob Sheppard, Carmen Lundy, Sheila Jordan and many more.

He has been teaching jazz piano and organ for several years at the Athenaeum Conservatory in Greece, at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and he currently belongs to the academic faculty of the Ionian University in Corfu. He has already given Master Classes in various schools in Greece and abroad.

His first album as a leader, named “Don’t be Shy” was released in 1999.

He is the leader at the George Kontrafouris Trio as well as the Baby Trio and among others, he is performing with George Trantalidis Trilogia and with Timo Lassy.