Michael is a violist and violinist, and performs as a chamber musician and soloist. He has played with orchestras such as the CBSO, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Oxford Philharmonic, and the ENB. A traditional music musician, he has played for years in Greece with prominent traditional musicians and with groups on London's multicultural music scene.
He has performed in prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, King's Place, St. James's Piccadilly, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the Bristol Beacon, the Musikverein and the Megaron in Athens.
He studied at the University of Manchester (BMUS), MDW, the Royal Academy of Music (MA) with James Sleigh, and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (PGAD) with Roger Chase. He attended masterclasses and courses with Lawrence Power, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Garth Knox, Richard Ireland, Hartmut Rohde, Annette Isserlis, Tatiana Masurenko, and Paul Silverthorne, among others. He was a recipient of the RAM, Athena, and Stavros Niarchos Foundation scholarships.
He is a co-founder of the duo Diphonon with accordionist Iñigo Mikeleiz. Musicians for Live Music Now, they were also residents of the Wigmore Hall teaching department, actively participating in community music projects. Numerous composers have written pieces for them. They recently released their first CD, entitled "Emerging Voices," which includes new works for viola and accordion.
He teaches violin, viola and ensemble music at the Saffron CYM and, in recent years, has taught chamber music as part of ProCorda's chamber music courses.
Michael Iskas plays on a viola made in 2016 by Yann Besson.
