Dino
Few musicians are truly "artists," just as few performers deserve the distinction of "entertainer." Even more rare are those who combine artistry and entertainment. Dino is undeniably one of that unique breed. His instrumental mastery sparkles on stage as brilliantly as his nine-foot, rhinestone-covered piano in a laser light show.
Dino's latest Benson release, Music for All Time, captures the majesty of his live performance in all its glory. From the opening medley of "That's Entertainment/Warsaw Concerto/You Stepped Out of a Dream," through the Spanish classic, "Malaquena," and the high-stepping Greek number, "Oppa," to the finale of "The Entertainer/New York, New York," Music for All Time is a stunning experience. Few albums create such vivid visual pictures in the minds of listeners. Even those who've seen Dino's magnificent live show will feel as if they are actually in a theatre watching him perform.
Dino's critically acclaimed live show has been a top draw across the country and around the world for more than two decades, but this year he will spend nearly seven months entertaining audiences in Branson, Missouri. One of the musical mecca's premiere theatre, the Grand Mansion, will feature Dino's Music for All Time production, an extravaganza built around the album.
Dino spent six months working with a Broadway set designer, Hollywood costume designer and special effects experts to create the most spectacular production of his career. A cast of 24 dancers and the latest in laser light technology help to bring the musical brilliance of Music for All Time to dazzling life on stage.
Dino Kartsonakis, known professionally simply as Dino, was born and raised in New York City, the grandson of first generation Greek immigrants. He credits his very existence to the strong faith of his mother and grandmother. "When my mother was pregnant with me, the doctors told her I was going to be stillborn, but my mother and grandmother wouldn't accept that," he explains. "They did a lot of praying and dedicated my life to the Lord even before I was born, and He did a miraculous healing in my mother. My mother always knew that because of that instance that the Lord was going to use me, but she still didn't know how."
Mrs. Kartsonakis would not have to wait long. At the age of 3, Dino sat down at the family's old, broken-down piano and began picking out the melody to a song he had heard in church. As she tiptoed behind this little prodigy, it became clear to her that music was the gift that God had given her boy.
Though awed by the experience, Dino says she never pushed him in his music, "I wasn't aware of how well I played, and my parents didn't make a big deal of it. They didn't force it on me," he recalls. "It was just part of my life and I did it because I loved it."
Dino began lessons at age 5 and soon after became a regular accompanist at Glad Tidings Tabernacle in New York City, the church where young Dino was raised. Growing up hearing his parent's classical and opera records at home, as well as a steady diet of gospel music and hymns at church, Dino began at an early age to formulate the classical/pop/gospel hybrid for which he would later become famous. While it would seem a career in music was by that time a given for Dino, he says that was not the case at all.
"I was seriously considering being an architect when I was in high school," he remembers. But a solo performance at an Assembly of God convention in Springfield, Missouri, when he was seventeen set the house afire and confirmed Dino's highest hopes. "That was a turning point," Dino says. "That was the Lord saying, 'This is how I want to use you and your music to change lives.'"
After formal studies at The King's College, Julliard School of Music, and conservatories in France and Germany, he recorded his first album in the 1960's. A seven-year stint as the piano soloist with a prominent evangelist in the 1970's brought Dino into the public eye and launched a solo career that has taken him before millions of people all over the world, including triumphant performances in both Russia and mainland China.
Dino is one of the most consistently awarded instrumentalist in contemporary music today. He has won a Religion In Media Award and Dove Awards, including Instrumental Album of the Year for Somewhere in Time. He also earned a Grammy nomination for his instrumental album, Chariots of Fire. Dino's long-form video, Miracles, was shot on location in Israel in 1994 and has garnered seven major awards to date.
Trinity Broadcasting Network recently taped Dino and his wife, Cheryl, to host a new entertainment/talk show on TBN. Dino With A Branson Touch features guests such as Charlie Pride, The Lennon Sisters, The Platters, Yakov Smirnoff and other Branson luminaries. Originating from the beautiful Ozarks, the program also includes musical performances.
Dino has earned the title "America's Piano Showman," but even that respectful designation falls short of describing the musical mastery that this artist/entertainer has accomplished over the course of his career. In the skillful hands, classical pieces become as inspirational as his church hymns; show tunes as uplifting as a gospel spiritual. Dino doesn't take credit for his artistry; that he gives to his Master. His task, as he sees it, is to share that gift with his audiences.
"My highest aspiration as an entertainer and performer," says Dino, "has always been to use what God has given me to bring light into the darkness."
