Biography

 

Sokratis Sinopoulos

Greek musician Sokratis Sinopoulos is a contemporary master of the lyra, a bowed instrument that dates back to the Byzantine era. His playing is delicate and nuanced yet highly expressive, and his proficiency on the instrument has been widely acclaimed.
He has collaborated with numerous musicians throughout the world.
Born in Athens in 1974, he studied Byzantine music and classical guitar as a child, and began playing the lyra in 1988, under the instruction of Ross Daly. He became highly prolific, contributing to recordings by countless musicians including Eleni Karaindrou, Charles Lloyd, Ara Dinkjian, Jean Guihen Queyras and Loreena McKennitt. Sinopoulos was awarded the Melina Mercouri award for young artists in 1999. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Music Science and Art in the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece.
He has released two albums on ECM Records.

Yann Keerim

Yann Keerim began playing piano at the age of four and received his diploma in classical music at the age of 16. His compositions have been featured in numerous films and productions. As pianist he has performed with jazz and ‘world music’ artists including Ara Dinkjian, Manos Achinotopoulos, and Haig Yazdjian.

Kyriakos Tapakis

Kyriakos Tapakis (ud) graduated from the Music High School of Pallini, where he was taught to play the ud and other instruments, as well as folk, Byzantine music, and Arabic maqam. At the Piraeus Conservatoire, he was taught Byzantine music, the tambouras and jazz guitar.

Dimitris Emmanuel

Dimitris Emmanuel (drums) graduated from the Music High School of Pallini, specialized in Greek traditional percussion and Latin percussion. He won the Greek Young Artist Award in 1997 and since then has worked with many groups of traditional Greek music and dance companies.

Sokratis Sinopoulos has released one album on Saphrane Records:  Under the Rose Tree

Photo’s ont his page: (c) Gustavo Pazos