Biography

“It isn’t fusion, it isn’t Smooth jazz, Rock, Ambient, Ethnic or Other, yet his music comprises all of these elements into an inseparable whole…. how should you call such a chameleon of musical synthesis?”

….he was born on April 4th 1970, in Athens, Greece. He graduated from the 7th High school of Piraeus in 1988, and then continued his studies at the College of South -Eastern Europe in Athens, Greece, where he obtained his Bachelor in Liberal Arts, with English Literature (as a major) and Philosophy (as a minor) in 1994. A year later, in 1995, he was awarded the Master of Arts in Philosophy, from the University of Durham, in the United Kingdom.
Although engaged in music since his early childhood, it was after his come-back to Greece, that Nikos concentrated his efforts on becoming Proficient in this area. Thus, he completed a four-year cycle of studies (according to the Berkeley System of Teaching), concentrating in Music Theory, Modern-jazz Harmony, Ear-Training, Improvisation, Modern Saxophone and Group-playing in the Laboratory of Jazz and Improvisation of the Protypon Musical Centre of Piraeus, in 2000. By the end of January 2005, he had obtained his “Degree in Harmony”(Classical), and by the end of June of the same year his “Degree Of Classical Saxophone” with Honours, from the Phillipos Nakas Conservatory, under the guidance of the distinguished professor and soloist of the State Orchestra of Athens Efstathios Kiosoglou. He then continued his theoretical studies in Counterpoint and by June 2007 he had obtained his “Diploma of Classical Saxophone”, which was awarded to him with the Distinction of “Honours with Second Prize”.
Since then, he has attended Master-classes with famous Classical and Jazz Professors and Saxophone Performers, such as Jean-Yves Fourmeau, Jean Marie Londex, Athanasios Zervas, Larry Monroe, Joseph Murphy and many others. He has performed with “The Youth Symphonic Band of Fillipos Nakas” in the “Megaron Athens Concert Hall” and other Concert Halls. Moreover, in different occasions he has performed with the “Big-Band” and the “Symphonic Orchestra” of the Municipality of Athens. He has co-operated with many Concert-Bands in Greece, and as a soloist he has been performing in Theatrical Performances, as well as in clubs, live stages, auditoriums etc. He is one of the founding members of the “Aethra Saxophone Quartet” (classical Quartet) and he was also the founding member of the 80s Cover Band “VHS”. Since 2009, he is a member of the Jazz Saxophone Quartet “Sax in 4” and he also performs with the cover band “Prestige”
He has been teaching the Saxophone in Music Institutions all over Greece since 2005. He has been a “Saxophone Teacher” at the National Conservatory since 2007 and in 2010 he was appointed “Saxophone Professor” by the Ministry of Culture.
In 2011, and having gathered all that experience from different areas of musical interpretation, Nikos started his effort in musical synthesis. His ideal is to create a “new” musical genre. Something familiar in each one of its components, yet quite new in its entirety. In this journey into the World of Dreams, his companion is his friends and fellow musicians, “The Dream Walkers”.
“…the music I am mostly fond of when it comes to listening to the Pop Saxophone is Smooth Jazz... Yet, I doubt that you will hear any smooth jazz at all in my compositions…. is it Fusion? Is it world music? ...I doubt that as well… it is something vague and indefinite, it is a blend of smooth elements, combined with rock guitars, and maybe some Irish flutes or vocals somewhere in the background…. the saxophone always having the lead role but not monopolizing the musical piece. The saxophone is rather a part of the whole, unlike its role in the smooth jazz idiom. Its role is not to impress, but to make music… without losing its primacy of course…… so… I will let You decide how to call it!!”