Bio
Going far brings you closer to home. My life's journey always involved music, love and being a restless mind.
Started to study classical violin at age 5 and finished Athens Conservatory 16 years later. During this long period of time, my mind has been hardwired with the brilliant masterpieces of W.A.Mozart, C. Debussy, I. Stravinsky to name a few. But my heart belongs to all the Rock bands I played with, from my teens and my school Metal band of "Wrath" (what a name!!) till today's project called "WC". Tried (and still do) to learn from the masters. D.Bowie, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Iggy & the Stooges, Depeche Mode is what comes spontaneously to my mind.
I have been lucky (and bold) enough to fullfil most of my dreams.
My biggest achievements are: still being around, my friends and the love of my life, with which i enjoy happiness and share true love since 19 years now. My biggest ambition is to continue to do so, for the rest of my time.
Math, is my second to music love, and University of Athens is where i mastered it.
Harmony and Counterpoint got in my luggage courtesy of the Athenaeum Conservatory, along with Orchestration, Composition and Film Scoring which i studied with D. Papadimitriou.
There is evidence that strangely enough, some guys like my music, and therefore have honored me with:
- a scholarship from Berklee College of Music (Boston USA),
- an award by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the music I composed for several theatrical plays produced by UNICEF,
- I have been two times honored by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) with golden seal plaquettes for my contribution to art,
- and made it to the pages of the French magazine "Diapason" who scored my work about "the history of music in the silent film era" as being one of the top 3 worldwide. This work has been translated in Greek, English, French, and Italian and is being referenced in several Universities worldwide (University of Pennsylvania, Laval University Canada, Waterloo University in Canada, University of Sao Paolo in Brazil) as well as in publications by Mc Graw Hill's New York to name but a few.
- The corporate bitches of record companies have also awarded my work as a recording artist with several Golden Records for the sales and commercial success of CDs that i produced, performed and/or arranged in Greece and Cyprus. I must admit that they decorate my studio walls pretty well.. :-)
- Speaking of the devil..reminds me of politicians! I have also been honoured by the President of the Greek Parliament (Apostolos Kaklamanis) for "quality of services offered" refferering to the music I composed for the documentary "Dodekanese, travel through time". The film was ordered by the Greek Parliament for the celebration of 100 years of Dodecanese's unification with Greece, has been distributed to the Greek Consulates worldwide and was offered as a gift from the Greek State to foreign country government officials.
Movies and the Theatre have also an important place among my line of interests. I composed soundtracks for a whole bounch of plays and films, including the Wizard of Oz which i consider my fav.
I have performed in literally thousands of concerts. Some of them bigger, some of them smaller but all of them have a place in my heart. I can admit that I never get bored with performing and I remember pretty much most of them. Among my favs are
- the Millennium Concert that took place in 2000 New Years Eve in Athens Central Square (Syntagma) in front of the Greek Parliament, having an audience of more than 110,000 people,
- the celebration concert for Greece adopting the Euro currency in 2001, having an audience of more than 100,000 people
- my first time as an orchestra director, conducting the Orchestra of the National Theatre of Greece in the ancient theatre of Epidaurus. I remember I was only 29 and my heart was pumping so hard that it wanted to explode through my chest, but..I suppose i did pretty well 'cause the National Theatre hired me for 3 years, that is till my resignation in order to follow a career in the record Industry.
I like to travel a lot, and touring with the bands i ve been in, along with the artists that have hired me as a session musician, gave me the opportunity to travel all over Greece, Cyprus, USA, the UK, Germany and Bulgaria. I lived for several years in the post 9/11 New York City, and I will never forget the feeling of my blood freezing every time i visited Ground Zero, along with my rage for how stupid people can be. Inspired by the 9/11 tragedy I composed the song "Oy foneyseis" (thou shall not kill). My latest project is the band "Wastor Cult" and "Oy foneyseis" was included in Wastor Cult's CD called "WC". The album made it to the Greek charts (no. 16), has been heavily praised by the media (some of them having Wastor Cult in their cover page) and Oy Foneyfeis' music video has been nominated for "Best Alternative Artist" in 2008 by Greece's biggest MusicTV station (Mad TV).
For the post-production of "WC" I have collaborated with Ted Jensen and Sterling Sound in NYC. Ted Jensen, is best known for his work with Bruce Springsteen, Evanescence, Metallica, Greenday, Billy Joel etc. Sterling Sound is considered the leading studio in NYC and one of the best (if not THE best) worldwide. In 2008, Sterling Sound selected to feature my song "Ashes" in their official website's front page music player.
As of 2014 I have relocated to Los Angeles and worked for the TV series "Glee" and "Ray Donovan".
That's all (for now). Thanks for your time to follow my journey. Enjoy your ride...