Live Jazz events & concerts in Greece

Vassilis was born in 1979 in Athens and grew up in Rhodes island. He began his musical studies at the age of 13 and holds the following degrees: MMus(RCM) in Composition for Screen by the Royal College of Music, London; BMus(RHUL) in Music by the Royal Holloway – University of London; as well as the Degrees of “Fugue”, “Counterpoint”, “Harmony Specialist” and “Classical Guitar Performance” by the Hellenic Conservatory. He has also attended the Berklee Summer School at Umbria Jazz Clinics in Perugia (Italy), classical guitar lessons with Mr. Michael Lewin (Head of Classical Guitar at the Royal Academy of Music, London) and had flamenco guitar lessons in Almería and in Sevilla (Spain).

Vassilis has won several prizes in various composition contests:
– a first prize, a second prize and an advanced distinction in the 1st Pan-Hellenic Contest in Composition using Computers, organized by RAM magazine and IEK AKMI (Greece, 2002)
– a prize in the composition contest for nursery rhymes, “Arsi Fonon 2004”, organized by the “Orchestra of Colours” in the context of the organization committee’s cultural program for the period of the Paralympics, during the Olympic Games “Athens 2004”
– a second prize in the “Remixes” category at the Pan-Hellenic music contest “Makemusic contest 2004”

He has participated in various music recordings as a guitarist and orchestrator, and has orchestrated the gold record “Grigora i Ora Perase” of Nikos Xydakis and Eleftheria Arvanitaki (2006). His songs and compositions can be found in recordings by: Aggeliki Toubanaki and the Buzz Bastardz, Sofia Papazoglou, Afentoula Razeli and Nikos Xydakis.

Vassilis has collaborated as a guitarist, orchestrator and composer with some of the most distinguished Greek musicians and singers (such as G. Dalaras, N. Xydakis, E. Arvanitaki and many other) and has collaborated with several orchestras like the Armonia Atenea – The Friends of Music Orchestra, the Ossipov State Russian Folk Orchestra, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, the CityMusic Cleveland Orchestra, the Athens State Orchestra and the Symphonic Orchestra of Volos.

He has appeared in festivals and concerts in some of the most prestigious concert venues in Greece and abroad (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA).