Kyriakos Kalaitzidis is a composer, oud player, artistic director and cofounder of “En Chordais”. He is considered one of the most important musicians and scholars in the field of modal secular music of the post-Byzantine era and Mediterranean today. As a member of “En Chordais” or as soloist he has given more than 2000 concerts in 45 countries in major festivals and venues, among them at Sydney Opera House, Berlin Philharmonie, Salle Pleyel (Paris), Lincoln Center (New York), Maison Symphonic (Montreal), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Cornell University, San Marco (Venice), Hong Kong Concert Hall, Onassis Cultural Center (Athens), Alte Oper (Frankfurt), Opera de Lyon, Shanghai World Music Festival, Herodis Atticus Odeon (Athens), Fès Festival (Morocco), Melbourne Recital Centre, Festival International de Carthage, Enescu Festival, Cervantino Festival, Sori Festival and many others. He has given lectures and master classes in eminent institutions such as Princeton University, Université de Strasbourg, Istanbul State Conservatory, Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), Torino University, Ca’ Foscari University (Venice), Holly Cross College (Boston), Yildirim Beyazit University (Ankara), The Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music (Beirut), National Music Conservatory (Amman) and Institut Supérieur de Music (Tunis). Kyriakos’ discography includes recordings of local traditions, presentation of unknown art music works (Zacharias Khanedeh, Petros Peloponnisios), as well as compositional works (Expectation, Exile, The Fairytale of the Music). His latest album “The Musical Voyages of Marco Polo” has been released by World Village – Harmonia Mundi. In 2002-2005 he was artistic director of the MediMuses project, which was dedicated to celebrating the Mediterranean’s shared classical musical heritage. In October 2012 his PhD “Post-Byzantine Music Manuscripts as a Source for Oriental Secular Music” was published by the Orient Institut – Istanbul & Ergon-Verlag publisher. Prizes: “Academie Charles Cros” 2014, Prix France Musique des Musiques du Monde 2008.
Performance, 45 min