Michalis Kouloumis in Cyprus for concerts

The internationally renowned violinist Michalis Kouloumis will give three concerts in Cyprus, with which he will present his new work for solo violin entitled "Displaced dreams".

Influenced by the recent uprooting of millions of people from their land, the artist listens to human suffering, man's need for acceptance, coexistence and creativity as well as the search for a homeland that will fit our dreams.

Displaced Dreams (in free translation "Dreams without a homeland") is a musical monologue. With a violin, Michalis Kouloumis acrobats artistically and creates a diverse sound landscape drawing elements from continental obituaries, Baroque polyphony, tropical improvisations from the classical music of Istanbul as well as his own compositions.

This is the second solo work of Michalis Kouloumis after his first album entitled Soil - Raw Materials.

The concerts will be given in Limassol and Nicosia as follows:

Saturday April 16 - Palio Xidadiko [Genethliou Mitella 34], Limassol

Saturday April 23 - Space Next to Kala Kathoumena [Nikokleous 21], old Nicosia

Great Monday, April 25 - Space Next to Kala Kathoumena [Nikokleous 21], old Nicosia

+ Time: 21:00 | Admission: € 8 | Tickets and reservations tel. 99327187 | petroslazarou@gmail.com

Πληροφορίες: facebook event | www.michaliskouloumis.com

Who is

Michalis Kouloumis was born in Cyprus. He comes from a family of musicians, where the sounds and melodies of traditional songs were the leaven in which his relationship with music would begin and shape.


His contact with western music dates back to his student years, where he attended many years of classical violin lessons with professor George Zymboulakis. He then studied physics at the Physics Department of the University of Athens. His personal pursuits, however, led him to the musical traditions of Greece and Turkey. He received a degree in traditional violin from the Philippos Nakas Conservatory in Athens, with professor George Marinakis, while he attended violin master-classes with Baki Kemanci and Serdar Pazarcioglu in Istanbul, Stathis Koukoularis and Nedim Nalbantoglu music with Kudsi Erguner, Murat Aydemir and Omer Erdogdular and orchestration and tropical music theory with Ross Daly. He has appeared in music programs on Cypriot, Greek, French as well as British state television. At the same time, he has collaborated with: Nana Mouskouri, Gabriel Yared, Eleni Vitali, Chroni Aidonidis, Nikos Saragouda, Manos Achalinotopoulos, Kudsi Erguner, Keyvan Chemirani, Halim Al-Khatib, David Lynch, Efren Lopez, Cohar Kyriakos Kalaitzidis, Takoushis- Karapatakis Project, Katerina Papadopoulou. He has played the violin in a large number of recordings, as well as in major theaters around the world such as: Royal Albert Hall and Union Chapel (London), Onassis Cultural Center (Athens), Palace of Arts (Budapest), Registan square (Samarkand), etc.


In 2013 he completed his postgraduate studies with a specialization in Violin Performance in World music (Ottoman Classical music, Taksim) from the Rotterdam Conservatoire (Codarts, University for the Arts). He was awarded for his excellent performance with the title "10/10, Excellence in Performance" by the "Friends of Codarts Foundation". He is also a key member of the “Lingua Franca Ensemble, a quartet of musicians who, with their original compositions, try to give a new direction and aesthetics to the tropical music of the East. They will soon release their first album entitled Ephemera.


Since 2013 he has been a visiting violin teacher at the Rotterdam Conservatoire in the Netherlands, while in October 2014 he released his first album, entitled "Soil-Raw Materials", the raw material of which is based on traditional melodies of Cyprus.


Michalis Kouloumis lives and works in London.


Source: "Window" Magazine