Hayden Chisholm — sax, sruti box, voice

Hayden Chisholm (b. 1975) grew up in New Plymouth, New Zealand. His wide-ranging multi-instrumental and compositional studies, together with a taste for travel, took him early on to institutions in Switzerland, Greece, India, Yugoslavia, and Japan, before he completed his saxophone studies with a DAAD scholarship under Frank Gratkowski at the Cologne University of Music, continuing his studies afterward in Japan and India. Through his close association with Nils Wogram's Root 70, he became a local figure of far-reaching influence there during the 1990s. In 1995 he developed a radically new microtonal system for saxophone, which he called "split scales," unveiled on his debut solo CD "Circe." From 1995 he also toured India, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, including with pianist John Taylor. His compositions have been broadcast by the BBC and WDR, and he has toured and recorded extensively with the likes of Root 70, the WDR Big Band, Musikfabrik Ensemble, and David Sylvian. Since 2002, Chisholm has collaborated with action artist Rebecca Horn, composing music for several of her installations as well as scores for her films, and created the music for the documentary "Moon Mirror Journey." Chisholm appears as a protagonist in the documentary "Sound of Heimat – Deutschland singt" (2012) by Arne Birkenstock and Jan Tengeler. He has taught at universities throughout the world, gives yearly masterclasses in Greece, and curates the annual Plushmusic festival in Cologne and Bremen. In 2013 he was awarded the German SWR Jazz Prize for his "unique sound aesthetic," and released the 13-part CD box set "13 Views of the Heart's Cargo," summarizing his body of work to date as a musician and composer.

haydenchisholm.net, softspeakers.com

Thimios Atzakas — oud

Thimios Atzakas was born in 1971 in Thessaloniki. He studied classical guitar with Costas Kotsiolis, Hubert Käppel, and Carlo Marchione, as well as oud and modal music with Ziad Rajab, Behnam Manadjedi, and Ross Daly. He is a graduate of the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki, the Cologne University of Music, and the Leipzig University of Music and Theatre. In 2013, he completed his doctoral thesis at the University of the Aegean on the topic "People of the Wood — The Art of Oud from the Outskirts of the Eastern Music World to Contemporary Greek Urban Culture." From 1998 to 2004 he lived in Berlin. Over the past decade, his artistic focus has been on playing and exploring the oud and modal Middle Eastern musical traditions, as well as composition and improvisation, while remaining active as an interpreter of classical and contemporary music. He founded several ensembles, including the Armos Ensemble, the Tropos Quartet Berlin, and, together with Antonis Anissegos, the ensemble ΣΩΜΑ. Since 2010 he has been a member of Ex Silentio, an ensemble specializing in music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Since 2005, he has taught oud and traditional Greek music ensemble playing at the Department of Music Science and Art of the University of Macedonia. Since 2006 he has organized and served as artistic director of the international summer course "Music Village," held annually for two weeks in Agios Lavrentios, Pelion — the very site of tonight's concert.

carpediem-records.de

Katerina Fotinaki — voice, guitar, loops

Katerina Fotinaki (GR, b. 1979) studied classical literature at the University of Athens and vocal technique at the Institute of Vocal Arts under baritone Spyros Sakkas. She was artistic director of several projects in Greece and received numerous awards at composition competitions. In 2006, invited by composer Angélique Ionatos, she moved to Paris, where the two created three different stage programmes together as well as a joint CD/DVD of their duets. Katerina held a scholarship from the Cité des Arts for several years. In December 2011, she won first prize in a national songwriter competition organized by the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation in Athens for her song "To Oniro," based on a poem by Dionysios Solomos, launching her solo discography with the album "Tzitzikia" (Accords Croisés/Harmonia Mundi), which was enthusiastically received by the French press (an "fff" rating from Télérama, named 4th best CD of the year by Le Monde in 2014). Alongside Greek music and poetry, Katerina Fotinaki studied contemporary music with composer Bernard Cavanna at the Gennevilliers Conservatory. Since 2014 she has taught at the National Theatre of Northern Greece.