Makam in improvisation by Sokratis Sinopoulos and Derya Turkan
June 28 - July 3, 2010

Derya Türkan is a young master of classical Turkish kemenche. He plays improvisational as well as the Ottoman classical music repertoire.
Türkan was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1973. He grew up in a musical family and his first music lessons were with the well known Turkish cellist Firat Kiziltug. Türkan attended and graduated from the Turkish Music Conservatory Instruments Education Department of the Istanbul Technical University, where he studied with Ihsan Özgen, an internationally recognized Turkish musician. In 1990, Türkan was invited to perform as a guest musician by the Turkish Cultural Ministry's Istanbul National Turkish Music Ensemble, directed by Necdet Yasar.

Socrates Sinopoulos was born in Athens. He studied classical guitar, Byzantine music and folk music at the Kara School and the Tsiamoulis Institute. In 1988, he started learning the lute and kemence (the lyre of Istanbul) with Ross Daly, and a year later joined the group Labyrinth.

Cretan lyra with sympathetic strings by Ross Daly
July 5 - 10, 2010

In 1990 Ross Daly designed a new type of lyra which incorporates elements of the Cretan lyra, the kemençe and the Indian sarangi. The result was a lyra with three playing strings of 29cms in length (the same as the standard Cretan lyra), and 18 sympathetic strings which resonate on Indian styled jawari bridges (the number of sympathetic strings was later increased to 22). This new instrument subsequently became quite popular and certain instrument makers began to take it very seriously and work on improvements on the original design.

Classical Ottoman Singing by Ahmet Erdogdular
July 5 - 10, 2010

Ahmet Erdoğdular started studying music at an early age with his father, neyzen Ömer Erdoğdular, and continued his musical development with the guidance of the renowned musician Niyazi Sayın. He participated in various concerts as a lead singer while still a teenager. Ahmet holds a BA degree from the Istanbul Technical University State Conservatory where he also completed his Masters degree in Turkish Classical Music under the guidance of Professor Alaeddin Yavaşça. He specialized in Turkish gazel (improvisation) technique, while his academic research is on the use of music and poetry in gazel forms of the late Ottoman period. Ahmet studied makam and improvisation techniques with Niyazi Sayın, Necdet Yaşar and Kani Karaca, and performed with them in Turkey and around the world.

Cretan Laouto by Giorgos Xylouris
July 12 - 17, 2010

The laouto was originally the most important instrument of accompaniment in Cretan music, but, in recent decades, it has also developed into a solo instrument in its own right. Giorgos Xylouris has played a very important role in this process, not only due to his numerous technical innovations, but especially due to his aesthetic approach. He studiously avoids any innovations which compromise the aesthetic individuality of Cretan music, whilst simultaneously working in a very creative and imaginative way with any elements which compliment it.

Cretan mandolin by Michalis Stavrakakis
July 12 - 17, 2010

Michalis Stavrakakis was born in the village of Armanogeia in Heraklion on the island of Crete and brought up in Anogeia in Rethymnon in a family of many well known traditional musicians of the Cretan musical idiom. He is a self taught musician and learnt how to play the laouto and the mandolin with the help of some of the most renowned artists of the Cretan musical tradition.

Yayli Tambur by Evgenios Voulgaris
July 19 - 24, 2010

He started his music training in 1985 studying Byzantine music. His interest in traditional music started in 1992 and took the form of apprenticeship next to Christos Tsiamoulis. Since 2001 he has been attending lessons on the interpretation of Ottoman music next to Fahrettin Cimenli in Istanbul. Of particular importance to his musical training has been a series of seminars on the oud, saz, afghani rabab, as well as composition and orchestration in the context of the “Labyrinth” Musical Workshops organized in Houdetsi, Crete.