Glafkos Smarianakis

MUSICIAN

Glafkos Smarianakis was born in Athens on 12/05/1990. He is originally from Nisyros, Naxos and Crete and grew up in the islands of Nisyros and Rhodes. At the age of 6 he started classical and traditional violin classes at the Rhodes Municipal Conservatory.

In 2002 he started his studies at the Music High School of Rhodes from which he graduated with excellence in 2008. During that time he was also tought Byzantine Music, Dodecanese Lyra as well as classical music theory, and participated in traditional folk and modern bands playing in various festivals and concerts.

At the age of 18 he moved to Heraklion, where he studied at the Department of Physics of the University of Crete. He began to systematically study Greek folk and traditional music and the role of the violin in it, while working as a musician in small venues and taverns and collaborating with several local musicians. During that time, he also attended seminars by Giorgos Papaioannou (“Makam in violin” – Labyrinth Musical Workshop) and Kyriakos Gouvendas (“Traditional violin” – Music Village of Agios Lavrentios, Pelion).

In 2014 he settled in Athens, starting a long process of violin study and artistic research and exploration.

He studies classical violin in Athens Conservatoire under the guidance of Professor Odysseas Korelis, as well as Theoretical Tropical Music with Christos Tsimoulis. He also participates in the traditional orchestra of the Athens Conservatoire under the direction of Andreas Tsekouras. At the same time he performs concerts with the musical bands ‘MPAM’ (traditional music band) and ‘Banda Yovianika’ (Orchestra of Balkan Gypsy Music) of which he is a founding member.

Moreover, he works as a violinist in bands and orchestras of various musical genres, playing in taverns, folk events, dancing and theatrical performances. He has also performanced at music festivals in Italy, Holland, Poland and France.