Nikos Karydis
About
I am a composer, trumpet player based in Athens, Greece. Even though I had mostly classical training, I ended up being attracted a lot by western European avant-garde, experimental music, electronic music as well as folk music of the Balkans.
Born in 1979, I started my personal, musical journey with guitar and songwriting at an early age. Then I got into music theory, piano, bouzouki, trumpet, musicology, dance improvisation and folk music. And then into contemporary classical music, composition, electronic music and music for theater.
Working experience
-10+ year experience of teaching: trumpet, classical harmony and composition.
-National Theater of Greece: Worked as a trumpet player and composer. Composed and performed music for various theatrical shows.
-Composed music for various advertisement campaigns (Dapper Dan magazine, State of Escape Bags etc.)
-Trumpet player in “Agia Fanfara” Brass Band, a Balkan, gypsy style orchestra of 26 performers, based in Athens, Greece. I have provided original compositions and orchestrations for the band.
-Member of “Floudia” free improvisation trio.
Premieres of Works:
-Premier of “Pedal” sextet in “Megaron” Composition Workshop for young composers (2009)
-“Cycle of Songs” for voice, bouzouki and electronics was premiered in University of Indianapolis, Athens (2012)
-”Kolpo” cycle of songs premiered in “Megaron” on poetry by Lena Kallergi (2015)
-"Trio" for horn, guitar, double bass and electronics (2024)
Teaching Style
I believe music is a vehicle of communication, knowledge, creativity, and joy. This is what I am striving for whenever I play or teach.
I have more than 10 years of teaching experience. I always try to adapt to the needs and desires of each student. So we decide together on the direction of the curriculum and repertoire. I often create specific material depending on the needs. Lately I have been more active in gypsy style balkan trumpet playing, free improvisation and spectral/electronic music
I have composed popular music of almost any genre for commercial needs, however, my interest in composition has been 20th century contemporary classical music. Variety and Diversity is what the 20th century music is about. Analyzing works that belong to the main schools of musical thought (Impressionism, Neo-classicism and Neo-romanticism, Atonality, Serialism, Texturalism, Minimalism, Electro Acoustic music) provide strong foundations for almost any creative endeavor.
Curriculum
Trumpet
Basic technical material: Arban, Flexibilities (Irons, Collins etc.), Clark studies, Reinhardt material, Asa Method, Clint “Pops” MacLaughlin material, Flexus etc.
I was early enough interested in expanding my trumpet skills towards folk music of Eastern Mediterranean/Balkans. I studied greek, serbian and north macedonian gypsy trumpet repertoire for years, transcribing songs and trumpet solos. I orchestrated, rehearsed and performed part of this repertoire with some of my students. I have also created a corpus of technical studies for practicing eastern style ornamentation and makam style melodic vocabulary.
Composition:
Learning how to compose music is most of the time about analyzing musical pieces you like (or don’t like!) and then imitating their structure. No matter what kind of music you are going for, it is very helpful to have good theoretical foundations. Classical Music Theory, Music Theory of the 20th century as well as History of 20th century Musics are topics that strengthen analytical and creative tools if . However since music theory is a vast life-long subject it is best to be more practical and choose to work only on the areas that support your current creative goals.
I am currently working on creating some spectral pieces based on a collection of poems by greek poet Miltos Sahtouris. I am mainly using Spear and Csound apps to analyze and reconstruct spectral material and then combine computer generated textures with instrumental and vocal layer
Credentials & Affiliations
Trumpet
-I studied and got a degree in classical trumpet with trumpet player of Athens State Orchestra, Panagiotis Mpalamos
-Bo Nilsson trumpet seminar, “Orfeio” music school
-Online trumpet lessons with Christopher LaBarbera
Music theory and Composition
-MA degree in Music Studies, University of Athens, Greece
-Degree in Composition, State music school of Kalamata, Greece
-”Megaron” Composition Workshops in Athens (2009)
Electronic music
-Electronic music production courses (SAE Athens)
-”Csound” music programming software courses in “Music Praxis” music school, Athens.