Fusing together his contemporary and classical background, London-based, Greek guitarist and composer Stelios Kyriakidis aims to create music for guitar that is as understated as it is stirring. Influenced by neoclassical, folk and film music elements, Stelios is equally at home in writing music as he is performing it on stage, seeking to deliver an organic and transcendent experience in his live shows.
Stelios has been interviewed and had his music featured on BBC Radio London. One of his latest pieces, Copenhagen, entered the iTunes United Kingdom Classical Charts at no.34. Stelios has performed in the USA, UK, Germany and Greece in places such as the 21st Century Guitar Conference (Indianapolis, USA), Green Note (London, UK), Somerset Jazz Festival (UK), Handmade & Recycled Festival (Athens, GR), Herman Schulz Cafe (Berlin, DE) and Sofar Sounds (London, Brighton & Bristol, UK).
With three EPs to date, Stelios’s debut full-length album, 508 Days, has been released on October 6th 2023. The work features storytelling pieces along with short, song-like ones, arranged chronologically and making the album similar to an audio diary. 508 Days reflects an exploratory period in Stelios's life, when he left his solitary six-month stay in a Greek seaside village and went back to the world, first busking in Europe and then moving back to London. One of the pieces, I’ll Split Mine With You, has been included in the compilation CD album ‘Guitar Tenderness’, released in Japan by Inpartmaint records.
PRESS
MUSIC DANCES WHEN YOU SLEEP
July 2023
"It's as if the guitar itself has a voice, whispering stories of love, loss, and hope to those who are willing to listen."
THE MUSICIAN
Summer 2023
"An ideal soundtrack to both sunny days and stormy nights. Genuinely beautiful.''
"Kyriakidis has a delightful way of creating bright, shimmering melodies that you want to hear again."
BERLIN ON AIR
October 2023
"Stelios has impressed us with his very precise and soulful playing style."
"Optica’s third movement, Night, was the highlight for me – a wonderful melody over a hauntingly simple backdrop of repeated plucked strings. Fabulous…"
"A subtle soundscape crafted and performed by Stelios Kyriakidis replicates the thudding of a heartbeat... the live music has a particular importance in reaching the audience. It's certainly a stronger production for it."