Nikos Xanthoulis

Dr. Nikos Xanthoulis is a composer, ancient Greek lyre player, researcher and artistic consultant to the Greek National Opera. He is a Corresponding Member of the Archaeological Institute of America and also Assistant Researcher with the Academy of Athens. He has served as the principal trumpet player at the Greek National Opera Orchestra for twenty-five years, and from 2009 until 2012 he was leading the Educational Department of the same Institute.  He was a faculty member of the Athens Conservatory for more than 40 years, and tutor at the Greek Open University from 2004 to 2017.
As a composer and trumpet soloist he has presented his music in Greece and internationally in more than 30 countries. His published works include translations of ancient Greek music theoreticians.  He was a Kress Lecturer for the Archaeological Institute of America in 2012-2013 and 2017-2018, lecturing and performing at many American universities (Stanford, Berklee, Hawaii, Purdue etc). From 2014 to 2015 he was the Artistic Director of the Public Broadcasting Orchestras and Choir (ERT) in Greece. Four Russian theatres have included his music for ancient tragedies in their repertoires:  Moscow (Antigone), Simferopol (Trojan Women), Omsk (Oedipus Rex 1^st version) and Vladivostok (Oedipus Rex 2^nd version and Bulgakov’s “Maitre and Margarita”). In 2018 he published the first learning method of the seven-string lyre. His operas and incidental music have been presented in Greece and abroad. He has released 14 personal CDs and participated on six more, in collaboration with other composers. Moreover, three digital albums are featured on the Spotify platform. The last two years he has had a fruitful collaboration with the playwright Christoforos Christofis, presenting their musical dramas at the Athens Concert Hall and in several ancient Greek theaters. Christofis received the coveted “Karolos Koun” Prize for the Athens Concert Hall production of the musical drama “The Invocation of Prometheus” where Nikos Xanthoulis composed and conducted the incidental music.
Nikos Xanthoulis is considered globally as the Musician who revived the ancient Greek seven-string Lyre, having built a firm technique as a soloist and composing an abundant repertoire on the instrument. He presented the first concerto for ancient Greek lyre and orchestra, after 1600 years of silence, in Poland (Jelenia Gura) and Germany (Berlin) with the Symphony Orchestra of Lower Silesia (2015). In February 2023 he will present a Lyre Recital at Athens Concert Hall with new compositions by composers from seven countries.