Nikolaos Baimpas, (Musical Director) kanun (κανονάκι) and santouri (σαντούρι)

Nikos has recorded and performed live with some of Greece's most significant contemporary artists including George Dalaras, Chronis Aidonidis, Glykeria, Eleni Vitalli, Eleni Tsaligopoulou, Giannis Kotsiras, Manolis Mitsias and Pantelis Thalassinos. As a member of Estoudiantina orchestra in Greece he has been featured on numerous recordings and performed internationally, at venues such as the Jazz Lincoln Theatre New York, Herodium Atticus Parthenon Athens, Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall, Istanbul. He has also collaborated with the philharmonic orchestras of Volos and Thessaloniki  in Greece, and Odessa in Ukraine. Discography:"Tears on the Glass" (2006); the double CD and DVD box set "Tragoudia me ousies" (2007) from a live performance at Herodium, together with Giorgos Dalaras, Christos Thivaios, Babis Tsertos; "Mare Nostrum" (2009), "Tragoudia kai skopoi tis kath'umas Anatolis" (2010) and "I Smyrni tou Erota" (2012); soundtrack for the movie "A hero in Rome" in collaboration with the Sofia Philharmonic.

Nikos is currently writing his PhD in engineering at Oxford University, where he is a scholar. He also has a Diploma in Byzantine music (2004) and a degree in classical music theory (2006) from Music School of Volos in Greece (1998-2004).

Michalis Kouloumis (violin)

Born in a musical family in the island of Cyprus, the violinist Michalis Kouloumis developed a strong musical conception and sensitivity from his early years. Today he is one of the most important world music violinists (specialised in Greek traditional and Ottoman classical music). 

Michalis Kouloumis is widely appreciated for his improvisational skills in "taksims" and the use of special techniques, such as diplochordo* in his playing. 

He currently lives in London. 

*idiomatic playing which originates from Asia Minor, where the strings are tuned in E5 - E4 - D4 - G3 and the E4 string is moved towards E5, so as to be played at the same time - as a double string (turkish term: çiftetelli)  

 Antonio Romero ( Percussion) 

Antonio was born in Jerez in 1975.

He was co-founder and drummer of the band El Hombre Burbuja which became  known as one of the most influential groups to appear on the Spanish pop-rock scene at the end of the 90s.

With the separation of EHB, Antonio moved completely  away from the world of pop and fully dedicated himself to studying oriental percussion. Feeling passionate about this new field, Antonio moved temporarily to Istanbul where he created a bond with Turkey and its music that has lasted until today.

Antonio completed his professional studies in percussion at the Royal Conservatory Manuel de Falla.

His time at the conservatory drove him to delve deeper into the intricacies of the instrument and to explore the full potential of percussion as an expressive musical tool. He has approached percussion from an intuitive standpoint and developed his own rudiments for studying by applying classical rudiments to Middle Eastern percussion. Antonio prefers relying on intuition in his playing as he believes this adds to the expressive abilities of percussion instruments, avoiding the distractions posed by other approaches.

At present he resides in London with his family, still faithful to his intuition and his Flamenco roots and to the groove and beauty of the music.

Colin Somerwell (double bass)