The artist Mihalis Kalkanis holds a diploma in double bass from the Philippos Nakas Conservatory, a degree in Music Science and Art from the University of Macedonia and a master’s degree in “MRes in Creative Music Technology – University of Hull (UK).
As a classical music trained double bassist he is a permanent member of the Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Athens, while he also participates in concerts of the Athens State Orchestra. At the same time he focuses on research and experimentation on double bass performance techniques which is reflected in his own music as well as in his collaborations with independent artists and organizations such as Flux Laboratory.
He comes from a musical family and he is a particularly daring and creative artist, successfully experimenting and offering us unpredictable music. His band ‘Mihalis Kalkanis Group’ has participated in the most important Greek festivals such as the Athens Epidaurus Festival, Summer Nostos Festival (Stavros Niarchos Foundation), Athens Jazz Festival, Jazz Ahead (DE), Palma Jazz Festival (ES), Aglan Jazz Festival (CY) and many more.
Through his music he often interacts with other arts such as photography, poetry, dance etc. In his album “World Echoes in Athens” he composed music based on field recordings that he made for a year in improvised places of worship of immigrants and refugees in Athens. This album was the soundtrack of Tasos Vrettos’ photographic ‘field research’ entitled ‘Wor(th)ship’, which was presented at the Benaki Museum in 2015. In April 2022, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of T. Livaditis, the single ‘Believe’ is released, in which his music coexists with actor D. Katalifo’s captivating narration of T. Livaditis’ poem ‘Believe’. Recently he composed and performed music for the music and visual arts performance ‘L’ascension du Mont Ventoux’ at Kournos Festival in which he collaborated with Renaud Herbin, one of the most important European puppeteers and a regular collaborator of the Avignon Festival.
View all our Artists
The current roster of Artists and Bands in Hellenic Jazz Society