Tinos World Music Festival presents the third year of the cycle of musical creation with the title “Transformations”, which aims to explore the relationship between the various manifestations of folk music culture and contemporary artistic creation.

Tinos World Music Festival was inaugurated in 2013 on the island of Tinos and is organised by the Cultural Foundation of Tinos and the Creative Musical Island. It has hosted over 100 musicians from Greece and abroad and has been attended by hundreds of spectators from all over the world. Artistic director of the festival is Martha Mavroidi.

With “Transformations”, the festival aims to give prominence to the new musical community growing around the traditional music of Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean, seeking new ways of artistic expression. Virtuosi of folk instruments who develop new techniques on their instruments, transform the traditional musical idioms and create new musical genres, each one marking the result with their own particular artistic identity. Musicians from this community rarely have the opportunity to present their work at an institution that is dedicated to such genres. The “Transformations” cycle consists of three different editions of the festival (Transformations I, II, III), in three consecutive years (2022, 2023, 2024) and includes concerts and educational activities in various locations of Tinos. The aim of the three-year cycle is to provide a platform where new musical trends interact with one another through musical partnerships and educational activities, and meet with a wide audience, creating a musical network that includes both the local community of Tinos and the nearby islands, as well as an ever-growing audience from other regions of Greece and abroad.

The Tinos World Music Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary!

Since its inception, the TWMF has hosted over 100 musicians and been attended by hundreds of spectators from around the world. Over its ten-year history, the festival has presented a wide range of artists, from seasoned musicians with extensive discographies to emerging artists showcasing their debut albums.

The TWMF stage has welcomed musicians from Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Bulgaria, England, France, Iran, Spain, New Zealand, and more. Over these ten years, the TWMF audience has enjoyed a plethora of unique artists: accordionists such as Petar Ralchev, Stian Carstensen, and Thanos Stavridis, lyra players Derya Turkan, Sokratis Sinopoulos, Stratis Psaradellis, Ross Daly, Kelly Thoma, Giorgos Kontogiannis, Stelios Petrakis, Giorgos Skordalos, Christos Kaliontzidis, exceptional voices like Eliza Carthy, the Eva Quartet, the Yasemi Quartet, Savina Yannatou, Avgerini Gatsi, Eirini Derembei, and Dionysia Papouli, the Happy Hour Choir, laouto players such as Giorgos Xylouris, Giorgos Manolakis, Maria Ploumi, Alexandros Kapsokavadis, saz players like Periklis Papapetropoulos and Cihan Türkoğlu, oud players such as Yurdal Tokcan, Haig Yazdjian, Taxiarchis Georgoulis, Nikolas Palaiologos, Dimitris Mikelis, and Kostas Tsarouchis, cellists Mayu Sviro, Sofia Eukleidi, and Nikos Papaioannou, the legendary fretless guitar player Erkan Oğur, and guitarists Enver Ismailov, Antonis Apergis, Vasilis Rakopoulos, and Lefteris Havoutsas, the kanun players Tasos Poulios, Manolis Christodoulou, and Eleftheria Daoultzi, the double bass players Kostas Theodorou, Pavlos Spyropoulos, Apostolos Sideris, Giorgos Ventouris and Shushan Kerovpyan, the distinguished violinist Stathis Koukoularis, and violinists Giannis Poulios and Giorgos Papaioannou, the ney players Haris Lambrakis and Nikos Paraoulakis, the kaval player Nedyalko Nedyalkov, the clarinetist Manos Achalinotopoulos, and the duduk virtuoso Vahan Galstian, the trumpet players Pantelis Stoikos and Peter Jaques, the saxophonists James Wylie and Fausto Sierakowski, the multi-instrumentalist Efren Lopez, the bouzouki virtuoso Fotis Vergopoulos, the drummers Jim White and Kostas Anastasiadis, the percussionists Vangelis Karipis, Bijan  Chemirani, and Solis Barkis, and many others.

In addition to international participants, the festival also promotes the local music community, hosting musicians from Tinos and the nearby islands such as the musical group Melidron, the Byzantine music choir of the Holy Metropolis of Syros in Tinos, the tsambouna players Theodoros Chiou from Tinos, Akrivos Zervos from Syros, Stavros Larios from Andros, and the laouto players Giannis Michael and Konstantinos Vidalis from Tinos.

In addition to concerts, the audience had the opportunity to meet the musicians and experience their art firsthand through educational programs such as the introductory laouto workshop with Maria Ploumi and singing workshops with Martha Mavroidi, Dionysia Papouli, and Shushan Kerovpyan.

The idea for creating the TWMF belongs to Giorgos Koumentakis, who in 2012 commissioned me to create a festival focusing on Balkan music. Soon, the festival’s theme expanded to include music from various parts of the world, and the audience embraced the festival, with hundreds of spectators from around the world filling the halls of the Cultural Foundation of Tinos and the Museum of Marble Crafts every year.

The Tinos World Music Festival has now become a platform where new musical trends interact through musical collaborations and educational activities, and reach a wide audience, creating a musical network that includes both the local community of Tinos and the nearby islands as well as a constantly growing audience from other parts of Greece and abroad.   

The festival would not be possible without its sponsors and supporters, as well as the hard work of the production team and all our collaborators and associates. I would like to sincerely thank everyone who contributes to the realization of the festival, especially Ifigeneia Kondyli, who was the production manager for these first ten years, as well as our audience, who from the very first year have filled the halls and meaningfully contribute to our artistic activities.

Martha Mavroidi
Artistic Director
Tinos World Music Festival