Giannis Zarias

Born in Athens in 1975. He has, for a long series of years, been performing as a violinist, in various music bands of traditional and popular Greek music on stage (festivals, concerts etc) in Greece and abroad. He is also performing with various music bands of Balkan improvisational music. He is co-founder of Rebetien band, Rebetiko Trio with V. Skoutas & D. Mitarakis, ZaPaTaVou Quarter and contemporary quartet of alternative strings “Frog String Quartet”. Studied classical violin in Athens (diploma) and Jazz music in Netherlands (Conservatorium van Amsterdam). Obtained his PhD degree in Violin performance from the Department of Musical Science & Art, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece, where he has been also teaching Violin and other related classes of Traditional Greek music since 2007. His doctoral thesis: “Ornamentation in Greek Traditional Violin Art” has been published by Orpheum publications (2013).