SONIC CHROMAS | Traces on Water | A Musical Dialogue with the Art of Ebru

A musical performance inspired by the Ottoman art of Ebru – painting on water – where fluidity, bursts of color, and ephemerality are translated into sound. Kanun soloist, composer, and improviser Sofia Labropoulou, ney virtuoso Harris Lambrakis, and percussionist, experimentalist, and improviser Yorgos Stavridis collaborate for the first time as a trio in a performance specially designed for the Sonic Chromas concert series of the Theocharakis Foundation.

The program features original compositions by the three musicians, selected works by contemporary creators, as well as sonic traces drawn from the broad repertoire of both classical Ottoman music and the folk traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean, reinterpreted and recomposed through the lens of contemporary creation. At the core of the musical act lies improvisation and the exploration of whether an Ebru image can function as a graphic score — a visual stimulus for sonic translation and creative dialogue.

The concert is a sonic meditation on the beauty of the transient, on the relationship between matter and flow. The three multidimensional musicians meet in a shared space: the fracture between yesterday and today. Deeply connected to both traditional and contemporary sonic practices, they approach tradition not as something fixed, but as a field for dialogue and experimentation.

Harris Lambrakis, ney

Sofia Labropoulou, kanun

Giorgos Stavridis, percussion, electronics & objects

June 12, 2026

Friday, 20:30

Free admission
(Advance seat reservation required)

*The Sonic Colors concert series is supported by Theodora Pikrou.

BIOGRAPHIES

Harris Lambrakis

Born and raised in Athens, Harris Lambrakis began playing music at an early age under the guidance of many distinguished teachers. He graduated from the Experimental Music High School of Pallini (PMGLP) and the Department of Music Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, specializing in ethnomusicology. He has collaborated with numerous important musicians in Greece and abroad. For the past 30 years he has participated in recordings and concerts around the world, while also teaching ney and music theory through seminars and masterclasses. With the Harris Lambrakis Quartet he has recorded three albums (Théa, Metéora, Lafina). He is the director of the Intercultural Orchestra of the Greek National Opera.

Yorgos Stavridis

Yorgos Stavridis explores the inherent sonic possibilities of percussion instruments, electronic media, and objects through construction, site-specific action, and improvisation. He is a member of Trigger Happy, the duo BLIP, and the Center for Research and Rescue of Musical Mischief, whose latest initiative is the experimental online radio station loskop.radio. He has presented his work at numerous concerts and festivals in Greece and abroad. He graduated from the Department of Music Studies at the Ionian University and completed the postgraduate program Contemporary Performance and Composition.
www.gstavridis.xyz

Sofia Labropoulou

Sofia Labropoulou is a kanun virtuoso, composer, and improviser who has developed a distinctive sound by masterfully combining elements of Greek folk, classical Ottoman, Western medieval, experimental, and contemporary music traditions. As a soloist, she collaborates with acclaimed composers, musicians, and orchestras from around the world, composes music, and presents seminars on the kanun and Greek traditional music internationally. Her debut solo album, Sisyphus, was released in December 2020 by Odradek Records. In 2025, she launched the concert series Unbounded Sounds in Vienna, dedicated to intercultural dialogue, artistic research, and improvisation. She lives permanently in Vienna, Austria.
www.sofialabropoulou.com