Athina SISKAKI

Born in Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A, Athina started classical violin at the age of 7, but now she is playing traditional/folk and she is interested in different kinds of violin playing and world music. She graduated from the Music High School of Thessaloniki.
As a member of the Music School Choir, she took part in many festivals and workshops. She was, also, a member of the “Youth Symphony Orchestra of Greece”.
In addition, she had many workshops and masterclasses about traditional violin and Taksim (improvisation form) with Michalis Kouloumis. She participated in 2018 to the Intercultural Creation Session. There she did workshops with Stephane Galland, for polyrhythm, and with Jorge Pardo, for flamenco music, too.

Because of her origins, she is playing Cretan Lyra (traditional instrument of Crete), and she participated in many concerts and a CD, and she is self-taught in mandolin.
In addition, since 2014 she dances flamenco and she is very interested in it. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree at the Department of Music, Science and Art, at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki. Her specialization is “Traditional Instruments Interpretation and Performance”, especially the traditional violin. In the academic year 2018-2019, she was in Granada, Spain, where she attended classes at the Conservatorio Superior de Musica “Victoria Eugenia” as an Erasmus exchange program student. There, apart from the Conservatorio, she attended classes at the “Escuela de flamenco y Danza Lucia Guarnido” of flamenco and Danza Española con castañuelas.
Her future aims are to mix all these influences and cultures to a new approach to Mediterranean/World music.

Photo credit: Damián Vial Loiseau