Panagiotis LAZARIDIS

Traditional Clarinet

Age: 25 years old

Country: Greece

Born in Thessaloniki, Greece Panagiotis comes from a musical family as his father is a musician and a music teacher too. He started classical guitar at the age of 6, and electric guitar at the age of 12, with his father as a teacher. At the age of 9, he started clarinet at the philharmonic marching band of his hometown. Then, he studied at a music high school, which was the beginning of his learning of the greek folk style in clarinet. In music high school, also, he had the opportunity to make ensembles either as a clarinetist or as a guitarist and play at concerts and music festivals. At the age of 15, he won the 2nd award by the Association of Greek Litterateurs for composing music for a poem.
He studied Music Performance at the Department of Music Science and Art of the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, with a specialisation in Greek folk clarinet and Byzantine music and he is a member of a Byzantine choir. He is now pursuing a master’s degree at the same university. In 2018, he performed greek folk pieces on clarinet for a recital at the ICMP College in London. In 2019, he took part in the International Youth Music Festival in Macao, China, with an ensemble of the University of Macedonia.
Generally, he plays either clarinet or guitar at music festivals, concerts, bars, or other places where there is live music, with many different ensembles. He likes to combine folk melodies with jazz chord progressions. He also loves composing songs.

Photo credit: Vincent Beaume