Achilleas (1978) is a Greek – born musician and creative software developer. He started writing music at twelve and composed his first symphonic pieces at fifteen, influenced by film music composers such as John Williams. While still at school he founded 3ST, one of the first live electronic projects in Greece and started performing at warehouse raves around his provincial hometown of Larisa. At the same time he developed an interest in programming, which developed into a BSc in Computer Science, alongside with his music studies. Achilleas’ prolific output includes music for orchestra, film, theatre, dance, installations, websites, computer games etc. His work has been performed in Greece, Germany, UK, Spain, USA, Taiwan, Venezuela and China.
As a performer on flute, alto and tenor sax, keys and live electronics, he has worked with various jazz, funk, electronic, world music groups, big bands, orchestras and ensembles in the UK, Germany, China, Taiwan, Ireland, Norway and Greece. His appearances include the Royal Albert Hall, The jazz Cafe, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Beijing MOMA, Seoul Design Plazza, as well as numerous other venues. Moreover, he has worked as a music tutor for over ten years. His past employers include various music services in London and Edinburgh and music schools in Greece and Germany. In addition to that, Achilleas has a considerable experience as a private teacher and he is an advocate of the use of online tools for music education.
In 2005, while living in London, Achilleas founded Ax.Art, a music production house, record company and creative software lab whose range of activities includes -among others- music for media, as well music software.
Achilleas has studied music composition with Marina Adamia, Peter Nelson, electroacoustic composition with Katerina Tzedaki, music theory with Dimitris Athanasiadis, classical flute with David Nicholson and Nicolo Dimopoulos, jazz flute with Rowland Sutherland and saxophone with Chico Freeman. He holds a Master’s Degree in Music Technology (Leeds University, UK) and a Bachelor in Computer Science (Aristoteles University of Thessaloniki, GR).
Achilleas Sourlas 