Profiles
Laonikos (b.1989), originally from Greece, is a London-based highly political collaborative musician and musical activist, and is currently studying to be a Nature & Wilderness Guide in Finland. In London he studied with Paul Newland at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and piano with Helen Reid. In 2009 he studied for six months at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Tapio Nevanlinna and in summer 2010 he spent ten days in Skálholt, Iceland, as part of the Joint Music Masters NAIP 2010 summer school, which he really enjoyed. His compositions include a number of pieces for various instrumentations, from solo instruments to orchestral scores, as well as electronic compositions.
His focus as a musician is in facilitating creative contexts for collaborating with dancers, actors, writers, visual artists, special needs children, elderly - anyone who can offer a different point of view to what he loves and enjoys doing; as a wilderness guide he believes that a stronger connection with nature offers opportunities for self-renewal and discovery, and is exploring the power that music has in connecting people to the land.
As an instrumentalist (piano, guitar, electronics and others) Laonikos has performed in venues such as Stoke Newington Library, The Shunt, ICA, The Place, The Barbican Theatre, RichMix, The King's Place, and his living room, among others. His most recent collaborations include a score written for Angélina Jandolo's choreography Aqueous Run, presented at The Place as part of Resolution! 2011; presenting or: love is not a photograph at The Shunt; and collaborating with The People Pile at RichMix.
He reads a lot of books and his favourite Wikipedia page is by far the List of common misconceptions. A hitchhiker and couchsurfer, sometimes he does strange things such as performing magic tricks, stand-up comedy, wearing a kilt and/or pretending to be Italian.
Laonikos is a meta-buddhist and he is a little lactose-intolerant. He is also allergic to poisonous mushrooms. Laonikos likes boobies and is not ashamed of it.
