15 Jazz on Tinos
Jazz Festival & Masterclasses
Collaborations
The Cultural Foundation of Tinos presents the 15th Jazz on Tinos Festival. Titled Collaborations it will be held from August 30th to September 1st on the island of Tinos.
The permanent artistic director of Jazz on Tinos is the eminent pianist, composer and academic George Kontrafouris and this year, for the first time, the institution of the guest artistic director has been established.
Thus, we have the pleasure and honour to announce that the first to take on this role is the London based internationally acclaimed composer and drummer Billy Pod (Vassilis Podaras).
This year’s festival programme consists of prominent Greek and foreign artists, while also presenting new risnig talent.
What will we hear at the 15th Jazz on Tinos?
The Becca Wilkins Quartet from England, the Ioannis Vafeas Quartet from Cyprus, the Konstantinos Stouraitis – Panagiotis Smarnakis trio and the trio led by Cuban bassist Yoel Soto from Greece. The festival will open with guest artistic director’s Billy Pod Quartet.
For the second consecutive year the Jazz on Tinos festival will feature an educational facet, with workshops and masterclasses presented by festival artists and professors from the Ionian University and international music institutions.
The island of Tinos, which combines history, art, culture and a rich natural environment, is an ideal destination for such a programme.
15 Jazz on Tinos 2024 – Collaborations
Collaborations: since its inception, the one of the guiding principles of the festival principle has been to expand, both its repertoire and its audience from year to year, enriching the artistic life of Tinos and creating new opportunities for its guest artists, especially for emerging artists. This year the festival highlights this principle by bringing together artists from Cyprus, England and Cuba along with established and emerging Greek artists.
Jazz on Tinos – The Story
The first Jazz music festival on Tinos, the Cycladic island of Art and Faith, was organized by and held at the Cultural Foundation of Tinos in 2009, as the Tinos Jazz Festival. Thanks to the efforts of the staff, musicians, volunteers and friends of jazz and of course the personal input of the festival’s artistic director George Kontrafouris and his associates, the festival quickly established itself as a major event in the Aegean Sea. It was renamed Jazz on Tinos in 2014. Part of its success is due to the fact that it gave its initially limited audience a space to enjoy jazz at its best. The festival also gives Greek and international musicians an opportunity to meet and create together.
The festival is dedicated to a different theme each year and since 2014, the idea has been to promote artists with recent releases as well as gifted young musicians. The events take place over three nights, during the last weekend of August. Entrance to the events is free in accordance with the Cultural Foundation’s public benefit purpose, i.e. among others to contribute to culture and society and to introduce contemporary music and artistic movements to the islanders. The festival is primarily funded by the Cultural Foundation of Tinos, as well as by donations and services by public or private entities, embassies and international foundations with a cultural or an artistic purpose.
Festival Programme
Friday 30/8
· Stouraitis Smarnakis Trio
Konstantinos Stouraitis – Guitar
Panagiotis Smarnakis – Hammond Organ
Panagiotis Themas – Drums
· Billy Pod Quartet
Billy Pod – Drums
Dinos Manos – Bass
Thomas Olendorff – Guitar
Saturday 31/8
· Becca Wilkins Quartet
Becca Wilkins – Vocals
Billy Pod – Drums
Dinos Manos – Bass
George Kontrafouris – Piano
· Ioannis Vafeas Quartet
Ioannis Vafeas – Drums
Musicians TBA
Sunday 1/9
· Yoel Soto Trio
Kostis Christodoulou – piano
Sotiris Dovas – drums
Yoel Soto – Bass, Vocals
· Workshops Concert
Seminars / Masterclasses
Masterclasses begin on the 29th of August and end on the 2nd of September.
· George Kontrafouris – Academic Director, πιάνο
· Stefanos Andreadis – Guitar
· Becca Wilkins – Vocals
· Gilad Atzmon – Saxophone, Clarinet
· Billy Pod – Drums
· Dinos Manos – Bass
In its effort to give extra impetus to professional and amateur musicians who have an interest and appetite for knowledge, the Cultural Foundation of Tinos presents a series of educational seminars in order to give a new dimension and focus on music.
The main goal of the educational seminars is the thorough training of the participants through the combination of practice and theoretical Jazz music. This type of music, as well as all its offshoots, are taught in the higher and highest University Institutions of our country, both in the Public and Private Sectors. With this process, the knowledge that will be acquired through learning different and additional applications, will complement and add to the beneficiaries furthermore information and targeted expertise that can be used immediately at a professional level.
The educational seminars are aimed at students from Greece and abroad who aim to acquire and strengthen their knowledge on the study and practice of Jazz music. The courses will be hosted in the special venue of the Tinos Culture Foundation, which for several years has been responsible for the organization and successful production of the Jazz On Tinos Festival.
Cultural Foundation of Tinos – Conference, Exhibition, Research Center
The Cultural Foundation of Tinos was established as a private benefit institution in 2002 by the Sacred Foundation of the Church of the Annunciation, and is supported by that institution.Its purpose is to promote research and study and to advance the awareness of the art, history, culture and tradition indigenous to the island of Tinos.Housed in a beautiful and recently refurbished neo-classic bulding at the water’s edge of the quaint harbor town of Tinos, the Foundation provides an ideal venue for business meetings, cultural and scientific conferences, art exhibitions and a variety of other events.
The building was originally constructed in 1925 as a large hotel, and was bought by the Sacred Foundation in 1977. The building’s renovation began in 1994 and was completed in 2001.The large exhibition hall of the Cultural Foundation of Tinos was inaugurated in September of the same year with the very significant art exhibit of the celebrated Tinian artist, Nicholos Gizis, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his death. This event signaled the beginning of the Foundations’ successful course. As of June 2002, the building’s remaining convention halls, supporting areas and internet room were in use.