The Greek clarinetist Spyros Tzekos took his first music lessons at “Mantzaros” Philharmonic Society in Corfu and continued his studies at “Philippos Nakas” Conservatory of Athens, in the class of Eustathios Kiosoglou. After obtaining his clarinet diploma with the highest grade and graduating with first prize honors, he went on to study with Ronald van Spaendonck at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Mons on a scholarship awarded to him by Athens Megaron’s “Friends of Music Society”. He continued his studies with Walter Boeykens at Fontys Hogescool voor de Kunsten in Tilburg, on a Greek State Scholarships Foundation scholarship. At the same time he attended the course “Contemporary Music through Non-Western Techniques” at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, in the framework of which he explored extended techniques of the clarinet along with the principles of South Indian classical music and ways to apply them in western contemporary music creation and performance.
He has also attended numerous master classes with distinguished clarinet professors such as Michel Arrignon, Walter Boeykens, Alessandro Carbonare, Romain Guyot, Ralph Manno, Andrew Marriner, and Aurelian Octav Popa, as well as improvisation workshops held in Amsterdam by the Magpie Music Dance Company.
Spyros has collaborated with Greece’s greatest orchestras and cultural institutions and organizations such as Athens State Orchestra, Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra, Athens Camerata, Orchestra of Colors, Athens & Epidaurus Festival, Greek National Theatre, Athens Megaron, Benaki Museum, Onassis Cultural Centre, French Institute of Athens, Chios Music Festival, International Music Festival of Cyclades, Ionian Summer Music Academy, and has also appeared as a guest soloist with the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, the Athens State Symphony Orchestra and the City of Athens Symphony Orchestra.
When working on his side projects, Spyros collaborates with musicians from different backgrounds, creating music for silent films and animation shorts, explores extended techniques of the instrument and processes sound using analogue tapes, synthesizers and effect units, demonstrating, in general, a great interest in composing, collecting and performing works for clarinet and electronics especially through his solo projects called #klarineto_stin_priza.
Spyros is also an active chamber music musician and contemporary music performer and founding member of two of Greece’s leading ensembles: ARTéfacts ensemble, which is a contemporary music ensemble that has been focusing on commissioning new works and presenting contemporary music performances since it started in 2008, and Ventus ensemble, awind instrument ensemble along with piano and percussion consisting of principal musicians of both Athens and Thessaloniki Symphony State Orchestras as well as the Greek National Opera, which since 2005 has been exploringand performingworks from the exciting repertoire of the genre. Recordings of the ensembles have been released by Decca Classicsand theGreek independent record label Puzzlemusik. Both ensembles are based in Athens and give numerous performances, educational concerts and master classes in Greece and abroad.
Spyros Tzekos is principal clarinetist of the Greek National Opera since 2007and clarinet professor at Athens Conservatory College of Music. Spyros plays on Légende and Festival clarinets.