Groovin’ In The Museum

Giorgos Kontrafouris was born in Athens in 1967. He studied classical piano at the National Conservatory. At the age of 16, he turned his interest to jazz and took jazz improvisation lessons with Markos Alexiou. He also took lessons with Jim Beard and Jarmo Savolainen. He graduated with a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Jazz Performance from the Sibelius Academy in Finland. He has collaborated as a pianist or organist with many important musicians: Marc Johnson, Arild Andersen, Markus Stockhausen, Louisiana Red, Keith Copeland, Andy Sheppard, Ralph Peterson Jr., Bob Brozman, Carla Cook, Alvester Garnett, Stjepko Gut, Olivier Gatto, David Liebman, Houston Person, Eric Alexander, David Sills, Lou Donaldson, Sam Newsome, Jamey Haddad, Deborah Davies, Benny Golson, Tim Hagans, Bob Sheppard, Carmen Lundy, Sheila Jordan, Jukkis Uotila, Wade Mikkola, Takis Paterelis, Stratos Vougas, Dimos Dimitriadis, Lydia Filipovic, Theodosii Spassov, Ana Pacatius. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Music Studies at the Ionian University. He has also taught at the Athenaeum Conservatory in Greece and the Sibelius Academy in Finland. He has given seminars at music and higher education institutions in Greece, Ireland, Indonesia, and Estonia to date. He is a lecturer at the Jazz Department of the Ionian University, teaching jazz piano/organ, music ensembles, and ear training.