GEORGE POLYCHRONAKOS

He studied at the Victorian College of the Arts (Jazz Department) in Melbourne, where he graduated with honors in 1998. He was taught by internationally renowned Australian drummers: Virgil Donati, Alex Pertout, Andrew Gander & Peter Blick, and he was honored with the Gwen Nisbet Music Scholarship for Outstanding Musical Talent as the best student of his school. Until 1992, he lived in Melbourne and collaborated with significant jazz musicians of the country such as Graeme Lyall, Tony Gould, Ben Robertson, John Sangster, Joe Chindamo, Keith Hounslow, Doug de Vries, Joeff Cluke, Lisa Young, Christine Sullivan, Linda Cable, John Hoffman (USA/Buddy Rich Big Band), Peter Leitch (Canadian guitar legend), Rudolf Josel (Austria/Vienna Philharmonic). Since 1992, living in Greece, he has collaborated with prominent musicians such as G. Kontrafouris, S. Amir, D. Kalantzis, M. Saridaki, T. Patereli, D. Vasilaki, D. Tsaka, A. Ladopoulos, D. Dimitriadis, G. Samarás, V. Rakopoulos, E. Siamanta, and the renowned artist Mimis Plessas, among others. He has accompanied international guests of high caliber such as Essiet Okon Essiet & Rex Richardson (USA), Juliet Kelly & Andy Sheppard (UK), Theodosii Spassov (Bulgaria), and Jari Perkiomaki (Finland). In 2000, he released his personal CD titled «BLINK», featuring 11 of the country's best improvisers interpreting his compositions. Twenty-three years later, he returns with his latest album, «Tender Gravity», featuring the participation of 48 distinguished Greek and 2 Australian musicians in an unprecedented, collaborative, and diverse musical project.