Dr. Nikos Xanthoulis is a composer, ancient Greek lyre player, researcher and artistic
consultant to the Greek National Opera. He is a Corresponding Member of the
Archaeological Institute of America and also Assistant Researcher with the Academy
of Athens. He has served as the principal trumpet player at the Greek National Opera
Orchestra for twenty-five years, and from 2009 until 2012 he was leading the
Educational Department of the same Institute. He was a faculty member of the
Athens Conservatory for more than 40 years, and tutor at the Greek Open University
from 2004 to 2017.
As a composer and trumpet soloist he has presented his music in Greece and
internationally in more than 30 countries. His published works include translations of
ancient Greek music theoreticians. He was a Kress Lecturer for the Archaeological
Institute of America in 2012-2013 and 2017-2018, lecturing and performing at many
American universities (Stanford, Berklee, Hawaii, Purdue etc). From 2014 to 2015 he
was the Artistic Director of the Public Broadcasting Orchestras and Choir (ERT) in
Greece. Four Russian theatres have included his music for ancient tragedies in their
repertoires: Moscow (Antigone), Simferopol (Trojan Women), Omsk (Oedipus Rex
1 st version) and Vladivostok (Oedipus Rex 2 nd version and Bulgakov’s “Maitre and
Margarita”). In 2018 he published the first learning method of the seven-string lyre.
His operas and incidental music have been presented in Greece and abroad. He has
released 14 personal CDs and participated on six more, in collaboration with other
composers. Moreover, three digital albums are featured on the Spotify platform. The
last years he has had a fruitful collaboration with the playwright Christoforos
Christofis, presenting their musical dramas at the Athens Concert Hall and in several
ancient Greek theaters. Christofis received the coveted “Karolos Koun” Prize for the
Athens Concert Hall production of the musical drama “The Invocation of
Prometheus” where Nikos Xanthoulis composed and conducted the incidental music.
Nikos Xanthoulis is considered globally as the Musician who revived the ancient
Greek seven-string Lyre, having built a firm technique as a soloist and composing an
abundant repertoire on the instrument. He presented the first concerto for ancient
Greek lyre and orchestra, after 1600 years of silence, in Poland (Jelenia Gura) and
Germany (Berlin) with the Symphony Orchestra of Lower Silesia (2015). In February
2023 he presented a Lyre Recital at Athens and Thessaloniki Concert Halls with new
compositions by composers from seven countries.