Marios Toumbas Quartet

Pianist Marios Toumbas and his quartet will perform at Technopolis 20 garden, romantic jazz songs from the Great American Songbook by Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter and others, on Sunday, 21st of July, at 8:30pm.

Join us for a beautiful music evening of Swing, Bossa Nova and Jazz-Latin under the stars! Musicians playing: Marios Toumbas (piano), Olga Ksanthopoulou (vocals), Greg Makamian (double bass), Stelios Xydias (drums).

Entrance: 10 euro
Reservations are necessary at 70002420 (calls only)
Sponsor: Deputy Ministry of Tourism

A few words about the musicians
Jazz pianist Marios Toumbas has a Bachelor of Music, Cum Laude, in Music Synthesis (Berklee College of Music, Boston Massachusetts) and a Master of Music with Honors in Jazz Studies (New England Conservatory of music, Boston Massachusetts). He was a student of internationally renowned jazz educator Charlie Banacos and famous jazz pianist Danilo Perez. He has performed all over the world with famous jazz musicians such as electric bassist Anthony Jackson, saxophonist Tony Lakatos and guitarists Jeff Richmond and Brett Garsed. He has also performed at international Jazz Festivals such as the Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada and the Dusseldorf Jazz Rally in Germany. Concert venues include the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Sun City Music Hall in Johannesburg and Megaron Mousikis in Athens, Greece. He has been an instructor of jazz music at European University Cyprus since 2009. He is also a teacher of the international Association Jazz Education Abroad which teaches Jazz all over the world.

Olga Ksanthopoulou received her first Diploma in music performance at the age of 16 in 2003 from the “Contemporary Conservatory of Athens” with distinction and 2nd Award. During that time she participated in numerous pop bands as lead and backing vocalist as well as piano/keyboard accompanist. On moving to Cyprus in 2010 she continued to be involved in both performing and organizing concerts and has been active in numerous jazz combos with some of the jazz experts. Some of the latest are “The Greek Jazz Project” and “Marios Toumbas Trio”. In 2016 she received her Bachelor Degree with Distinction from the University of Nicosia in Classical Piano and Jazz Vocal Performance and as the top graduate was awarded the prestigious ‘Mary Ioannou Award’. She is a vocal and piano instructor at the Musicopolis Music School and the Music Academy of the Falcon School in Nicosia.

Greg Makamian has performed next to Jazz master Freddie Redd at Smalls Jazz Club (NYC), and with musicians such as Chris Byars, Grant Stewart, Pasquale Grasso, Vahag Hayrapetyan, Charis Ioannou, Alexia Vassiliou, Pete & Will Anderson, Felix Lemerle, Pete Van Nostrand, Phil Stewart, Zaid Nasser, Kevin Blanqc. He has performed in USA, Canada, Germany, Armenia, Greece at various clubs and festivals (Smalls Jazz Club, Mezzrow, Fat Cat, Swing 46, Technopolis Jazz Festival, Cafesjian Arts Centre, Dusseldorf Jazz Rally etc). In 2019, Greg lived in New York City, performing at clubs in the city. Over the years, he has attended the Chris Byars & Ari Roland Jazz seminars, the Barry Harris Jazz workshops, and has attended various Double Bass master classes. He holds a BA in Jazz performance. Makamian created Mood Indigo along with singer Irene Day. The band is one of the most active bands on the island. In 2017 Mood Indigo represented Cyprus at the 26th Dusseldorf Jazz Rally in Germany with great success and very good reviews.

Stelios Xydias (drums): is a drummer born and raised in Limassol, Cyprus. He had his education and B.A. in music 2011 grad. at the Codarts university of the arts in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He won the Nicolas Economou scholarship in 2009. Known for his versatility going from jazz, groove and different styles keeps him very active in his region. He has collaborated with all the big names in Cyprus as well with some international artists like Guthrie Govan (guitarist), Gilad Atzmon (saxophonist), Offer Gannor (guitarist), Damien Erskine (bassist) and more. Living in Limassol doesn't keep him for appearing in international Festivals as he has performed in Berlin, Athens, Netherlands, London and more. He has appeared in albums from artists like Mighty Sugarcane, Cahit kutrafali, Buray, Andreas Rodosthenous and more, he has also released his personal EP album called “silence” which is a solo drums project in 2014. Fresh in the Bosphorus Cymbal Company as he got his Endorsement with them in 2018. Also he is deep in education by teaching drums in some big establishments in Limassol.