Socrates Sinopoulos was born in Athens in 1974. At the age of fourteen he met Ross Daly and began to study the Constantinopolitan lyre and the lute. One year later he joined the music group ‘Labyrinthos’, participating in numerous concerts and recordings over the next six years. Simultaneously he pursued an active musical career in groups following various musical traditions, including traditional Greek, Byzantine, classical Ottoman, Jazz and Rebetiko. A virtuoso of the Constantinopolitan lyre and the Constantinopolitan lute, he has developed his own distinctive style of playing, forged through his training in diverse musical traditions, both Western and Oriental.
He studied classical guitar, Byzantine music and traditional Greek music at the music school of Simon Karas. In 1997 he graduated in Musicology from Athens University. He has participated in numerous concerts and recording sessions of both Greek and foreign groups and has collaborated with various musicians, including Chronis Aidonidis, Ara Dinkjian, Loreena Mckennitt, Evanthia Reboutsika and Derya Turkan. In 1989 he started his collaboration with Domna Samiou, playing the Constantinopolitan lyre for her record Songs about Greeks far from home. Since then he has participated in numerous concerts by Domna Samiou and in most of the productions of the ‘Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association’ both playing music and also as musical supervisor.
In 2000 he was awarded by the Ministry of Culture with the ‘Melina Merkouri’ State Prize for Young Artists. He is a professor in the Department of Musical Science and Art at the University of Macedonia.
Sources: Socrates Sinopoulos
