Canvas

Dark and colourful. Intimate and extrovert. Fragile and energetic. An empty canvas ready to be filled with colours and shapes! This trio explores improvised music, traditional/ folk, modern/ contemporary jazz and rhythms from Brazil and Greece. Together they create a very personal sound with a strong emphasis on storytelling, musical interaction and free interpretation of fixed forms.

The musicians, originally from Greece and Brazil, met at the Conservatory of Amsterdam where they started as students in 2014. “We immediately formed a strong musical bond, which resulted in developing a unique identity. We grew musically together and influenced each other a lot since then.”

The main inspiration for Canvas is their ongoing strong friendship as well as the excitement of exploring music as a whole and not as specific genres. “We started blending influences from artists like Shai Maestro, Pablo Held, Brad Mehldau, Aaron Parks and Wayne Shorter and composed original material – trying to expand our musical pallet. We focused on writing melodies that can be sang, strong polyrhythms and influences from the music of our own countries.”

Orestis Petrakis – piano
Pedro Ivo Ferreira – double bass
Nick Thessalonikefs – drums