ANDREAS PARAGIOUDAKIS
About the album HERITAGE
Heritage is a contemporary chamber-music album composed by Andreas Paragioudakis, blending classical composition techniques with Mediterranean timbres, modal colors, and poetic melodic writing. The recording explores cultural identity as a living continuum—drawing on personal lineage, regional soundscapes, and modern chamber music aesthetics.
Featuring the internationally acclaimed Austrian bassist Peter Herbert, the album brings together a refined ensemble carefully balanced between plucked and bowed strings. Heritage invites listeners into an intimate world of resonance, narrative, and emotional depth.
Heritage is a journey into the memory of sound—cultural memory, emotional memory, ancestral memory. Paragioudakis composes with the belief that music carries fragments of who we were and who we are becoming. This album reflects landscapes and migrations, old stories and new movements. It is chamber music with the pulse of lived experience.
Album Cover
by Bernhard Klein
Andreas Paragioudakis Chamber Ensemble
The musicians
Andreas Paragioudakis — Piano, Lute, Mandolin
Andreas Paragioudakis is a Greek-born composer and multi-instrumentalist celebrated for his ability to bridge contemporary classical language with Mediterranean musical heritage. His work draws from modal traditions, theatre music, and chamber music idioms, creating a sound world that is both timeless and forward-looking.
Over the last two decades, Andreas has developed a distinctive artistic voice marked by clarity of texture, emotional directness, and a highly personal approach to plucked-string instrumentation. His compositions span chamber works, theatre scores, interdisciplinary productions, and contemporary ensemble pieces. He is the co-founder of the Soundblossom Association based in Austria
FEATURED ARTISTS
Peter Herbert — Kontrabass
Austrian double bassist Peter Herbert is a globally recognized figure in both contemporary classical and jazz circles. His discography spans more than 150 albums, and he has collaborated with major international ensembles and composers. Herbert’s sound is distinguished by depth, lyricism, and an intuitive sensitivity that enriches the ensemble’s sonic palette.
Aris Kapajannidis — Violin I
A versatile greek violinist focused on contemporary chamber repertoire, known for expressive articulation and a nuanced, modern interpretive style.
Kristi Pleshti — Violin II
Classically trained with an active presence in orchestral and chamber settings, the greek-albanian violinist Pleshti brings precision, warmth, and detail-oriented musicianship to the ensemble.
Lauri Hämäläinen — Viola
Finnish violist with international experience in new music ensembles, recognized for his rich tone and deep understanding of contemporary performance practice.
Yenisey Rodriguez — Violoncello
Lyrical and expressive, the cuban cellist Rodriguez contributes a resonant foundation to the ensemble’s sound, bridging traditional cello technique with contemporary aesthetics.
Martin Grabher — Drums
Austrian drummer Martin Grabher is known for his refined sensitivity, textural awareness, and ability to integrate percussion seamlessly into chamber-music environments. A recipient of the Vorarlberger Musikpreis, Grabher has established himself as one of the most distinctive rhythmic voices of his region, performing across contemporary classical, jazz, and cross-genre projects.
Recorded at Nautilus Studios Dornbirn
Sound Engineer: Butch Metzger
Mastering Engineer: Fabian Exter & Forest Sound Studios
HERITAGE by Andreas Paragioudakis Chamber Ensemble
Andreas Paragioudakis highlights /awards / scholarships
2000 — Theatre Music Prize, Greek National Theatre Commission
. Awarded for his composition for “YERMA” by Federico García Lorca, performed with the theatre group PERIPLOUS in Crete, Greece.
2003 — Biennale for young artists of Europe and the East-mediterranean: Presentation of his composition “ROOTS”, Athens, Greece.
2011 — “Junge Ohren Preis” (Young Ears Award), Best Practice – Concert Format.
Granted for the theatre-music composition “The Lost Steps”, produced by Company XTHESIS in Austria — a work known for its innovative use of musical storytelling in theatre, Austria & Germany.
2018 — Composition Scholarship, State of Vorarlberg. Recognized for his contributions to contemporary chamber music and new cross-cultural forms, Austria
2018-2020 — Artistic Director of the intercultural 12-Concert cycle “Under the Lantern” in collaboration with musicians from Austria and the East-mediterranean, Austria.
2023 & 2024 — Composition Scholarship, State of Vorarlberg (Austria)
. Awarded for continued excellence in contemporary composition and community building.
2023-2025 — Artistic Director of the SALINGARI COLLECTIVE, a border-crossing music project in collaboration with renowned musicians from Europe and the East-mediterranean (Austria, Switzerland).
2024-2025 — Artistic Director of the SOUNDBLOSSOM Festival in Crete, Greece.
“Andreas Paragioudakis points out with that his music is not about demarcation, but about encounter, not about cheap prejudices or xenophobia, but about curiosity, interest in the other, in the others. Through the language of music, in musical discourse, the participants of his projects seek the connecting, the unifying. And for this initiative, Andreas Paragioudakis and all those who accompany him on this musical journey simply deserve a very big and sincere thank you. We can and should all learn from this” - Harald Petermichl: Former Director of the cultural office/ City of feldkirch
Press photos
