He studied composition at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki under Kostas Tsougras. He holds degrees in Fugue with Michalis Travlos, Counterpoint and Advanced Harmony with Spyros Klapsis, and Contemporary Singing with Toula Katsafana at the National Conservatory.
He also attended courses in contemporary harmony with Michalis Rozakis and jazz harmony at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory, while participating in music seminars in Boston and Dublin with Berklee College of Music.
He has released two albums with the band Kινoumena Schedia (“Kinoumena Schedia” and “To Hamogelo Sou”) as well as two solo albums.
He collaborated with Vangelis on the Cretan segment of the opening ceremony of the 6th World Championships in Athletics, and also participated in the closing ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Over the years, he has collaborated both in recording projects and live performances with many major Greek artists, including Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Giorgos Dalaras, Vasilis Papakonstantinou, Nikos Portokaloglou, Eleni Tsaligopoulou, Paschalis Terzis, and Nikos Xydakis, among others. He has also appeared in concerts by Giannis Markopoulos, performed as a soloist at the Athens Concert Hall with the Athens Municipality Symphony Orchestra, and at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, interpreting works on the Cretan lyra by Nikos Skalkottas (“Greek Dances”), Ioannis Konstantinidis, as well as the first movement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor.
In September 2023, he appeared at the Halki Festival, where he performed, among other works, his composition “Cretan Suite” for piano, cello, and Cretan lyra.
About the artist
Manos Pyrovolakis is a singer-songwriter and virtuoso of the Cretan lyra. He was born in Athens to Cretan parents and, at the young age of 13, had his first contact with the Cretan lyra under the guidance of teacher Georgios Vyzirianakis. At the age of 18, alongside his involvement with the lyra, he also began his studies at the National Technical University of Athens, Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.
