Christos I. Kladas
Saxophonist-composer-arranger-conductor-music teacher
Christos I Kladas was born in 1969 in Ilioupoli, Attica. He came into first contact with the saxophone at the local Philharmonic and took his first lessons with Aris Karantanis (alto saxophone). He continued with Antonis Ladopoulos (tenor saxophone) and Vasilis Rakopoulos (jazz harmony), while at the same time he studied Classical Theory with Amaranto Amarantidis, Agni Frangoulis and Christos Lambrianidis. He made his alto debut at the age of 19 and toured the rock scenes of Greece with Dimitris Poulikakos, Misfits and George Dimitriadis.
From 1992 to 1994, he studied jazz saxophone and theory at Jazz School Bern and appears in the local scenes with jazz, blues and funk groups. From 1995 to 1996 he serves his term mainly as a military musician and in '97 he returns to his studies in Bern. In 1999 he was introduced to the jazz department of Musik Akademie Basel, where he studies music pedagogy and saxophone, with teachers Sascha Schonhaus and Daniel Blank. He attends jazz composition and orchestration classes as well as improvisation seminars with Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette, David Liebman, Mike Stern, David Holland, Julio Barreto. At the same time, he appears, with small jazz groups and jazz orchestras, in local music scenes and festivals.
In 2003, he returns to Greece and takes over -as head- of the Modern Department of the National Conservatory (Cholargos chapter), where he teaches saxophone and theory, while since 2007 he collaborates as a teacher of saxophone and music ensembles with the Ilioupoli branch. He appears with Kostas Hatzis, Trifono, Martha Frindzilas, Gina Fotenopoulou, Sia Koskina, Pyros Ethir andPlastic People. He collaborates with Dimitris Klonis, Stamatis Stamatakis, Giorgos Stavroulakis, Serafim Belos, Chrysostomos Boukalis, Alexandros Ktistakis, George Georgiadis, Manos Loutas, Pantelis Benetato, Nikos Skomopoulos, Christos Asonitis, Paris Gagastathi, Yiannis Papadopoulos, Nasia Gofa, Sassa Papalamrou. He presents original compositions with his jazz quartet and arranges for the saxophone quartet Saxin4.
Equipment
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Selmer Balanced Action c.1935 Tenor Saxophone.Mouthpiece: Beechler #7 rubber
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Selmer Balanced Action c.1936 Alto Saxophone.Mouthpiece: Meyer #7 rubber
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Selmer Series II Soprano Saxophone. Mouthpiece: Vandoren S25
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Buffet Crampon E-13 Bb clarinet. Mouthpiece: Vandoren B45
In 2012 he composes the musical fairy tale "A Land of Music" (published by Susaeta 2012) which becomes a theatrical performance and tours all over Greece. He orchestrates the collections of children's songs "Listen to Songs" for Susaeta publications and composes his second musical fairy tale, entitled "The Magical Sambandiphone" (published by Susaeta 2014 ), which also becomes theatrical and tours. In 2016 he composed the music for William Shakespeare's ''Twelfth Night'' (Seven Eleven Theater Group-directed by Notis Paraskevopoulos).
In 2017, he takes over as the conductor of the Philharmonic of the Municipality of Ilioupoli and presents the original music-pedagogical event-concert: ''Children play Coltrane''. At the same time, he participates as artistic director in the EU-supported Introspection Music Experience program (www.ime- project.com), where he helps mental health recipients produce and perform their own songs.
In 2021 he records his first collection of jazz dances under the title "Jazz Suite no.1" and the participation of Dimitris Papadopoulos (trumpet), Grigoris Theodoridis (double bass), Menio Gounari (piano) and Dimitris Klonis (drums). The recording available at www.christoskladas.bandcamp.com. His own "Saxophone Method (a holistic approach to instrument teaching)" is under publication.
He continues to create, teach, improvise publicly and dream....