Reporting back on 3 amazing days working in Nicosia, a city which I am proud to regard as one of my artistic homes.

Collaboration with Evis Sammoutis

My collaboration with Evis Sammoutis is one of the most important aspects of my artistic work. I hope that you can see from the film of a few minutes of us working on his newest ‘Nicosia Etudes’ what an amazing composer he is, and how much I treasure our work together. Here’s a page of the new material which we worked on.

Home, workspace, concert venue, inspiration and light is provided by my dear friend Garo Keheyan at his astonish ‘Shoe Factory’ in the heart of Nicosia’s ‘old town’. Here’s a glimpse of an educational workshop I gave at the ‘Shoe’ on Monday 7th October, the day after my concert.

Evis and I draw inspiration from the layered histories of Cyprus, and most particularly, the lost, almost forgotten Lusignan era, after, the island was gifted to Guy de Lusignan and his descendants by Richard the Lionheart.

We love the sense of palimpest, of history layered and revealed, which confronts one at every turn in this extraordinary island, from late medieval arches hidden in a the ruins of a tumbledown shopping arcade.

….to the playful attitude towards the decay of machinery. This is a particular a favourite.

Here, to start with, three improvisations-in workshops and spaces near the Green Line, and in the Icon Museum. Photos Demie Englezou

Ruin

Anglegrinder

Woodshed

Planh/Four Icons