Synphonia Entertainment To Lead Off Celebration of 35th Anniversary
Dimitris Basis
Aphrodite Daniel’s Synphonia Entertainment will perform in celebration of the Leadership 100 35th Anniversary at the 28th Annual Conference. The program will include a Celebration 35 Concert featuring renowned Greek vocalist, Dimitris Basis, on the opening day, Thursday, February 21, 2019, from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.
The Concert will also include Aphrodite Daniel as vocalist, Achilleas Wastor, virtuoso pianist, and Yiannis Sinanis, bouzouki virtuoso, who for 20 years performed with the famed Dimitris Mitropanos.
The full musical program featured on Friday and Saturday nights will also include the Synphonia Band with special guest vocalist Eric Nicolas.
Dimitris Basis is Greece’s king of the “Laiko” song, as beloved as he is respected by composers, musicians, peers and fans alike for his ethos and excellence in performance. Beginning as a child chanting liturgy in his village church and followed by formal studies in Byzantine Music, Basis was twenty years old when he was discovered by the composer Stamatis Kraounakis and the Warner Music company, which offered him his first recording contract.
In 1996 his career took off from a chance meeting with composer Christos Nikolopoulos. Eight months later the soundtrack of the T.V. series “Psithiri Kardias” sung by Basis became the number one hit on the charts. He has since worked with the giants of Greek music, Mikis Theodorakis, Stavros Xarhakos, and Christos Nikolopoulos. Over the years, he also has performed with great vocalists, Marios Frangoulis, Maria Farantouri, Giorgos Dalaras, Manolis Mitsias, Pashalis Terzis, Haris Alexiou, Glykeria, Eleni Vitali, Themis Adamantidis, Yiannis Kotsiras, Kostas Macedonas, Dimitra Galani, Eleni Tsaligopoulou and his mentor and dear friend Dimitris Mitropanos.
Basis now travels the world with annual concert tours in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Europe, Israel and Cyprus. A Concert Tribute to his 20-year recording career was held in 2017 in Athens with guests Giorgos Dalaras, Thanos Mikroutsikos, Yiannis Kotsiras, and Melina Aslanidou. The live recording of this concert has just been released.
Aphrodite Daniel, vocalist, is the daughter of New York’s beloved Greek band leader Mike Daniel. She is the owner and lead vocalist at Synphonia Entertainment Inc. After earning a Master of Arts at Queens College, Daniel created the Greek American entertainment company, Synphonia, with a vision of excellence and integrity in live Greek performances. Among countless past productions are the North American Concert Tours for celebrity vocalists Grigorios Bithikotsis, Manolis Mitsias, Yiannis Parios, Haris Alexiou, Dimitris Basis, Maria Farantouri and the live production of the ‘STIN YGEIA MAS” tour with Spyros Papadopoulos.
Achilleas Wastor, virtuoso pianist, studied piano at the Conservatory of Athens, where he graduated in 1996, unanimously placing first and with distinction. He then studied under Vladimir Kraniev at the Hanover Academy of Music, Germany.
For the past 25 years, Wastor has performed his own arrangements-orchestrations of works of the most distinguished Greek composers, Manos Hatzidakis, Mikis Theodorakis and Stavros Xarhakos, as well as numerous recitals interpreting works from the Classical, Jazz to the Contemporary repertoire. For 17 years, Wastor was a lead member and arranger of the State Orchestra of Greece (K.O.E.M.) under Stavros Xarhakos with world-wide performances. He orchestrated the musical performances at the closing ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
Eric Nicolas is a singer, guitarist, bandleader and songwriter. He has toured as guitarist for Phoebe Snow, Taylor Dayne, and many other artists, released CDs and EPs of his original music, and performed solo and as the front man of his band ONE LOVE in venues all over the world. He is also a writer, librettist and lyricist. He lives in New York City and Watch Hill, Rhode Island.
