Anatoliama Ιnc specializes in performing and teaching the rich musical traditions of Greece, Cyprus, and Eastern Mediterranean regions. Our founder George Lernis and artistic director Vasilis Kostas are two Grammy-nominated musicians and educators from Greece and Cyprus as well as graduates of the prestigious Berklee College of Music. They have studied their musical traditions in depth and they currently present them in the United States and around the world.
Their story began in 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts where they both met through the Berklee College of Music community, with a common passion for various musical eastern traditions, and since then, they have built an audience amongst Greek and non-Greek communities around the world.
Their mission is to present and preserve Greek traditional music, through live concerts, in the United States and abroad as well as to offer music educational programs for the youth to academic institutions and various communities.
Both artists have a long list of credentials that include performances with Petroloukas Halkias, Christos Zotos, Danilo Perez, Dave Liebman, Anat Cohen to name a few and appearances in prestigious venues such as: the Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Princeton University, MIT, Harvard University, Cornell University, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Megaron – Athens Concert Hall, WOMEX in Poland and the 2018 Annual Archon Weekend event in New York City.
Vasilis Kostas is a Grammy nominated laouto player, composer and educator from Epirus, Greece. He has collaborated with renowned artists such as Danilo Perez and Petroloukas Halkias while performing in prestigious concert halls and festivals such as the Carnegie Hall, Montreal Jazz Festival and Panama Jazz Festival. The Boston Globe and WBUR have described Vasilis Kostas as “a great traditional music master of the laouto, who redefines its sound”. He has been awarded with the “Forty Under 40” Award by the Greek America Foundation and the “Artist Fellowship in the Traditional Arts” Award by the Mass Cultural Council for his efforts to advance the role of the laouto in the contemporary music scene and present his musical roots in academic institutions and concert halls across the US and internationally.
Two time Grammy® nominated Cypriot percussionist George Lernis, has recorded and collaborated with acclaimed artists such as: John Patitucci, Danilo Pérez, Antonio Sanchez, Anat Cohen, Dave Liebman, Miguel Zenón and A Far Cry String Orchestra just to name a few. His latest original work ”Between Two Worlds” featuring world renowned bass player John Patitucci was released on June 10th, 2022. Jazziz magazine (Mark Holston) described Lernis’s latest record as “swelling rhythms and high-spirited melodies created by Cyprus native George Lernis for a program of improvisation-grounded performances blended with traditional Middle Eastern and Mediterranean music influences.
New England Greek Orchestra is a new and innovative music educational program of the Anatoliama non profit organization that brings together talented music students from Greek-American and other communities. It provides them with the opportunity to systematically study in depth and explore the rich world of Greek traditional music. While similar programs regarding other musical traditions such as Arabic and Turkish exist in the US, it is a fact there is a lack of representation of our Greek musical heritage and more importantly how it can be passed on to the next generations through systematic work, research and music educational initiatives.
New England Greek Orchestra is a permanent program that will officially start in Boston this coming September. It refers to weekly music classes and seminars with renowned artists from Greece, who will work with our students and present a joint concert together at the end of every academic year.
Upon completion, the students will get to perform a live concert along with a master of Greek traditional music, who will be visiting our program from Greece.
At the end of June, there will be a selective process of auditions and interviews where up to 15 participants will be accepted to start their studies on a full scholarship.
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Anatoliama aims to offer music educational programs and workshops of Greek traditional music to academic institutions and Greek American communities in the US. Inspiring the youth to explore the variety of our rich musical heritage or rediscover and revisit elements of their cultural identity has always been a big part of our ensemble’s mission.
The workshops are adjusted to the musical level and experience of each group and they include the teaching of Greek and Mediterranean melodies, rhythms of the region, as well as discussions of the historical and cultural background of the music.
Some of our group’s past workshops were held at Emerson College, Emmanuel College, Tufts University and the Greek School of St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Lynn, MA.
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