Sounds Of Cyprus Comes to the Hellenic Cultural Center

Sounds of Cyprus is a Cypriot orchestra co-founded by Elena Chris and Peter Douskalis in New York City. The group performs the traditional music of Cyprus in varying orchestrations and styles that both consciously honor the time period of composition and period instruments as well as perform with a modern approach.

Elena Chris, vocalist and front person of the group, sings the traditional songs in the Cypriot dialect of Greek, as well as in Turkish for songs that contain lyrics in both languages. Peter Douskalis (Broadway substitute musician credits include: Dear Evan Hansen, School of Rock, The Lion King, Mean Girls, Caroline of Change [revival], and Mrs Doubtfire. Off-Broadway substitute music credits include: Desperate Measures, The Office! A Parody Musical, Bad Ass Beauty: A Rock Opera!, and SUFFS), Music Director, plays the laouto, oud, mandolin, and guitar in the group, switching between the proper instrument as needed for the authentic and modern orchestration of the pieces. Other instruments and members of the group are viola (Alex Tasopoulos), contrabass (Erikos Vlesmas), pithkiavli and ney (Stavros Papadopoulos), and percussion (Mark Katsaounis).

The band was formed in 2016 and gave its first performance in 2017. This year the group has performed live 4 times: a pop-up show on the Long Island City WaterFront, twice at DROM, and recently at the Hellenic Cultural Center. Their pop-up performance on the LIC WaterFront gained them recognition in Cyprus, having been covered regularly on news outlets and they were invited to 'Paradosiaki Vradia' on RIK1.

The group returns to the stage on June 19th, 2022 at 7:00pm at the Hellenic Cultural Center in Astoria, New York. Appearing with the band for the first time will be percussionist Mark Katsaounis (Broadway substitute musican credits include: Tuck Everlasting and Mean Girls. Off Broadway/Regional production credits include Antony and Cleopatra and Sisters' Follies). The show will also feature the guest vocalist Gizem Gokoglu, who will sing duets with Elena. It is a show that demonstrates and promotes the multi and intercultural nature of Cyprus and its beautiful traditions and music. This performance will be under the auspices of the Consulate General of the Republic of Cyprus.