Born in Athens, Greece in 1973 Kaloudis started playing the Cretan lyra at a very early age, and continued the family tradition, being the fourth generation of native Cretan lyra players.
Athletic career
From 1988 to December 1997 he was member of the Track and Field National Greek Team, competing in the 5 km, 10 km and 20 km of racewalking. In 1990, at the InternationalRace Walking Meeting in Czechoslovakia he established the national record in a 20 km walk, which was beaten only after 22 years. In 1991 at the European Championships held in Thessaloniki, with the name Yeóryios Papagiannakis, he got the 12th position in the 10 km indoor walk. In spite of that he is still today one of the top 20 performers in the history of Greekrace walking.
Musical career
Yiorgos Kaloudis studied cello at the Athenaeum Conservatory with Claire Demeulenere and, thanks to the Fulbright Program, in Los Angeles under the tutelage of Ted Greene. Before publishing as a solo artist he was member of Greek jazz-fusion group Occasional Dream. His personal discography consists of three full records: Truth, On the Wind and J.S.BACH: Cello Suites on the Cretan lyra. In the last album, as the title suggests, he performed the Cello suites of Bach with the Cretan lyra, maintaining the original tonalities of the original work. This was the very first time that a Greek traditional instrument interpreted classical music. The lyra he used to play the suites, it is a special four-string instrument that was designed and built just for this purpose. The concerts of Yiorgos Kaloudis feature an extensive use of live loop recording and a combination of elements from classical, ambient, jazz and world music. In July 2017 he re-opened the ancient theatre of Aptera, in Crete, that after almost 1700 years was hosting its first event. Beyond being a solo artist he also collaborates to the projects of the songwriter Alkinoos Ioannidis. Since 2011 they both give concerts together in many venues, churches and concert halls around the world. As a soloist he collaborated with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He performed in New York International Fringe Festival, Rome Biennale for Young Artists, in Manchester Jazz Festival and in Celtic Connections among the others. He played along with Steve Tavaglione, Sylvan Richardson, Karine Polwart, Markus Stockhausen, saxophonist David Lynch, the pianists Stavros Lantsias, Takis Farazis, and the groups Lemoncello, Faros, Furtuna and The Chosen.
