Vassilis Saleas

Vasilis Saleas stands as Greece’s leading clarinet virtuoso. Long before his extensive partnership with the Greek new age composer and instrumentalist Vangelis Papathanasiou that began in the early 1990s, he served as accompanist to Mikis Theodorakis, Dionisis Savopoulas, and Stamatis Spanoudakis. His first solo release, Orama: The Music of Vangelis, offered fresh readings of Vangelis’ works, while the follow-up album Vasilios Saleas appeared in 2000. Saleas entered the world in Mesedogi during 1958 and relocated to Athens one year afterward. His father and uncle introduced him to the clarinet when he turned nine, and he gave his initial club performance at age eleven. Mastery of the instrument arrived by fourteen, the same year he cut his debut recording.