NIKOLAOS BRASS (musical instruments maker)

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____MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF ANCIENT GREECE_____In Ancient Greece there were three kinds of instruments: stringed instruments, wind instruments and percussion instruments. The most known were the stringed instruments such as lyre, phormynx, cithara, varvitos, cithara of Thrace and pandoura which they were played with hands and some of them with plectrum.Trigonon, samviki, piktis belong to the family of polychord instruments.

The wind instruments in Ancient Greece are divided into two categories: Avlos is a wind instrument with a mouthpiece. Syrinx is a wind instrument without a mouthpiece and the sound is produced when the player blows across the embouchure hole near one end in such a way as to cause periodic puffs of air to enter the tube.

Percussion instruments played their own role in ancient Greek music and their function was to keep the beat.Crotala are percussion instruments that produce a sound of varying brightness and sistro is another instrument in this category that produces sounds of indefinite pitch by shaking. On the other hand, there are other percussion instruments which their function is to create an exciting sound with stimulant qualities, such as drums, cymbals and bells and they were used in orgiastic worships.

Brass Nikolaos He was born in Heraklion of Crete.When he was young he came to Athens and studied Electronics.Coming from a family of musicians he was specialized in wind instruments. In 1977 he chose the art of making musical instruments emphasizing initially in Greek folk musical instruments. In 1982 he made his first violin,entering the art of classic instruments manufacturing, to evolve into a famous violin maker. In 1994 in the International Competition "Antonio Stradivari" which took place in Cremona of Italy, he was awarded for the construction and sound of his violins with a diploma of Italian School.Two of his violins were distinguished in the Competition final and were exhibited at the Museum of Cremona "Antonio Stradivari",among the best violins in the world.His violins are being played by distinguished soloists and musicians such as Leonidas Kavakos, John Georgiadis, etc.He has done an important research in Ancient Greek images and representations and in 1980, he started working on Ancient Greek Musical Instruments. The famous Italian Archaeologist- Musicologist Luigi Beschi (University of Firenze) helped him at his first steps.Then he collaborated with Archaeologist- Musicologist Zozi Papadopoulou (K Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities) and with other significant researchers.Having his son Hercules Brass by his side, he managed to recreate almost all of the Ancient Greek Musical Instruments, in their real technical and musical dimensions.In 2001 after a long-lasting study of the ancient scripts, he discovered and manufactured two rare Pythagorean musical instruments.Halkeofono and Syntonon were unknown until their revival by Nikolaos Brass.His pioneer work has been presented in many galleries and exhibitions in Greece and abroad.Some of the most known exhibitions about his work were shown in Belgium at The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, in Berlin at The Museum of Musical Instruments, in Greece at The Athens Concert Hall with the support of The Hellenic Ministry of Culture and some of his work was presented on television by the third national televisual channel in Cologne, in Germany.Also at The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, at The National Institution of Research, at Zappeion Conference and Exhibition Center and at The Olympic Stadium of Athens in the final of Champions League.His work is published and is presented in the third and fourth class of elementary school books, in Greece.Musical Instruments of Nikolaos Brass are found in The Hellenic Ministry of Culture, in museums, in universities and in private collections.The work of Nicolaos Brass is sponsored by the UNESCO Club for Culture of Peace.

"Deamonia Nymphe" - "Daemonos" Thessaloniki Mylos 5/5/07