Sofia Kakoulidou

Sofia Kakoulidou was born in Athens in 1980 and grow up in north Greece, the city of Kavala. A unigue percussionist who is able to incorporate her Greece tradition and classical knowledge to every project she collaborates with. In Greece she studied classical and contemporary percussion at the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki. In 1993 she continued her studies at the Municipal Conservatory of Kavala. In 1998 she was accepted to the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki where she graduated with the Diploma in Percussion, 2003. A part from pursuing her career in Greece, Sofia also performed in Luxembourg, Germany, Turkey, Skopje, Greece and U.S.A. In 2001 she represented Greece in the International Percussion Competition in Luxembourg as a member of the trio "Mixtur". In 2003 she moved to Boston upon receiving a scholarship form Berklee College of Music. While at Berklee Sofia was granted The Most Active Percussionist and the James David Harber Award in recognition of the outstanding musicianship. In May of 2006 she graduated from Berklee College of Music in Performance on Total Percussion. At Berklee her teachers included acknowledged mucisians such as Jamey Haddad (world percussion), Nancy Zeltzman (marimba), Edgar Saindon (vibraphone), Ernesto Diaz, Edgie Castrillo (Afro Cuban percussion), Dean Anderson (classical percussion) John Ramsey (drum set). In 2006 she moved to Kavala where she was teaching percussion at the State Conservatory of Kavala and also joyned the band "Contrabando" participated in the latest cd, "ELEPHANT". Since September 2007 she lives in Athens performing and additionaly working in a music production company.