Sounds of Cyprus is a Cypriot orchestra co-founded by Peter Douskalis and Elena Chris 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 Artistic/Creative Director 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, Project/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 of the group are violin/viola (Alex Tasopoulos), contrabass (Erikos Vlesmas), pithkiavli and ney (Stavros Papadopoulos), and percussion (Mark Katsaounis).
Quote said by Professor Emily Achieng' Akuno during the opening ceremony of the 35th World Conference of the International Society for Music Education
Concert Program from 19th June 2022