8/21/18

"THEODORE KALANTZAKOS"


LEADING THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
WITH TALENT AND HARD WORK 

Article By Adriana Rubio
Pictures: Courtesy of TKG Group


In January of 2015 Guitar Virtuoso Theodore Kalantzakos from TKG was Guitarist of the month on this Blog! And three years later he delights us all with a number of outstanding concerts as he and the band continue to grow at full speed.


Theodore is the leader of an amazing trio brothers’ band from Athens, Greece. I had the opportunity to interview him and talk about the band’s musical projects and releases on several occasions. And from time to time I also say hello to the band’s drummer Loukas Kalantzakos who plays the best combinations of “tempo-touches” without losing the beat power.


It really is a band where talent is right there, you just can feel it while the music transports you to incredible places as they dive into ambient jazz and cinematic sounds. However, there’s a solid metal element with a key presence of progressive-experimental rock in many of the band’s compositions as they let creativity flow during the songwriting process. Keyboardist Nick Kalantzakos is without a doubt a very important piece for the experimental-ambient part.


Now, three years after being Guitarist of the month on this Blog, Theodore Kalantzakos had the opportunity to jam with International acclaimed Guitarist Steve Vai after a guitar seminar which was part of the Alien Guitar Secrets Master Class Tour on March 20, 2018 at the Art Music School Fakanas in Athens, Greece.



And on July 16, 2018 they had the Scorpions “Once in a life time” show; with the Athens State Orchestra, Live at Kallimarmaro, Athens, Greece.



They joined the Athens State Orchestra; Theodore was in charge of coordinating all the electric instruments to open the show playing some of Scorpions best compositions (as arranged for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 2000).


“Guitarist Rudolf Schenker played “Hurricane” with us; it was the last composition of our opening act. This was the second time I had the chance to be on stage with Rudolf Schenker… actually the first, but there is a virtual one too!!!”






In 2014, Theodore Kalantzakos arranged Rudolf Schenker’s “Love is the Answer” for the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. It was a Philippos Pliatsikas (popular Greek singer) & Prague Philharmonic Orchestra show at Odeon of Herodes Atticus that recorded live and released by EMI.



“Aside from arranging all the compositions, I played the guitars too. Rudolf had sent us a video of him which was projecting while we were playing live!”



Here is a video https://youtu.be/G-L4Q-s6lNw from the live show and this is the live recording https://youtu.be/eINgY7-fdoA .



Theodore and his band TKG Group have a new full-length album ready to be released titled “Mozart in Color”.  The band will present some compositions of the upcoming at one of the most beautiful theatres in Greece.



“We're going to present some compositions of our upcoming album "Mozart in Color" at one of the most beautiful ancient theatres, the "Herodes Atticus Odeon", on September 21 and 22 as opening act for Prague Philharmonic orchestra”.



As you can see Theodore Kalantzakos and his band TKG Group are firmly focused on the road to success which can be achieved only with talent, hard work and perseverance.



Kudos to him and the band! And thank you so much as always for being in touch! You guys ROCK!