Nikos Koutsioulis was born in the city of Larissa in 1971. He began his studies of guitar in Larissa and continued his studies at the Macedonian Conservatory of Thessaloniki where he received his diploma with excellent degree from Lambro Becki’s diploma class.
In addition to his studies at the Macedonian Conservatory in Thessaloniki, he attended guitar seminars as a listener and as an active student with soloists – professors such as DavidRussell, Tomas MullerPerring, Hubert Kappel, Aniello Dessiderio, LeoBrouwer Marco, Luco Darrider, Marco Dasideran, Marco Ducider, Ricardo Gallen, Kostas Kotsiolis etc.
He holds a degree in Special Harmony. He has participated in concerts with other guitarists, chamber music concerts as well as solo recitals in various cities such as Thessaloniki, Katerini, Larissa, Veria, Komotini, Cyprus, London and more.
In the year 2000 he received the first prize in the competition of the 2nd Winter Volos Guitar Festival. In the summer of 2000 he was invited to the International Guitar Festival of Cyprus as a member of the Guitar Orchestra of the Macedonian Diocese of Thessaloniki. In the framework of the same festival, he participated in a number of young guitarists’ recitals. In the summer of 2001, he was honored in the competition of the 6th Corfu International Guitar Festival. From 2002 to 2008 he was a member of the Guitar Competition for ages 16 and up at the Veria International Guitar Festival. In the years 2003-05 he attended and completed the postgraduate classical guitar program of the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki with the internationally renowned soloist and guitar professor Costas Kotsiolis.
He is a graduate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Department of Mathematics), and Masters in Mathematics from the Mathematics and Technology Department of the Hellenic University of Technology.
He has taught guitar lessons from 1992-1996 in various conservatories in Veria, Larissa Thessaloniki and the Larissa Music School. Since 2006 he has been appointed as a mathematician in secondary education. From 2011 until today he has been teaching guitar at the Contemporary Conservatory of Larissa (SOL). He has been a member of EGTA Greece since 2015 and a member of the Guitar Competition for ages 21 and up at the Volos International Guitar Festival.
Dimitris Tsimponis was born in Larissa in 1976. He began his studies of classical guitar at the age of 12 at the Larissa Conservatory where he received his diploma from the class of Dimitrios Kopanas.
For the next two years he attended classes at the Municipal Conservatory of Larissa in the Diploma class of Apostolos Lialiou and then completed the postgraduate classical program of the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki with the internationally renowned soloist and professor Costas Kotsiolis.
In addition to his studies at the Municipal Conservatory of Larissa, he attended guitar seminars as a listener and as an active student with soloists – professors such as Roland Dyens, Aniello Dessiderio, Leo Brouwer, Marco Socias, J.Clertz, Marco Tamayo, Zoran Ducic, Koshkin, M.Barrueco et al. In 2005 he won the second prize in the international competition of the 27th Volos Festival.
He has been a member of EGTA Greece since 2015 and a member of the Guitar Competition Committee for ages 21 and up at the Volos International Guitar Festival. The same festival has the status of artistic advisor.
He has participated in concerts with other guitarists, chamber music concerts and solo recitals.
He has taught at many conservatories, colleges and music schools since 1998 and currently works at the Larissa Cultural Clubs and Kolova Conservatory in Trikala (SOL)