Manolis Papadopoulos

Manolis Papadopoulos was born in Athens in 1980 and is a graduate of the Contemporary Music Department at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory.

From a young age, he took piano and music theory lessons at the Athenaeum Conservatoire, as well as guitar lessons. In the end, however, he focused his attentions on the drums, which had enthralled him since pre-school age. His teenage years saw him join bands, playing heavy metal. In 2000, he co-formed Mr. Can’t Find, for which the band wrote their own singular music, playing live and recording too (2000-2012). Alongside this, he also worked with such bands as the Berlin Brides, Angelos Kyriou, Tootsie Babes, Vaggelis Kazantzis, and Kostantis Pistiolis, and played on recordings with Psarantonis, Giannis Haroulis, and others.

On the jazz scene, he has worked with Emmanuel Saridakis, Antonis Arvanitis, Panayiotis Athanatos, Panos Tsigkos, and Tasos Bakogiannis. He co-formed Nimbus4 with Orestis Atsalakis, and later Regress2 with Panagiotis Raptis.

With Angelos kyriou, he improvises music based on a series of spoken-word texts by the playwright Paris Takopoulos. Since 2014, he has been a member of Guitakora | World Jazz, working with such musicians as Effie Psiachoulia, Antonis Skamnakis, and Dimitris Tsekouras, among others. From April through July 2017, he took part in an art installation at documenta 14, improvising as a percussionist. He is active in music education, teaching drums at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory.

Beyond music, he is also engaged in the visual arts, designing and making shadow theater puppets. He lives and works in Athens.