Cohabitation

K.BHTA formed the electronic music group Stereo Nova in 1992, recording five official albums with them. He broke the band up in 1996 to continue his career as a solo artist. He has worked with numerous artists from the worlds of music, theater and dance (Lena Platonos, Dimitra Galani, Angela Brouskou, Barbara Mavromati, Anna Kokkinou, Olia Lazaridou, Lefteris Vogiatzis, Dimitris Papaioannou, Antonis Kalogridis, Themis Moumoulidis, Filippos Koutsaftis, and others). His pieces for the theater have included compositions for works by Bertolt Brecht, T. S. Eliot, Lars von Trier, Sarah Kane, Jean Genet, and Paul Claudel. He has written music for documentaries, feature films, and stage plays, and has released a total of 26 records (17 of them as a solo artist).

Aside from his music, K.BHTA has worked in the past as a graphic designer, journalist, and DJ. Born in Melbourne and raised in Athens, he studied guitar, music theory, painting, and history of art. As a child, he wanted to grow up to be someone a bit “like Dylan”. He listened to techno and acid house as a teenager. He loves Athens, calls himself old-fashioned, collects vinyl records, and likes Randy Newman, Madonna, Carl Craig, and Joni Mitchell.

The ARTéfacts ensemble consists of seven core members and a broader circle of collaborators. The ensemble seeks to present a contemporary repertoire in ways that are approachable and particularly fluid. Works have been written specially for the ensemble by Maurilio Cacciatore, Stathis Gyftakis, and Kornelios Selamsis. The latter composer also serves as the ensemble’s orchestrator.

The ARTéfacts ensemble’s appearance at Onassis Stegi (14/2/13) – where they presented pieces by Steve Reich, Tristan Murail, Philippe Hurel, Frank Zappa, and others in a multimedia setting that expanded our understanding of what a concert can be – was deemed “a pleasant surprise”.