Vasilis Kostas is a Grammy nominated Greek laouto player, composer, and educator from Epirus, Greece. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Montréal International Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, Panama Jazz Festival, and WOMEX while performing as a soloist with the Berklee World Strings Orchestra and the Chatterbird Chamber Orchestra. He holds a Masters’ degree in Contemporary Performance from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute as well as a Bachelors’ degree in Philosophy and Pedagogy from the Aristotle University. During his time at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and while on a full scholarship, Kostas studied alongside renowned jazz masters such as John Patitucci, Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, and Terri Lyne Carrington. His duo album recording The Soul of Epirus with master clarinetist, Petroloukas Halkias, was voted as the Best Album of 2019 by the Balkan World Music Chart. Most recently, Kostas received the “Artist Fellowship in the Traditional Arts Award” by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the “Forty Under 40 Award” by the Greek American Foundation for his efforts in promoting Greek traditional music and the laouto across the United States. Kostas currently lives in Greece where he teaches laouto at the Department of Music Science and Art at the University of Macedonia, while continuing to present and share Greek traditional music and his own musical projects in concert halls and academic institutions across the US and internationally.