Greek-born Manos Achalinotopoulos is considered by critics, composers, and musicologists to be the best clarinet exponent of his generation. He started playing the flute and clarinet at a very early age, and now travels extensively throughout the world to collaborate with composers and performers, and to perform in concerts and at festivals.
In March 2011 he was one of the main contributors to John Psathas' The New Zeimbekiko project, which premiered in Auckland (NZ). His first album, Hyacinth, garnered enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics alike, as did his very successful recording with the Nederland Blazers Ensemble.
After a long period of preparation he released Zopirin in 2010, an album he is particularly proud of, where he presents a ‘cinematographic journey’ through places that are real and imagined, personal and poetic. He released Flight on Light on Rattle in 2011, an album that began as a series of solo improvisations (which Manos describes as music composed ‘in one breath’), but which developed into a set of unique collaborations with John Psathas, David Downes, Steve Garden, and Tim Prebble.
