Panos Ghikas

Based in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Education

Panos Ghikas (b. 1972, Athens, GR) is a London-based composer, improviser and producer. His output encompasses concert music, live improvisation, interdisciplinary collaborations in digital media, film music and pop production. He is a member of surrealist post-pop band The Chap (7 albums, over 400 performances internationally since 2000) and runs Migro Records (est. 2011), a label that releases work that falls into the intersection between composition and free improvisation. Panos performs and releases with Jennifer Walshe in improv duo Ghikas and Walshe and performs violin and viola in groups Friendo and Unreal-time Group. His work features in over 60 releases (Universal, EMI, Lo Recordings (UK), Ghostly International (US) and Staatsakt (DE) and has been performed and broadcast internationally. His music for screen features in TV programmes and commercials around the world and is available through the Universal Production Music library. Remix credits include artists such as Gotye, Beck, Block Party, Tom Vek amongst others. His acoustic compositions have received performances in the UK, Germany, Belgium, Greece and Mexico, by performers such as the Arditti Quartet, Ensemble Exposé, the Kreutzer Quartet and Christopher Redgate.

Panos completed his PhD in Composition at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has a Masters in Composition for Film from the London College of Music and Media and a degree in Physics from the University of Patras, Greece.

www.panosghikas.com | www.migrorecords.com | www.thechap.org | tonesoprano.com

Panos Ghikas teaches the following subjects

Computer and Studio-based audio production
Composition
Songwriting
Film Music
Independent Creative and Production Projects
Music in the Media
MMus Supervision

Panos Ghikas has previously taught Audio Technologies, Studio Practice, Songwriting and Contextual Studies at Kent University, Music for Digital Media at Anglia Ruskin University and Acoustic Composition, Analysis and Improvisation at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Research and knowledge exchange

Unreal-time improv

www.panosghikas.com/unrealtime

Since 2012, Panos has developed the Unreal-time improv concept, a practice-based research project that has received support from UK and internationally-based institutions. It focuses on the development of a live performance interface for navigation through audio-timelines with the purpose of re-sequencing audio gestures. Initially created as a device that can enhance improvisational capabilities, it has gradually developed into a compositional method and a platform for instrument-building. His main collaborators are Pavlos Antoniadis (Ircam/GREAM, FR), Nick Roth (IE), Luis Tabuenca (ES), and MaxMSP programmer Dan Herbert. Other co-performers include Roger Redgate, Steve Beresford, Matt Wright and Tom Mudd.

Unrealtime Group perform Azoman - https://youtu.be/lemel5-oWhs

Luis Tabuenca performs Panos Ghikas' Nausea - https://youtu.be/ZAiQzWhacKw

PhD Supervision

Adem Hilmi, Designing Virtual Radio Space: Redefining Radio Art Through Digital Control (1st supervisor)
Jason Hodgson, Working towards a living definition of Chance and Indeterminacy (and aleatory) for the 21st Century Composer
(1st supervisor)
Grant Gover, The link between Music and Architecture (1st supervisor)
Natalie Salerno, Women's Jounreys in Postmodernity (1st supervisor)
Masato Kakinoki, The Development of an Audio-Visual Language for Digital Music Performance (2nd supervisor)

Research Projects

"Music Education for the Real World: A Comparison of Secondary and Tertiary Music Education Routes in England". Researcher(s): Mr Darren Taggart. Supervisor(s): Dr Panos Ghikas, Professor Robert Rawson. [Postgraduate Research Project]
‘A comparative study on the evolutionary logic of music composition theory in the I-Ching and Twelve-Tone.’. Researcher(s): Mr Zhu Zhu Muran. Supervisor(s): Dr Panos Ghikas, Professor Matt Wright, Professor Robert Rawson. [Postgraduate Research Project]
'Multiplicity as a Process of Experimental Music'. Researcher(s): Dr SOPHIE STONE. Supervisor(s): Dr Panos Ghikas, Professor Matt Wright. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Aspects of Interpretation and Performance of Western Classical Music in People’s Republic China. Researcher(s): Miss Ru-Yue Bai. Supervisor(s): Professor Robert Rawson, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido, Dr Panos Ghikas. [Postgraduate Research Project]
DESIGNING VIRTUAL SPACES: REDEFINING RADIO ART THROUGH DIGITAL CONTROL. Researcher(s): Mr Adem Hilmi. Supervisor(s): Dr Panos Ghikas, Professor Matt Wright. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
Doctoral Research Project. Researcher(s): Mr Dimitrios Sofronas. Supervisor(s): Dr Panos Ghikas, Professor Robert Rawson. [Postgraduate Research Project]
How a new contemporary musical theatrical show can be used as a methodology to critique post-truth society.. Researcher(s): Mr Phil Baxter. Supervisor(s): Dr Panos Ghikas, Professor Robert Rawson. [Postgraduate Research Project]
no. Researcher(s): Mr JOHANNE-BRYCE HODGSON. Supervisor(s): Dr Panos Ghikas, Professor Matt Wright, Professor Robert Rawson. [Postgraduate Research Project]
On the Edge: Embodying the Experiences of Women Sidelined by Patriarchal Society - An Arts Based Research Exploration Using Music Composition. Researcher(s): Ms Natalie Salerno. Supervisor(s): Dr Panos Ghikas, Professor Matt Wright. [Postgraduate Research Project]
The effect Flow has on the creative output in a music recording studio. Researcher(s): Mr James Dawkins. Supervisor(s): Dr Panos Ghikas, Professor Matt Wright. [Postgraduate Research Project]
XR, music and neurodiversity: Design and application of new mixed reality technologies that facilitate musical intervention for children with autism spectrum conditions.. Researcher(s): Mr Chris Ioannou. Supervisor(s): Dr Panos Ghikas, Professor Matt Wright. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Zaha Hadid: the person, her ideas and architecture examined through musical composition. Researcher(s): Mr Grant Gover. Supervisor(s): Dr Panos Ghikas, Professor Matt Wright. [Postgraduate Research Project]

Migro Records

Since 2011, Panos Ghikas has run Migro Records, an independent record label that aims to release work by composers / improvisers who explore new concepts of music making. Migro has received financial support from a variety of UK and international organisations, along with Research and Knowledge Exchange Funding from the School of Music and Performing Arts at Canterbury Christ Church. The roster includes Jennifer Walshe, Michael Maierhof, Bog Bodies, Roger Redgate and Matthew Wright, the Bohman Brothers and collaborative work by Panos Ghikas.

www.migrorecords.com | migrorecords.bandcamp.com/artists

The Chap

The Chap are an experimental pop five-piece based in London and Berlin, with 21 international releases, over 400 performances and 16 UK, European and US tours since formation in 2000. Radioplay, playlisting and live sessions include BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 6, XFM, Capital FM, US (WFMU) and features in mainland European Radio and TV (ARTE, SWR4, RadioBerlin). The Chap are represented by the label Lo Recordings in Europe, Japan and Australia and by Ghostly International in North America.

Full discography: https://www.discogs.com/artist/35307-The-Chap

Reviews: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-chap-mn0000324799/discography

Band website: www.thechap.org

"We work in Bars" promo: https://vimeo.com/13879808

Unrealtime expanded Ghikas, P., Herbert, D., Chime Annual Workshop. [Lecture]
“A place of images, plus sounds” (Chion, 1994) Ghikas, P., 9th Music and/as Process Conference: Music and Interdisciplinary Practice 2022. [Conference paper]
Unreal-time improv Ghikas, P., (01 Oct 2018), Collaborative and Distributed Processes in Contemporary Music Making. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [Book chapter]
Historical documents of the Irish avant garde Ghikas, P., Walshe, J., Roth, N., Berndt, J., Ford, F., Gilgunn, P., Graham, S., Munro, M., O’Rahallaigh, R., Schlepper-Connolly, B., (31 Jan 2015). USA: Aisteach Institute Ireland. [Book]
The Film Sextet: a performance malfunction and the wrong audience Ghikas, P., GLITCH 2015: The Politics and Poetics of Failure, Error, Disorder and Noise. [Speech]
Unreal-time improv: composing an instrument that builds a performance Ghikas, P., Canterbury Christ Church University Music and Performing Arts Research Festival. [Speech]
Performers under the influence: The Film Sextet Ghikas, P., (2011), Avança Cinema 2011: Avança Editions. [Book chapter]