Alexandra Mitsotaki is co-founder & president of the World Human Forum, a global citizen initiative which has its symbolic base in Delphi, launching international initiatives from important sites such as Delos, Aristotle’s Lyceum in Athens and Eleusis. In 1998 she founded ActionAid Hellas, the Greek affiliate of ActionAid, the international organisation against poverty and injustice. For the last 10 years she was in charge of the Hellenic Cultural Centre in Paris of which she is now vice-chair. Reacting to the financial crisis in Greece, in 2014 she co-founded Action Finance Initiative, the first microcredit organisation in Greece.

She is a member of the High Level Roundtable of the New European Bauhaus, an initiative of the European Commission aiming to connect the European Green Deal to our living spaces. Her interdisciplinary experience over the past years has made her a profound supporter of the importance of a holistic approach to tackle the big challenges of our time.

Michael Marmarinos was born in Athens.
He has studied biology (major: Neurobiology), acting and theater directing.

In 1983-4, the “diplous Eros” theater company was founded, and right after its first production, is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture. After a number of internal transformations and transfigurations, the group was renamed as “Theseum Ensemble” (TE). (www.theseumensemble.com).

His work is ruled by two persisting principles:
a)Theater is the art on the humble history of people.
b)There is no moment in daily life which is not theater, once the proper gaze is there.

Three main issues are reflected through his late works:

I. Always attracted by assemblies… This biological tendency of people prompts him to work on Chorus of ancient Greek drama, as an ancient structure that produces contemporary forms within the theater and every-day life. A structure with unique qualities, a structure capable of producing theater, text, chaos, history, politics. A structure / device for a contemporary gaze.
II. The possible paths that can urge an actor’s body to the turning point of becoming a performance document.
(Biology and his encounter with Bioenergetics and A. Lowen are of a crucial contribution)
III. Moments, insignificant or coincidental, violently inserted into dramaturgy, pushing it towards a poetry of documental.
This kind of writing tactics, capable of producing text, is what he usually names “Directing as Playwriting”.

Αs well as, Every Theorem inherent in all these phenomena.

Apart from Greece, productions of M.M have been staged – or others have been touring in various international festivals – in :
Austria, Belgium, China, France, Georgia, Germany, Holland, Japan, Italy, Korea, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Venezuela.

Jeremy Lent, described by Guardian journalist George Monbiot as “one of the greatest thinkers of our age,” is an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future. His award-winning books, The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning, and The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, trace the historical underpinnings and flaws of the dominant worldview, and offer a foundation for an integrative worldview that could lead humanity to a flourishing future. He has written extensively about the vision and specifics of an ecological civilization and is founder of the Deep Transformation Network, an online global community of over 3,000 people engaging with others in facilitating a deep transformation toward a life-affirming future on a regenerated Earth.

Bettany Hughes is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster.

She was born in 1967 in and brought up in west London, the daughter of actor Peter Hughes and the sister of cricketer and journalist Simon Hughes.

Hughes has written two critically acclaimed books on Ancient Greek subjects, Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore (2005) and The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life (2010). The latter was a New York Times bestseller, Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 and a finalist for the Writer’s Guild Award.

Hughes has written and presented documentary films and series on both ancient and modern subjects for National Geographic, BBC, Discovery Channel, PBS, The History Channel and Channel 4. In July 2012, she began to co-present a series on ITV with Michael Buerk, Britain’s Secret Treasures.

She is a Tutor for Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education and a Research Fellow of King’s College London. She has also taught at Oxford and lectured at Cornell, Bristol, UCL, Maastricht, Utrecht and Manchester.

Hélène Pichon is Franco-Swiss and holds a DEA in Political Science in English from the Sorbonne Paris IV.

Her professional career has taken her successively to Lebanon, the UN in Geneva for the Republic of Korea, and Bahrain. She directed the Alliance Française of Cork in Ireland, European Capital of Culture, and ran its French Film Festival. In January 2011, Ms Pichon joined the Centre d’Étude et de Prospective Stratégique, Center for strategic and foresight studies,  an INGO with participatory status with the Council of Europe, UNESCO, the OECD, the OIF and the European Commission, as Director of Relations with Institutions. She has been director of the Alliance Française of the Hague and coordinator of the network of Alliances Françaises in the Netherlands for the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs since September 2022. Hélène Pichon has also been a Colonel in the French Air Force Citizens’ Reserve since 2012.

Hélène Pichon takes equality to heart and is the author of the manifesto “L’Éternel au Féminin“, The Eternal through the Feminine,  which calls for full parity for women in the hierarchies of the major monotheisms.

A founding member of the French chapter of the International Women’s Forum, she was a member of the global board of the International Women’s Forum from 2019 to 2021; she is an ambassador for the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Foundation for Youth, and vice-president of the Robert Schuman Institute for Europe for the European Union. She has taught at the École d’Art et de Culture. In 2020, Hélène Pichon co-founded the Toutes Apôtres – All Apostles collective, which became an association on 8 March 2021. She joined the boards of the Comité de la Jupe – Committee of the Skirt and the Société des Amis de la Fondation de l’Islam de France – Society of the Friends of the Foundation of Islam in France in 2021. Hélène Pichon has been General Secretary of the SDGS Champions Association since June 2021.

Indra Adnan is Founder and Co-initator of The Alternative Global, a socio-political platform serving systemic transformation. AltGlobal publishes a Daily Alternative news blog, develops cosmolocal agency networks (CANs) and connects planetary regeneration projects. Indra is concurrently a socio-psychotherapist, writer and consultant on soft power. Clients have included the Danish and Brazilian governments, World Economic Forum and NATO. Her book The Politics of Waking Up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age was a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year in 2021.

Gina Belafonte is an award-winning Producer, Director, Actress, Educator, Prison Abolitionist, and Freedom Activist. Co-founder of Sankofa.org, Gina has been using art as a tool for over 25 years to communicate messages of hope and civic engagement. Since its creation in 2013 Sankofa.org has been on the front lines and at the intersection of art and activism, organizing thousands to stand up for justice. As one of the lead organizers, Gina helped create one of the largest Marches in US history, as a Women’s March Los Angeles co-Chair, MC and producer. One of Gina’s favorite things is collaboration and she has contributed to and partnered on many projects with artists such as Whoopi Goldberg, Alfre Woodard, Billy Porter, Laverne Cox, Jesse Williams,  Douglas Miles, Shepard Farey, Ernesto Farrell, Hank Willis Thomas, and For Freedoms to name a few. Her leadership at Sankofa.org has led to some of the largest Voting campaigns in US history. “Art has a unique way of opening hearts and minds. Giving audiences an opportunity to see themselves reflected in the art itself. Art not only show’s the world as it is but as it could be.”

Educated by the famous coloratura soprano Sylvia Geszty, Marlis Petersen began her career as an opera singer in 1994 at the Städtische Bühnen Nürnbergand subsequently in 1998 at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg.

She has been touring the world as a lyric soprano since 2003 and impressed with a variety of operatic roles, but especially with Alban Berg‘s heroine Lulu, which she presented in ten different productions in Europe and the USA. The last two productions at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Metropolitan Opera New York sparked worldwide attention and are both recorded on DVD. Her most important roles at the moment include Marschallin (Rosenkavalier), Marietta (The Dead City) and Strauss’ Salome, along with many other female characters. Petersen is also a deeply committed interpreter of contemporary music. In 2010 she sang Aribert Reimann’s world premiere of “Medea” at the Vienna State Opera with great success; In January 2017 she opened the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg with Jörg Widmann’s world premiere of “Arche” under the baton of Kent Nagano.

As a concert singer, Marlis Petersen gives guest performances around the world in collaboration with well-known orchestras and conductors in the classical concert area as well as with top-class baroque ensembles. The new roles for the next seasons are “Marschallin” in Rosenkavalier, Marschallin (Rosenkavalier), Bellini’s “Norma” and the first Wagner roles for the coming seasons.

For several years now, Marlis Petersen has devoted herself to the genre Lied with particular passion. She gave celebrated recitals, both as a soloist and with her vocal quartet, sang at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and in the Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin and presented specially created programs at Carnegie Hall, the Konzerthaus in Vienna and the Wigmore Hall in London. With her LIED-trilogy DIMENSIONS Marlis Petersen created a complete new way of programming inviting the listener into a story through different worlds of being.

For the 2019/20 season, Marlis Petersen was awarded “Singer of the Year” for the fourth time by the magazine “opernwelt” for her interpretation of Marietta at the Bavarian State Opera and won the “Opus Klassik 2020”, also as Singer of the Year for the CD “INNENWELT” released by Solo Musica.

Rena Kyprioti was born in Athens, Greece. She is a graduate of the “Art Theatre” at the renowned performing arts school of Karolos Koun in Athens.

Some of the acting schools she has attended to acquire new acting methods and techniques include the National Theatre of Greece, The Beverly Hills Playhouse under the guidance of Milton Katselas and Sophie Papadopoulos, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, Ivana Chubbuck Studio in Los Angeles, and Stanford University.

She has an extensive theater background, including productions in Ancient Greek Tragedies and Comedies performed at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, among others.

As an actress, she has collaborated with both Greek and foreign directors, such as Anatoly Vasiliev, the Artistic Director of the Moscow Theatre “School of Dramatic Arts” (recipient of the Europe Prize New Theatrical Realities), and Adolf Shapiro (Golden Mask National Theatre Award).

Rena also worked with Charlotte Rampling in a short film directed by the acclaimed video artist and filmmaker George Drivas. The film was screened at the Greek Pavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale from May to November 2017.

Furthermore, she collaborated with filmmaker Loukia Alavanou on “Oedipus In Search of Colonus,” a virtual reality 360-degree film installation showcased at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022.

Since 2018, Rena has been touring the USA and Russia with her own production, a Greek literary masterpiece titled “My Mother’s Sin” by Georgios Vizyenos. In this production, she skillfully portrays six different characters in English, captivating audiences at prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Georgetown, Loyola Marymount, Texas, Illinois Universities, and the International Theatre Festival “Raduga” in St. Petersburg, among others.

Rena is characterised by her adventurous and passionately dedicated personality. She finds joy in traveling worldwide, including destinations like China, India, Thailand, and the USA, to refine her acting skills and broaden her horizons.

Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature

Research Fields: Nagy’s special research interests include archaic Greek literature and oral traditions. His ongoing goal is to integrate his research with collaborative as well as intergenerational mentorships and public engagement initiatives, especially in the context of his Harvard College and Harvard DCE courses on the ancient Greek hero (with almost 10,000 alumni), and his HarvardX MOOC, which has enrolled over 181,000 learners since its launch in 2013. His recent monographs include The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours (HUP 2013) and Masterpieces of Metonymy: From Ancient Greek Times to Now (HUP, fall 2015).

Selected Other Works:  The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979; 2nd ed., with new Introduction, 1999), which won the Goodwin Award of Merit, (1982). Comparative Studies in Greek and Indic Meter (1974), Greek Mythology and Poetics (1990), Pindar’s Homer: The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past (1990), Poetry as Performance: Homer and Beyond (1996), Homeric Questions (1996), Plato’s Rhapsody and Homer’s Music: The Poetics of the Panathenaic Festival in Classical Athens (2002), Homer the Classic (2008), Homer the Preclassic (2009).

BRIAN C. MURARESKU graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University with a degree in Latin, Greek and Sanskrit. As an alumnus of Georgetown Law and a member of the Bars of both New York and Washington D.C., he has been practicing law internationally for over fifteen years. He lives outside Washington D.C. with his wife and two daughters.

The Immortality Key is Muraresku’s debut book. In 2020, it became a New York Times bestseller. Audible named it “Best of 2020” in the History category.

​Muraresku launched The Immortality Key on the Joe Rogan Experience. He has since appeared on CNN, NPR, SiriusXM and a number of celebrity podcasts, including Jordan Peterson, Lex Fridman, Andrew Sullivan, Pete Holmes and Gwyneth Paltrow. His work has been featured in Forbes, Daily Beast, Vox, VICE, Haaretz, The Telegraph, Big Think, Patheos, Los Angeles Review of Books, Quillette, Brown Alumni Magazine and ABC Australia, with honorable mention in Los Angeles Magazine and Rolling Stone. Muraresku regularly engages academic colleagues, including Harvard Divinity School, Columbia University and the Yale Psychedelic Science Group.

Andrew Koh is Museum Scientist for the Yale Peabody Museum and faculty in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He founded the ARCHEM Project in Greece in 2003 to integrate the study of ancient organic residues into fieldwork and currently directs the Yale Ancient Pharmacology Program, which endeavors to bridge the sciences and humanities while connecting the past with the present to elucidate non-linear innovation. He taught ancient Greek and archaeology at UCLA and held a Florence Levy Kay fellowship in chemistry and classical archaeology at Brandeis University while founding its Digital Scholarship Lab. Prior to his arrival at Yale, he was appointed Senior Research Fellow in the MIT Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology.

Dr. Koh holds a BS in biophysics and classics (pre-medicine), master’s degrees in biblical studies and Egyptology, and a PhD in archaeology (ancient history and chemistry emphases) from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his dissertation in residence at the Stanford Archaeology Center as a part of the exchange scholars program and received post-doctoral training at the University of Michigan and its Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. He is an active field archaeologist who is co-director of the Southern Phokis Regional Project in Central Greece and previously served for many years as associate director of the Kabri Archaeological Project in the Upper Galilee. He has served on committees for the National Endowment for the Humanities, Getty Research Institute, National Science Foundation, American Chemical Society, Science History Institute, Archaeological Institute of America, American Society of Overseas Research, Society for Classical Studies, Town of Concord Historical Commission, and Boston Museum of Science.

Dimitris G. Matsas is archaeologist, Honorary Director of Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture. He is a graduate and a doctor from the Department of History-Archaeology of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens; his PhD dissertation is Η Σαμοθράκη και η Νεότερη Νεολιθική στο ΒΑ Αιγαίο (Samothrace and the Late Neolithic in the NE Aegean). He served from 1980 to 2014 at ΙΘ΄ Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities (Komotini) and he conducted (and still conducts) research (excavation, archaeological and etho-archaeological survey, work on the preservation and presentation of archaeological sites including the Sanctuary of the Great Gods) mostly on Samothrace, specializing in the later prehistory of the island and the NE Aegean (Late Neolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age, Early Iron Age) and in the religion at the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. He has written extensively on various archaeological, ethno-archaeological, and cult topics connected with Samothrace and the Sanctuary of the Great Gods.

Gerasimos Kouvaras has 25 years of engagement as executive director, instructor, advisor and volunteer in and for the civil society sector at the national and international level. Since 2007, he has been Country Director of ActionAid in Greece and during his tenure, he has also served as an elected member of the Federation Leadership Team of ActionAid International. Before joining ActionAid, among others, Gerasimos served Amnesty International as Director for Greece and the Greek Ministry of Education as Special Advisor on Volunteering and the Youth Sector. In that capacity, he led the National Office for Youth Policies and chaired the Working Group on Youth of the Council of the EU during the Greek EU Presidency in 2003.

Gerasimos is a PhD in Management candidate at Bayes Business School of City University of London and his other academic background includes an MBA from Nottingham Trent University, and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Aristoteleion University of Thessaloniki. As an instructor, he has given several lectures and workshops in Greece and abroad within his areas of expertise to audiences including university post-graduate students, UN staff, public officials, NGO senior staff, youth leaders and Tedx attendees. His artistic background includes Opera Studies at the Greek State Conservatory and over 150 performances as a member of the Greek State Radio Choir, an international distinction as Artist Photographer (AFIAP) from the International Federation of Photographic Art, and the publication of a poetry collection of haiku poems in Greek. Gerasimos is currently Vice Chair of the Board of the International Forum for Volunteering in Development (FORUM). Last but not least, Gerasimos is a member of the World Human Forum team and coordinator of the Hellenic Inner Development Hub.

Sasha Waltz is a choreographer, dancer and director. She studied dance and choreography in Amsterdam and New York. Together with Jochen Sandig she founded the company Sasha Waltz & Guests in 1993 and was cofounder of the Sophiensaele (1996) and the Radialsystem (2006), two spaces for performing arts in Berlin. From 2000-2004 she was a member of the artistic direction of the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz. In the season 2019/20 Sasha Waltz was director of the Berlin State Ballet together with Johannes Öhman. The development of innovative, interdisciplinary forms of performance and creation is an important focus of her artistic work, which ranges from internationally renowned dance pieces such as the »Travelogue« trilogy (1993-95) or »Körper« (2000) to choreographed operas (e.g. »Dido & Aeneas«, 2005) and exploratory dialogue projects (e.g. »Dialoge 09 – Neues Museum«). In her current choreographic work Waltz concentrates on the condensation of collaborative processes, such as the synchronous development of choreography and music (e.g. »Kreatur«, 2017). At the same time Sasha Waltz is committed to the transfer of dance knowledge and dance as a medium of social and socio-political understanding. In 2021, Sasha Waltz created the choreography »In C« based on Terry Riley‘s revolutionary and open score by the same name, which has since not only been successfully performed nationally and internationally, but has also developed into its own system with a growing community. The work consists of 53 choreographic figures that were recorded as video tutorials to facilitate the transfer of knowledge. Participatory, diverse, international and sustainable »In C« projects, workshop formats and ever new structures have developed and continue to develop from the material worldwide. She is a member of the Academy of Arts Berlin since 2013. In 2021 Sasha Waltz was awarded the French cultural order »Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres«

DAPHNE  ECONOMOU was born and grew up in India. She continued her education in England and holds a degree in English Literature. She is a published writer and translator.
On her return to Greece, she worked on a National Project for the rehabilitation of elderly refugees from Asia Minor, whilst simultaneously running a children’s theatre group.
With her husband Constantine Economou, a civil engineer, she had three children, George, Marianna and Themos.  Themos suffered from cerebral palsy and this led to Daphne’s lifelong involvement with children with disability.
To address a deficit in the care of children with cerebral palsy in Greece, she and her husband, together with a group of outstanding members of Greek society co-founded Cerebral Palsy Greece/Open Door, in 1972.
Daphne has served Cerebral Palsy Greece/Open Door in many capacities, always retaining her particular interest in cultural and artistic activities and inaugurating a series of innovative artistic events for people with and without disabilities at CPG’s Open Door Centre. She believes strongly that art is a crucial factor in the life of people with disabilities, particularly when this involves people without disabilities too.
She is currently Honorary Chairperson of Cerebral Palsy Greece/Open Door.
She was elected President of the International Cerebral Palsy Society in 1996. Her articles have been published in scientific journals and she has spoken at many international meetings
For her work with the disabled she was awarded the Gold Cross of Bienfaisance by the President of the Greek Republic in 2002.
She is a founding member of the ELIZA Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 2008.
Daphne’s first book, Saturday’s Child. A journey through an Indian childhood was published in 2007, Poems in 2013, 81 Cadogan Square (in Greek and English) in 2017 and The Blind House in 2018.

George Krallis studied social-cultural work in the Netherlands with an Intercultural orientation. He has been trained since 1996 in Psychotherapy and Group Empowerment of the Non-Directive Intervention Method and postgraduate training programs on clinical psychopathology and modern diagnostic systems. He has been systematically educated in meditation practice and guiding for ten years at Brahma Kumaris. This non-profit organization offers services aimed at facilitating people to discover their true identity. To eliminate stress, anger, hatred, and other negative traits that cause societal conflict and degrade the individual.

He participates in various community development programs as part of his continuing education and professional involvement. He worked with several Municipalities and NGOs in support programs for specific intercultural groups and prevention programs on substance abuse, social stigma and AIDS, bullying, and domestic violence in the school community. Since 1997, he has been a coordinator in Day Centres for people challenged with mental health issues with the aim of rehabilitation through community linkage.

From 2015 to now, he has worked privately as a psychotherapist and group facilitator. In 2018, he founded the NGO Human Links, which, based on non- violent communication and life values, aims to support and mobilize people tested in mental health and constellation issues through training them in self-help, autonomy, and good relationships with the community. It also empowers the community for well-being by focusing on school, family, work, relationships, natural and urban environments, science, and art. Meditation is a building block in how we approach and develop programs with positive results on individual and group levels. George Krallis facilitates guided meditations with individuals and groups in the Humanlinks and Brahma Kumaris programs. He meditates systematically over 4 hours daily, starting early in the morning.

George Krallis
Social – Intercultural Worker Psychotherapist – Group Facilitator Course instructor and meditation guide Coordinator of NGO Humanlinks

Katia Boustani is an internationally acknowledged Global Leader in the Breathwork industry and one of only 5 Rebirthing Breath Masters acknowledged by the founding Father of Breathwork himself, Leonard Orr, during his lifetime.

With over 30 years of experience in Breathwork, Katia is the Founder of Rebirth Breath Therapy® where she helps practitioners confidently deliver breathwork as a profound healing modality for both themselves and their clients, using her signature 3-step Rebirth Breath Therapy® Method.

Katia is also the founder of Global Breathing Awareness, a conscious community project which is a free social & educational platform for breathworkers, therapists and healers of all modalities & all breath lovers worldwide.

www.globalbreathingawareness.com

www.rebirthbreaththerapy.com

Instagram: @globalbreathingawareness

Facebook: Katia Boustani

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New on Tik Tok: @globalbreathingawareness

Bonna D. Wescoat is the Director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Art History at Emory University, and Director of American Excavations Samothrace. A graduate of Smith College (A.B.), the Institute of Archaeology London (M.A.), and Oxford University (M.Phil., D.Phil.), she has worked extensively in the Mediterranean as an archaeologist and architectural historian. Her research interests center on architecture and sacred experience in ancient Greece, investigated through excavation, 3D digital modeling, architectural reconstruction, and experimental archaeology. The archaeological excavations she currently directs in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothrace investigate what the interaction of landscape, architecture, and human movement can reveal about the secret yet transformative process of initiation in the mysteria.

She has written several books on ancient Greek architecture, including Samothrace Vol. 9, The Monuments of the Eastern Hill (2017); The Temple of Athena at Assos (2012); Architecture of the Sacred: Space, Ritual, and Experience from Classical Greece to Byzantium (eds. B. D. Wescoat and R. Ousterhout, 2012); Samothracian Connections; Essays in honor of James R. McCredie (eds. O. Palagia and B. D. Wescoat, 2010), and exhibition catalogues, Replicating History; Guide to the Plaster Casts on View at Emory University (1994); Syracuse, the Fairest Greek City (1989), and Poets and Heroes:  Scenes from the Trojan War (1986).

Wescoat has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Humanities Center Allen W. Clowes Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Humanities Rome Prize in the History of Art, and a Marshall Scholarship to Great Britain. She currently leads a Getty-sponsored Connecting Art Histories seminar, “Beyond the Northern Aegean,” bringing together graduate students and senior scholars across regional boundaries to study common research interests.

Greek musician Sokratis Sinopoulos is a contemporary master of the lyra. His playing is delicate and nuanced yet highly expressive, and his proficiency on the instrument has been widely acclaimed. Sinopoulos has collaborated with numerous musicians throughout the world. He’s equally comfortable crossing genre boundaries into jazz and classical, as he is to staying true to folk traditions of Greece and Eastern Mediterranean. Born in Athens in 1974, he studied Byzantine music and classical guitar as a child, and began playing the lyra in 1988, under the instruction of Ross Daly. Sinopoulos’ remarkable talent was immediately apparent, and he joined Daly’s group Labyrinthos a year later. He became highly prolific, contributing to recordings by countless musicians including Eleni Karaindrou for ECM, Charles Lloyd for Blue Note and Jean Guihen Queyras for Harmonia Mundi. He has also recorded with the French baroque ensemble L’ Achéron for Fuga Libera and with the Turk kementche virtuoso Derya Türkan for Seyir Musik. Sinopoulos was awarded the Melina Mercouri award for young artists in 1999.

In 2010, he formed Sokratis Sinopoulos Quartet with pianist Yann Keerim, bassist Dimitris Tsekouras, and drummer Dimitris Emmanouil. The debut album of the quartet “Eight Winds”, was produced by Manfred Eicher for ECM records and received excellent reviews globally. The second album of the quartet “Metamodal”, was released in 2019.  Sokratis Sinopoulos is an associate professor in the Department of Music Science and Art in the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Zelişah, born in 1995, is a Turkish artist with roots in the Zazaki minority. Residing in Istanbul, she’s both a skilled instrumentalist, playing the Duduk and Anatolian Kamança, and a versatile vocalist, singing in Turkish, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Zazaki, Kurdish, Greek, and Balkan languages. She pursued ethnomusicology at Istanbul University, further enriching her cross-cultural perspective.

Zelişah’s focus in working international musicians, like Chilean artists Tomás Carrasco Gubernatis & Moa Edmunds Guevara for the Kurdish song “Le le Rihe,” and French artist Richard Laniepce with Kurdelem from Kolektif Istanbul.

Zelişah has graced Turkish National Television on “Sesler Alemi” and shared her artistry online through “PortakalAltı Kayıtları” with Cem Erdost Ileri. Her performances have spanned notable events, including the IKSV Jazz Festival with Jazz Band NEFSAZ.

Zelişah’s music serves as a bridge between cultures, embodying unity through her diverse talents.

Vasilis Kostas is a Grammy nominated laouto player, composer and educator from Epirus, Greece. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Panama Jazz Festival and WOMEX while performing as a soloist with the Berklee World Strings Orchestra and the Chatterbird Chamber Orchestra. As a graduate of the masters program at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston, he has studied with jazz masters such as Danilo Perez, John Patittuci, Joe Lovano and Terri Lyne Carrington to name a few. His duo album recording “The Soul of Epirus” with the master clarinetist Petroloukas Haklias was voted as the Best Album of 2019 by the Balkan World Music Chart and the album “Crisalida” with Danilo Perez’s Global Messengers was recently nominated for a Grammy as the Best Latin Jazz Album of 2022. He has received the “Artist Fellowship in the Traditional Arts Award” by the Mass Cultural Council and the “Forty Under 40 Award” by the Greek America Foundation based on his efforts to promote Greek traditional music in the United States.

Vasilis Kostas is currently based in Greece where he teaches laouto at the University of Macedonia while presenting and sharing his musical roots and projects in concert halls and academic institutions across the US and internationally.

Born in Athens in 1971, Vangelis Karipis is a multifaceted musician. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Byzantine music and music theory from the Greek Conservatory in 1992. Simultaneously, he embarked on his percussion journey under the guidance of respected instructors, including Tricy Shankaral, Joe Santos, Jammey Haddad, and Arto Tuncboyaciayan.

Throughout his illustrious career, Vangelis has collaborated with a host of esteemed Greek composers and vocalists, such as Dionisis Savvopoulos, Thanos Mikroutsikos, Nikos Kypourgos, and more. He has graced stages in Greece and around the world, participating in renowned events like the Womad festival and Meinz festival.

Internationally, Vangelis has shared the stage with soloists like Haig Yazdjan, Yiotis Kiourtzoglou, and Socratis Sinopoulos. His extensive discography boasts over 400 productions spanning nearly two decades, alongside recordings for theater performances.

In January 2004, Vangelis represented Greece at an international percussion event in Tunisia as part of the MediMuses program. His dedication to education led him to conduct percussion seminars in various countries, including Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Tunisia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, England, and the USA.

In April 2004, he collaborated with Greek composer Yannis Psathas for concerts with the “Nederland’s Blazers Ensemble” in the Netherlands and Germany, as well as with the “Stroma group” in New Zealand. Vangelis co-founded the “Krotala” percussion group in 1998, touring internationally and releasing albums like “KROUSTA” (1995 FM RECORDS), “KROTALA” (2002 ETERRA MUSIC), “CRUSTA FANS” (2005 METRO magazine), and “PERCUSSION PICTURES” (2011 ANTART PRODUCTIONS).

Vangelis Karipis also contributed to the musical recordings for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Since 2017, he has held the prestigious position of Head of the Percussion Department at Athens Musicology University, where he passionately imparts his musical knowledge and experience to the next generation of musicians.

Christopher C. King is a sonic archeologist, an auracular raconteur, a Grammy-winning producer, a musicologist as well as a prominent 78 rpm collector. Christopher has been profiled in the New York Times Magazine and the Washington Post, and has written for the Paris Review, the Oxford American and Airmail News.  He is also the Editor of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal.

Christopher was born and raised in southwest Virginia and studied philosophy at Radford University. Over the course of the last sixteen years, he has researched the tradition of Greek demotika songs, especially in Epirus as well as music across the southern Balkans. In 2018, W.W. Norton published his book, Lament from Epirus: An Odyssey into Europe’s Old Surviving Folk Music, to wide critical acclaim. His book was named one of the top ten books of 2018 by the Wall Street Journal and Christopher has presented his work at the New York Public Library, the Gennadius Library of Athens as well as the Odeon Conservatoire in Athens, among other venues. In 2022 he was awarded Honorary Greek Citizenship for his work on preserving and promoting demotic music.

Frederick Barrett, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and is the Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. Dr. Barrett has been conducting psychedelic research at Johns Hopkins University since 2013. His research in heathy participants and in patients with mood and substance use disorders focuses on the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms underlying the acute subjective and enduring therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs.

Dr. Christina Dalla is Associate Professor at the Dep. of Pharmacology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, President of the Hellenic Brain Council, past-President of the Hellenic Society for Neurosciences and President-elect of the Mediterranean Neuroscience Society. She is also member of the board of directors of the European Brain Foundation in Brussels, member of the Communication Committee of the Federation of European neuroscience Societies/FENS, section-editor at European Journal of Neuroscience and member of the Educational and Scientific Committees of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology-ECNP. Her work focuses on sex differences in neuropsychiatric disorders and novel treatments with a focus on depression and anxiety. Dr. Dalla received her first diploma from the Pharmacy School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2000 and continued her studies in Neuropsychopharmacology, Behavioral Neuroendocrinology and Neurosciences in Athens, at the University of Liege in Belgium and at the Rutgers University of New Jersey, U.S.A. with two European Union Marie Curie Fellowships. She has received numerous awards and distinctions, such as the “L’Oreal-Unesco” for Greek Women in Science and the ECNP fellowship award. Dr. Dalla has more than 90 scientific papers and invited chapters, over 5000 citations and more than 130 abstracts and talks at international and national conferences. She serves at committees, such as the Gender Equality Committee of her University, the ALBA Network for Diversity and Equity in Brain Sciences, as well as at the National Medicines Association of Greece (EOF). Also, she is actively participating in public activities for brain awareness and neuroscience matters, such as publishing of books for the public. Finally, as a researcher she is a member of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Preclinical Data Network and the Psychedelics Research thematic working group.

More info:

http://psychopharmacology.med.uoa.gr/education/public-activities-media.html

https://www.ecnp.eu/research-innovation/networks-thematic-working-groups/List-ECNP-Networks/psychedelic-research

https://www.brainfoundation.eu

https://www.alba.network

https://www.fens.org

https://www.medneuroscisociety.org

Zephyros Kafkalides : Studied Philosophy and Law at Athens University (Greece).  He is a Member of the Athens Bar and author of numerous historical and philosophical works, member of the Committee of Greek National Issues and guest lecturer in International Law, Diplomacy and Philosophy of History. In 2001 he received the Academy of Athens award for his literary work.

Over the last 35 years he has been presenting at international congresses the research work of Athanasios Kafkalides MD (1919-1987) in the field of psychedelic psychotherapy and prenatal psychology. His papers have been published in the official journal of the International Society of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine ( ISPPM)

His latest book, Studies on Prenatal Psychology and Psychedelic Science, co-authored by Constantine Kafkalides MD, refers to the findings, the theoretical views, as well as the similarities and differences in methodology in the research work of Stanislav Grof, Frank Lake, and Athanassios Kafkalides. The three psychiatrists used psychedelic drugs as an adjuvant psychotherapeutic means

Ivy Ross is the Vice President of Design for the Hardware organization at Google. Over the past six years, she and her team have launched 50+ products winning over 240 global design awards. This collection of hardware established a new Google design aesthetic that is tactile, colorful, and bold.

A winner of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, Ivy’s innovative metal work in jewelry is in the permanent collections of 12 international museums.

Ivy has held executive positions ranging from head of product design and development to CMO and presidencies of several companies, including Calvin Klein, Swatch, Coach, Mattel, Bausch & Lomb, and Gap.

Ninth on Fast Company’s list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business 2019, Ivy believes the intersection of arts and science is where the most engaging and creative ideas are found.

Most recently, Ivy co-authored with Susan Magsamen Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us , a NY Times best selling book .

Anthony P. Bossis, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, an Adjunct Professor of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa, and an Investigator at The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at UCLA.   Since 2006, he has conducted FDA-approved clinical research with the psychedelic compound psilocybin.  His primary psychedelic research interests are the treatment of end-of-life existential distress and advancing our understanding of consciousness, meaning, and spirituality. Dr. Bossis was director of palliative care research and co-principal investigator on the landmark 2016 clinical trial demonstrating a significant reduction in emotional distress from a single psilocybin session in persons with cancer, specifically, a rapid decrease in depression, anxiety, hopelessness, and demoralization along with improvements in spiritual well-being and quality of life.   He is the study director and the lead therapist on an FDA-approved clinical trial investigating a psilocybin-generated mystical experience upon religious leaders. Dr. Bossis is a training supervisor of psychotherapy at NYU-Bellevue Hospital Center and co-founder and former co-director of the Bellevue Hospital Palliative Care Service. He is a faculty member at The Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research at the California Institute of Integral Studies, the Art of Dying Institute in NYC, and the graduate psychedelic studies program at the University of Ottawa.  He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology and a guest editor for the journal’s Special Series on Psychedelics. Dr. Bossis has a long-standing interest in comparative religion, mystical experience, and the interface of psychology and spirituality.  He maintains a private psychotherapy and consulting practice in NYC. Anthony is a proud Greek American whose grandparents hail from the beautiful island of Limnos.

James Bridle is a writer, artist and technologist. Their artworks have been commissioned by galleries and institutions and exhibited worldwide and on the internet. Their writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Wired, the Atlantic, the New Statesman, the Guardian, and the Financial Times. They are the author of ‘New Dark Age’ (2018) and ‘Ways of Being’ (2022), and they wrote and presented “New Ways of Seeing” for BBC Radio 4 in 2019. Their work can be found at http://jamesbridle.com.

Jochen Sandig was born in Esslingen, Germany. In 1990 he moved to Berlin to study psychology and philosophy. Following the founding of the Tacheles Art Centre in 1990, in 1993, together with Sasha Waltz, he founded Sasha Waltz & Guests. In 1996 he co-founded Sophiensaele, an independent venue for dance and theatre productions in Berlin-Mitte, which he directed until 1999. From 2000 to 2004 Jochen Sandig was a member of the artistic direction at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz. Since 2004 he has been the director of the independent Sasha Waltz & Guests GmbH. In 2006, together with Folkert Uhde, Jochen Sandig founded radialsystem in Berlin. In 2010 he was awarded the French cultural order »Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres«. In February 2012 he celebrated his first direction work with »human requiem«, a staging of Johannes Brahms’ »Ein Deutsches Requiem« in cooperation with the Rundfunkchor in Berlin and Simon Halsey. Since its premiere the production travelled to Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris, Granada, Rotterdam, Athens, Hong- Kong, Adelaide and New York. The production was awarded with the »Classical Next Innovation Award 2016«. As a social and political activist he became one of the three co- founders of the World Human Forum in Delphi, Greece. Since 2019/20, Jochen Sandig is artistic and executive director of the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele / Internationale Festspiele Baden-Württemberg. In the year 2022 Jochen Sandig was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.