Sami-Vasileios Amiris (or Sami, as everybody calls him), was born and raised in Thessaloniki. His first encounter with music was in a young age, with Mr. Panagiotis Moralis. Later, he attended "Anatolia College" high school in Thessaloniki, where he held a full scholarship during all years of study, and received an award for excellence in the english language upon graduation.
Concurrently, he continued to study music with Mrs Matthaiou. He studied mathematics in the University of Crete, and currently furthers his studies in Athens. Concurrently, he studied piano with Prof. Dimitri Toufexis, an internationally acclaimed pianist and conductor, and Julliard Alumnus and former instructor. He has taken part in a number of concerts and seminars in virtually all areas of music, be it classical, jazz, electronic, traditional world musics, etc., either as an active member or as audience. He has taken lessons in composition with Prof. Theodore Antoniou, Dr. Athanasios Zervas, and in jazz piano with the internationally acclaimed jazz pianist MalWaldron.
He is the pianist of the City of the Big Band of the Municipality of Athens, under the direction of Mr. Yiannis Terezakis. He has also been the pianist of the former Municipality of Athens Contemporary Music Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Zervas. He has also taken part in the "Improelectronics" orchestra, which specialized in contemporary experimental electronic music, as well as the Athens Jazz Orchestra, both also conducted by Dr Zervas. He has appeared in very important music halls, like the Athens Concert Hall, Thessaloniki Concert Hall, "Phillipos Nakas" Concert Hall, "Athena" Concert hall in the Art Conservatory of Athens, etc. as well as in various concert halls and jazz clubs across the world.
He was a featured lecturer in the 2007 Panonian Bridge Project, a part of the 2007 Novi Sad Jazz Festival, a major jazz festival in Novi Sad, Serbia, along with Sean McGowan, Vladimir Samardzic and Amar Cesliar. In July 2008, he was the piano instructor in the 6th International Summer Jazz Academy hosted by the Ionian University in Corfu from the 18th to the 24th of July 2008, along with Chico Freeman, Ron McClure, Richard Smith, Mark Murphy, Francesco Buzzuro, Jari Perkiomaki, Vasilis Rakopoulos, Dimos Dimitriadis and Jukkis Uotila.
He has appeared on stage with most of the important artists of the Greek Jazz scene, as well as important artists of the international music scene, like Rex Richardson, Marko Djordjevic, Juliet Kelly, Reiner Witzel, etc.
During the 1st Greek Drum Camp, in which he took part, he shared the stage with Dom Famularo,Thomas Lang and Jeff Bowden, and during the 2nd Drum Camp, for which we was the house band leader, he played with David Garibaldi, Walfredo Reyes and, again, Dom Famularo.
He has appeared with the critically acclaimed jazz piano trio "Nukleus" in the 2006 Muse Festival in Athens, the third day of which featured the jazz giant Dave Hollan and his quintet. He has also appeared in quite a few groups of all sizes and musical directions, either as a sideman, with people like Antonis Ladopoulos (Megaro Gyzi Festival 2008 in Santroini), Takis Paterelis (Muse Festival - Ianos), Nick Kapilidis (2007 Athens Jazz Festival, 2007 Durres Jazz and Ethnic Festival), Antonis Ladopoulos, Vasilis Rakopoulos, Yiotis Kiourtsoglou, Yiannis Floros, Lefteris Christofis etc., but also as a co-leader, as in Energy, a duet with drummer-extraordinaire Zach Pinakoulakis, Cover Charge Trio with Zach Pinakoulakis and Odysseas Konstantinopoulos on bass, etc. He has appeared in a seminar-concert with Yiotis Kiourtsoglou and Zach Pinakoulakis, focusing on the contemporary jazz and fusion scene. He has also taken part in Y. Kiourtsoglou's debut personal recording, "Hapopsis".
Today, he performs regularly with "Nukleus", a critically accleaimed jazz piano trio, along with Yiannis Stavropoulos on drums and Periklis Trivolis on bass. The trio, apart from being an autonomous and very active musical organism on its own, is also a very active and sought-after rhythm section employed by some important artists of the Athenian music scene.
He also continues his 12-year-long association with Zach Pinakoulakis in the piano trio of the latter. He also collaborates independently with some of the most important musicians in the Athens scene, including Takis Paterelis, Nick Kapilidis, Yiannis Floros, etc., as well as various musicians from around the world, like the Cuban master musicians Enrique "Kiki" Bu and Manuel Orza.
In the area of teaching, he has quite a few success stories. People that have studied with him are currently studying or have graduated, either as undergraduate or graduate students, from some of the leading universities both inside and outside Greece (U.S.A., U.K., the Netherlands, etc.).
He believes in the active incorporation of the mathematical thought process in the organisation of the materials of music, be it rhythm or tonal material. He has worked extensively on the organizing processes of the tonal material in general, atonal music in particular, as well as the rhythmic
organization of music, polyrhythms and rhythmic groupings.
Currently, he lives and works in Athens. He teaches in the "Muse" music school. Also, he is a professor in the jazz department of the Hellenic - American University.
Website: www.myspace.com/samiamiris