Yannis Patoukas (1989) is a composer and improviser currently based in Rotterdam (NL). He holds master’s degrees in musicology and music education (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 2014) and in electroacoustic music composition (Institute of Sonology, Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, 2019). He also attended the one-year Sonology course in 2016. He is currently a PhD candidate at Leiden University (Academy of Creative and Performing Arts) through the doctoral programme “docARTES” (Orpheus Institute, Gent). Since 2020, he is a research associate at the Institute of Sonology, where he has taught the course “Composing in the Analogue Studio” as a guest teacher.
His ongoing research involves exploring the notion of “studio improvisation” through a creative investigation of studio practices from 1960s experimental rock and the field of electroacoustic music. He is drawn to the early experiments in the field of rock and electroacoustic music; where the recording studio started to be approached as a tool for composition than just for documentation purposes. His music shows his fascination for several experimental studio techniques. When inside a recording studio, he usually follows a more improvisational workflow; welcoming mistakes, trusting random or open processes and always making the most of the physicality of any analogue device in the vicinity. He is attracted by the “technical limitations” found in analogue technology and enjoys the performability of tape machines, mixing desks and voltage-controlled modular systems alongside other devices or instruments. His music has been supported by the Fonds Podiumkunsten NL (Performing Arts Fund NL), Sena Muziekproductiefonds and Makersfonds Tilburg (Gemeente Tilburg).
