Kriton Beyer is a Greek-German musician and composer, who – as a performer and improviser – mainly works with the harmonium and the daxophone. He studied musicology in Greece where he collaborated with a variety of local music groups as well as musicians like Sakis Papadimitriou and Floros Floridis.
In 2004 he moved to Berlin, where he got heavily involved in the improvised music scene of the city.
Since then he has worked with many musicians like Phil Minton, Audrey Chen, Steve Noble, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Axel Dörner, Liz Kosack, Kresten Osgood, Tristan Honsinger, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Tomomi Adachi, Richard Scott, Willi Kellers, Matthias Bauer, Antonis Anissegos, Olaf Rupp, Alexei Borisov, Els Vandeweyer, Harri Sjöström, Nicola Hein and Liz Allbee, dancers like Yuko Kaseki in interdisciplinary performance projects like “enLIGHTenment” and visual artists like Akiko Nakayama. Kriton Beyer founded the “Fragmentation Orchestra“, is a member of the electroacoustic trio “uproot” and the ensembles “Redox Reaction” and FDBK EXPT.
In his work with the harmonium, Kriton Beyer uses both the natural sound of his instrument and “traditional” playing techniques as well as preparations, objects and extended techniques, while his daxophone play is characterized by a very personal musical and sonic aesthetic, and an unconventional technique, also supported by the subtle use of electronics. As an improvising musician, he has performed throughout Europe. His compositions are usually characterized by conceptualism.
Kriton Beyer has also conceived and commissioned the music software CinePrompt®, which was specially developed for the use for live musical performance and live recording to films.
Kriton Beyer also curates and manages the concert series and record label “The Procrustean Bed”, dedicated to Experimental & Improvised Music.