Joel Lyssarides

Joel Lyssarides was born in Stockholm, Sweden 1992. His early exposure to music at home led to piano studies at the age of four. His interest in jazz came naturally, as he started to discover and explore his parents’ record collection with music by Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk and others. At the age of sixteen Joel was accepted to the Södra Latin College of Music in Stockholm, which at the time was the first and natural choice for young, Swedish musicians aspiring to pursue a professional career in music. His interest in jazz and harmony grew under the inspired teaching of Robert Malmberg, who opened new approaches to harmonic thinking inspired by Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans. At the age of eighteen Joel was accepted to the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, where Professor Ove Lundin was his teacher and mentor for three years. Ove took over where Robert Malmberg had stopped and continued to encourage Joel’s interest in harmony. This also included the discovery of classical composers such as Brahms, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. During his last year at the Academy Joel spent a period in Rome at the Conservatorie Di Santa Cecilia. Here he studied the art of orchestration with a focus on string writing for orchestra under the guidance of the renowned Italian composer Antonio Di Pofi. Since graduation at the age of 21 Joel has been a sought-after pianist, session musician and arranger. He has played with a wide array of artists such as Anne Sofie Von Otter, Nils Landgren, Sven Bertil Taube, Silvana Imam, Dirty Loops, Norrbotten Big Band, Kristin Amparo and Svante Henrysson, as well as worked as an arranger for Benny Andersson (ABBA), various big bands, choirs and string quartets.