Creative Guitar: Anton Toorell / Savvas Metaxas & evi nakou
An initiative by guitarist Giannis Arapis, the Creative Guitar project explores a different way of thinking about the guitar—as an instrument, but also as a field of research, listening, and creation.
The project includes concerts and seminars that bring together study, experimentation, and artistic practice, with an emphasis on sound shaped through research, improvisation, and personal exploration.
Each concert features guitarists from the international scene with a distinctive artistic identity and personal sound.
On the second night, Swedish guitarist Anton Toorell will perform a solo piece that blends composition and improvisation. The concert will be opened by Savvas Metaxas (guitar) and evi nakou (flute) with an improvised duet.
🔷 Anton Toorell (b. 1988) is a guitarist, producer and composer based in Stockholm, Sweden. His solo project is centered around acoustic guitars in open tunings, and explores playing-techniques with multiple instruments simultaneously. While his solo debut focused on expanding the guitar with electronic elements, the follow-up album centers on documenting the full performances and processes, emphasizing the acoustic interplay in a resonant space. His second solo album ’Solos II’ is being released on Thanatosis in March 2026.
Toorell’s practice also revolves around studio work, evident both in his own projects and in collaborations with other artists. Recent work includes collaborations with Vathres, Rotem Geffen, Joe Williamson, Bäckström/Wärnheim, Solulf, Ylva Ceder, Margaux Oswald, Propan, Tv Dinner Education, Griskmask and Hein Westgaard Trio, as well as contributions to his own groups, including Receptacles, Dammit I’m Mad, and Invader Ace.
As a guitarist, he has contributed to projects such as The Ägg, Alex Zethson Ensemble, Propan, and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, as well as being a touring musician with Viagra Boys on their latest US tour.
Toorell holds a bachelor’s degree in jazz, and master’s degree in Electro Acoustic composition from The Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm.
🔷 Musician and sound artist Savvas Metaxas is active in the fields of experimental music, field recordings, modular synthesizer, and electric guitar. His most recent release, “June 9–10”, was released by the French label Falt. The work “Magnetic Loops II” was used by Nine Inch Nails before their performances on their recent tour.
www.savvasmetaxas.bandcamp.com
🔷 Musician and sound artist evi nakou (akamatra) is a member of the Breakfast Club quartet and curator of the multimodal festival of sound, noise, and words Noisy Words (Goethe Institut Athen, KET). She has designed and coordinated collective improvisation and composition workshops in London, Berlin, Palestine, Argentina, U.S.A., and Greece—at the Korydallos Detention Center, OKANA, Women for Refugee Women, Melissa Network for Migrant Women, schools and hostels, social and health spaces, using sound, music, words, and field recordings as tools.