A multidisciplinary artist and researcher with roots in one of the most historically and culturally complex regions of the world, Haris Kittos investigates the intersections of personal and collective identity. Born in Greece to a family environment shaped by war, displacement and patriarchy, Haris grew up under societal structures that demanded conformity and suppressed self-expression. His artistic output is a testament to a journey of survival, healing and self-acceptance as an Anglo-Greek LGBQT+ artist.
Haris’ practice combines music composition, visual art, video art, multimedia installations and performance, aiming to blur boundaries and foster dialogue between disciplines. Grounded in decades of research and practice, his works explore ephemerality, resilience, and transformation. They document creative processes that are simultaneously meditative and masochistic, searching for peace within labyrinths of memory and identity.
Biographical note
After concluding his undergraduate studies in music (solo piano performance, harmony, counterpoint, fugue and orchestration) at the Macedonian Conservatoire, and fine art (drawing, painting, etching, sculpture and photography) at Aristotle University in his birthplace Thessaloniki, Haris kittos moved to London in 1998 in order to study composition at Trinity College of Music (now Trinity Laban) at postgraduate level with Andrew Lovett and Daryl Runswick. Further study with Diana Burrell and full scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama led to MMus with distinction in 2001. In 2008, fully funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (British Academy) and under the supervision of Julian Anderson, Dr Darla Crispin and Edwin Roxburgh, Haris concluded the Doctor of Music program in Composition with his research and thesis on the Iannis Xenakis’ Sieves Theory at the Royal College of Music, where he is currently Composition and Academic professor.
As a composer, Haris also studied briefly with Theodore Antoniou, Susan Bradshaw, Beat Furrer and Alexander Goehr. Also, he was a participant of the Blue Touch Paper scheme of the London Sinfonietta, under the mentorship of Georges Aperghis.
His music has been performed in a wide variety of events, festivals and venues in the UK, Europe, USA and Japan by soloists, ensembles and orchestras such as Arditti Quartet, dissonArt Ensemble, Ensemble Exposé, Ensemble In Extremis, ExplorEnsemble, Fukio Quartet, Kammerorchester Basel, Milos Karadaglic, London Sinfonietta, J-trad Ensemble MAHOROBA, Jane Manning, Mise-en Ensemble, Sarah Nicolls, Ensemble Nomad, Novoflot, UMS‘nJIP and others.
Participation in festivals includes Born Creative Festival (Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre), Cheltenham Festival, Dartington International Festival, Ear London Festival, Forum Wallis, InTransit Festival, Mixtur Festival (Barcelona), Mise-en Festival (NYC), Park Lane Group (Southbank, London), Spitalfields Festival, Spoleto Festival, Xenakis International Symposium 2011 (Southbank) and Taukay Contemporanea Festival (Udine) among others.
As a visual artist, Haris took part in group and solo exhibitions while a student in Thessaloniki but, after moving to London and focusing into music composition, he kept his visual art as a private practice for more than 20 years. This gave him time for furthering his research and artistic explorations in the stimulating dichotomy of being both a musician and visual artist. As his parallel processes of making music and visual art became increasingly intertwined over time, he started presenting his work in recent years as a visual artist as well, while also producing new interdisciplinary and multimedia pieces.
Since 2021, Haris’ visual and interdisciplinary artworks have been presented in the ‘Living Landscape’ trail exhibition (The HopBarn, Southwell), ‘Xenakis 100’ day (Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, Southbank Centre), Born Creative Festival (Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre), and the ‘Drawing as an Expanded Research Method’ exhibition (Royal College of Art, White City Place).
