AKRA Festival

AKRA Festival
Festival of Improvisational Music

4 & 5 July 2026

open- air theatre "Manos Hadjidakis"
Venetian Walls, Heraklion, Crete

Heraklion Gets Its First Improvisational Music Festival
Two evenings of musical improvisation with six performances.
Music that never repeats, within the Venetian Walls.

AKRA Festival, a two-day event dedicated to musical improvisation and contemporary experimental music, will take place on 4 and 5 July 2026 at the open-air theatre "Manos Hadjidakis", inside the Venetian Walls of Heraklion. The hosted artists come from different musical backgrounds and invite us to join them in a sensory exploration that never ends - an open experience that can transform at any moment. "Akra" are the points where something begins or ends. AKRA improvisation festival explores the space between those points, the moment of a work's creation. The artists' work evolves and breathes in the "in-between", leaving room for unrepeatable moments, and for encounters at points of transition.

Saturday 4 July

• The acclaimed Brussels-based sound artist, improviser and composer Pak Yan Lau presents her solo performance. Her artistic practice focuses on exploring sound through electroacoustic processes, improvisation and unorthodox instruments such as toy pianos, prepared piano, synths, electronics and sound objects.

• The trio of Aquiles Navarro (trumpet), Manos Barkatsas (guitar) and Aleksandar Škorić (drums), based in Brussels, operates in the realm of free jazz and free improvisation. Aquiles Navarro is a founding member of "Irreversible Entanglements" and has gained international recognition - among others, The Guardian included him in their "30 New Artists for 2021" list. Manos Barkatsas curates the "Amazing Grez Sessions" in Brussels, a landmark of the city's improvisation scene, while Aleksandar Škorić is an active participant in the contemporary European improvisation scene.

• The performance "Beyond Time" brings virtuoso mandolin player Michalis Kontaxakis together with musician Giorgos Klados (electronics), in a musical exploration into the soul of Crete guided by instinct, the condition of existence before language and structure. Filmmaker Petros Kolotoυros joins them on stage, enriching the experience with a poetic and improvisational cinematic projection.

Sunday, 5 July

• Giorgos Xylouris (Psarogiorgis) presents his solo work titled "homa" , with sound interventions by Markos Pinakoulakis. Psarogiorgis has shaped the contemporary course of Cretan music, while he himself is constantly expanding his musical horizons through collaborations with artists such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, PJ Harvey, Dirty Three and Jim White in the duo Xylouris White. In the performance "HOMA", Xylouris and Pinakoulakis create a performance that breaks musical rules, leading the audience into an inner landscape of sound, memory and emotion.

• Miracle is the dynamic trio of Giotis Damianidis on guitar and bass, João Lobo on drums and Giovanni Di Domenico on Hohner Pianet. A band moving between jazz, funk and free improvisation, creating an explosive and ritualistic soundscape described as "ecclesiastical free funk": music that is raw, groovy, ceremonial and irrepressibly joyful. At Akra they will present their second album titled "Press Pray", due for release in late 2026.

• TROT is an Athens-based trio consisting of Viktoras Tsilimparis (synths, electronics), Dimitris Koulentianos (double bass) and Dimitris Oikonomou (drums). Their sound moves between electronic and acoustic worlds, with improvisation at the core of their music. Glitches, analogue noise and worn loops compose an ever-shifting sonic landscape, where structure remains open and each live performance is shaped exclusively in the moment it occurs.

About the Festival

AKRA Festival aspires to become an institution for the city of Heraklion. Its artistic program focuses on sonic experimentation and free musical forms. AKRA also aims to function as a platform for hosting, co-creation and networking, encouraging new collaborations between musicians, sound artists and visual artists from different geographical and cultural backgrounds. Through this process, it seeks to strengthen the dialogue between the local and international scenes, contributing to the formation of an open field of artistic exchange and experimentation in Crete.

The AKRA Festival is organized by the non-profit organization First Draft, with the goal of promoting cultural initiatives that enhance creativity, innovation and intercultural collaboration, while highlighting local identity and contributing to cultural decentralization. Based in Heraklion, Crete, AKRA becomes a European musical meeting point.

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