Kostas Hanis was born in Athens in 1956. He received his diploma cum laude from the Hellenic Conservatory of Athens, in the class of Savvas Zannas and he was principal percussionist of the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki from 1982 .
Kostas has been continuously teaching percussion and chamber music at the Contemporary Conservatory of Thessaloniki since 1992. In January 1992 he took part in the piece «Erotikos Choros» by George Minas as a solist with the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki. Kostas has performed in numerous concerts in Helexpo, International Music Days of the 3rd radio program of Greece, in Vafopoulio Pnevmatiko Kentro, in the Laboratory for Alternative Music of Thessaloniki, in the Jazz festival of Patra and the Royal Theatre of Thessaloniki with his performance “Percussion with Percussion”. Moreover, he has been part of the 1st Percussion Thessaloniki Festival, the events of “Mediterranean Bridges” by Megaron – Athens Hall, concerts during the events of Thessaloniki Cultural Capital of Europe in 1997, in the Percussion Festival of Lefkada and the Theater Festival of Thessaloniki. Kostas Hanis was a founding member of “Diotima” and the percussion quarter “Nakara”. In the recording album published by Diotima, he created 5 original compositions infused with ancient greek rhythms and traditional sounds, with the use of various percussive and wind instruments.
Composition started playing an important role for Kostas from the moment he could utilize percussion as a comprehensive set of performing orchestral music, by experimenting with the power of the natural complexion of percussive instruments and icorporating the classical form/style in works for percussion. He is using a wide variety of percussive instruments such as flower pots and mortars, that are producing clear and melodic sounds.
