[Donaueschingen – Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart] “Evis Sammoutis’ In darkness was inspired by John Dowland’s song In darkness let me dwell («For me it is a work that embodies all that is human: beauty and decadence, life and death, the enthusiasm for the finesse of music and the deep sadness conveyed by the text"), which came re-edited using the same text and musical mannerisms but altering the roles in the relationship between voice and accompaniment; also making the singers play small instruments (whistles, harmonic pipes, kalimbe, harmonics from the mouth), creating a great variety of sound transformations, of unstable and contrasting situations (for example between pulsations regular and shrill sounds) that rendered very well, and poetically, the idea of loss of control.”
Gianluigi Mattietti
Il Corriere Musicale / 15.11.2022
[Donaueschingen – Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart] “Evis Sammoutis based his Parkinson's piece In darkness on the lyrics of a famous song by John Dowland. Many other cleverly devised levels of articulation neutralized each other, and the effect of hissing tubes whirling through the air also had an external effect.
[Syntax Ensemble, Teatro Dal Verme] “You remain in an exotic dimension listening to Secret Garden by Evis Sammoutis. Inspired by the painting of the same name by the Armenian painter Arshak Sarkissian, within which reality is changeable and human features merge with mythological ones, one perceives a distant, almost immobile conception of time that lives in the resonances of the present. Resonances which, on the other hand, move within the ensemble with great timbre refinement.”
Anna Leonardi
Cahiers des Arts / 14.09.2020
“The evening concert was preceded by educational concerts in the morning with the group [Ensemble Modern] and Cypriot composer Evis Sammoutis achieving the incredible feat of making a mammoth impression on 400 children. Sammoutis’ work [Echopraxia] written for string sextet was thought provoking, effective and suitably disturbing. The moments of silence were especially effective and intriguing after the
frenzy of musical effects.”
Saskia Constantinou
Cyprus Mail / 24.05.2006
“Sammoutis’ use of different colours and timbres indicates that he is a person with vision who explores every opportunity in his use of timbre. Rhythmically, Alter Ego I is also very contrasting. The ability to put together all these elements in this kind of work is difficult to find, and Evis Sammoutis does this in a marvellous way.”
European Press
[Evis Sammoutis portrait concert at the Hellenic Centre in London] “This multi-prizewinning SPNM shortlisted composer is going from strength to strength and is likely to emerge as one of the more significant younger composers working in England… in the world premiere of his magical work Dimorphism, inscribed In memoriam Giacinto Scelsi, music which the great master would have been
proud to acknowledge in the succession of discoveries following his own that 'an entire universe of harmonies can be heard in a single sound'… The world premiere of Monogenesis (2003) for violin solo, a work which built a formidable edifice from a four-note cluster, the music gradually moving higher... In Rotations, Sammoutis emancipated the humble snare drum in a tour de force which exploited its rich sound and timbral possibilities… Alter Ego 1, which explored that instrument's possibilities, melodic, percussive and harmonic, with scordatura to enhance overtones through sympathetic resonance… But it was Sammoutis who, once again, stole the show, with Taftophonia (2006) for vocalising violinist. The score has two pages of instructions and the performer is asked to adjust dynamics to create a strong timbral link between the vocal sounds and playing part. Sammoutis' music has a depth and aural richness which belies the appearance on the score.”
Peter Grahame Woolf
“A substantial audience attended a very enjoyable concert of music by a composer with an individual and highly expressive language whose name is getting about; Evis Sammoutis (currently based in York) is surely destined for greater and greater success. This was my first experience of the SPNM shortlisted, Greek/Cypriot born, Sammoutis'works, and after 60-70 minutes worth of his music played without pause I left wanting to hear more – a telling comment… Monogenesis is certainly an attractive piece. I admired its layered timbres and the wide variety of colours brought out of the violin… Tesserae followed, and it was a wonderful sensation to hear the lower range of the cello after two violin pieces. This piece was more clearly sectional than the previous two, pizzicato-dominated passages giving way quite abruptly to long arco notes… Taftophonia (which had its world premiere in London the previous month) followed – a piece for vocalising violinist, in which the aim is to create a synthesis between the performer's gesture, voice and instrumental part… The combination of violin and voice produced some exquisite timbres. I have heard this effect in Rzewski's music, among others, but Taftophonia is the most powerful example of its extended use that I have experienced so far. The foot stamp was dramatic, and the whistled B at the end of the piece ghostly. A wide palette of colours and a beautiful piece. The last composition of the concert, Echopraxia for string sextet, had Pedro Mereiles (viola) and Rohan de Saram (cello) join the Kreutzer Quartet. This was certainly an exciting affair, with all the molten energy of Xenakis combined with a careful juxtaposition of effects… It was during this performance that I realised that the programme as a whole had shown Sammoutis to be a master of exploiting unison and near-unison pitches – a wonderful feature of his language, with microtonal clusters and their fluctuations bristling with tension. The ending was superb, the texture dissipating down to the sound of bowed wood and then silence.
Aleksander Szram
musicweb.uk.net, Seen and Heard
“When Maria José Rielo Blanco (3rd place bassoon) played Carl Maria von Weber's concerto in F major, as in the finale, the only regret was that one would not only have liked to hear Fazil Say's commissioned work for piano trio that evening, but also that fantastic duo Nyx for bassoon and piano by Evis Sammoutis.”
Süddeutsche Zeitung / 20.09.2013
“One may congratulate Evis Sammoutis for his work Dimorphism for two violins. It paid due tribute to composer Giacinto Scelsi, to whom it was dedicated.”
Stuttgarter Zeitung / 17.07.2006
“The result is a piece [Metallaxis] full of tension, in which many sound and noise elements are used. Wild passages with whistling, squeaking and shrill sounds interchange with tranquil sounds reminding of the wind rustling. It is a work which allows many associations and is full of liveliness and originality.”
Stuttgarter Nachrichten / 19.07.2006
[Venice Biennale] “The Cypriot Evis Sammoutis stood out, in Iri da Iri, a piece with a violent repetitive obsessive quality: an emphatic character reminiscent of Varèse, assimilated with instinctive immediacy.”
Mario Messinis
Il Gazzettino / 24.10.2004
“If it were up to me, the colourful duo Dimorphism by the Cypriot Sammoutis also deserved such a mention: intimate new chamber music at its best!”
Kees Arntzen
Trouw Amsterdam / 13.09.2004
“In my book, Dimorphism had been a strong contender for the annual Gaudeamus Prize, for which it had been short-listed, and its potential should appeal to a world-class contemporary violin duo - Irvine Arditti and Mieko Kanno might be interested?”
Peter Grahame Woolf
