Michalis Georgiou was born in Lemesos in 1955.
He graduated from the Lemesos Technical School with honours
in architecture and at the same time followed evening
classes of the London Institute of Building studying subjects
such as surveying, technical, architectural and mechanical
design, structural construction and quantity surveying. He
was serving his army service at the time of the Turkish military
invasion.
His musical education began at the age of 12 when he started
clarinet lessons at the Lemesos Municipal Music School.
In 1977 he followed a course in education at Athens University.
In 1979 he received his diploma in clarinet performance
from Trinity College of Music in London and was appointed to
the post of music tutor in secondary schools in Cyprus, a function
that he retains to the present day.
Since 1980 he has been actively engaged in advertising plans
and sculpture (he has participated in two group exhibitions in
Cyprus).
His broad knowledge on a variety of subjects such as design,
construction, sculpture and music paved the way for his involvement
in the construction of musical instruments. He has a
workshop where he constructs his instruments in Nicosia since
1980. During the last 8 years he has been specialising
in the research and recreation of ancient Gree musical instruments.
In 1999 he took the initiative as a music tutor and created a
large youth orchestra at the Palouriotissa Lyceum that was
awarded the first gold medal of the Panhellenic Art Competition
for Secondary Schools. The Ministry of Education in Greece
awarded him with an honorary diploma for all the work and
dedication he put into creating the orchestra.
In August 2000 Michalis Georgiou was invited to present his
work at the "Terpandros" World Musicology Symposium
held in Eresso, Mytilini.
In November 2000 he founded the "Terpandros" orchestra
composed entirely of ancient Greek musical instruments. He
named it after the great kithara singer from Lesbos (7th century
B.C.). The orchestra is a non-profit making organisation.