Kalia Lyraki offers private lessons in Greek Folk Singing and Arabic Nay Flute, working with students online internationally and in her London studio.
Her teaching grows out of lived tradition: learning by listening, imitation, repetition, and close attention to sound, text, and feeling. Lessons are practical, embodied, and rooted in repertoire, while remaining responsive to each student’s background, curiosity, and aims.
She works with beginners and advanced students alike, supporting long-term learning through patience and close attention to the individual voice.
Vocal
Vocal lessons explore the expressive possibilities of the voice through Greek and Middle
Eastern modal traditions (makam / dromoi), rhythm, pronunciation and meaning of lyrics,
vocal interpretation and amanes (vocal improvisation), all supported by elements of
Western vocal technique. Lessons draw on songs chosen around each student’s interests,
including dimotika, rebetika, and entehna, and explore regional styles such as Crete, the
islands, Thrace, Epirus, Macedonia, and Asia Minor.
Kalia’s teaching grows out of an aural lineage she was entrusted with through close study
with vocal masters across folk singing traditions, including Abdul Salam Kheir (Classical
Arabic singing), Marta Sebestyén (Hungarian folk singing), Hussein Arman (Afghan singing), Anouar Abu Dragh and Ehsan Emmam (Iraqi singing), alongside contemporary singing techniques she learnt with her vocal coach, Chris Johnson.
Alongside her private teaching, Kalia regularly mentors students on performance modules at ‘School of Oriental and African Studies’ and ‘Goldsmiths, University of London’.
Greek Folk Song from Thrace with my student
Folk Song from Asia Minor with my student
Choral leading ‘Fones’, London Greek Choir
Choral leading ‘Fones’, London Greek Choir
Nay / Ney
Nay lessons focus on developing a grounded relationship with the instrument through
breath, sound, and listening. Work includes breath control, fingering, tone production, and building repertoire drawn from Arabic, Greek, and Turkish traditions, spanning folk,
classical, and contemporary contexts.
Improvisation (taqsim) and understanding of maqam form a central part of the learning
process. Lessons are shaped around the individual student and may draw on both aural and
notation-based approaches, depending on background and preference.
Kalia’s approach grows out of close study with master nay players — Louai Henawi (Syria),
Bassam Saba (Lebanon), Boad Mohhamad (Palestine), and Omer Ergdodular (Turkey)—
alongside her foundation in Western flute (Diploma ABRSM), allowing traditional ways of
learning to sit alongside contemporary tools, guided by sound and musical expression.
Tutorial on ‘How to Get a Sound on the Nay’
Tutorial on ‘Nay Fingerings’
“I received a 1st for my ‘Performance as Research’ module, and it was by far my most favourite experience singing and learning from you!”
Eliza Legzdina, MA Music student, Goldsmith’s College, London
“Sometimes I hear one of the songs you taught me sung in a taverna (in Greece) or even in the street and it gives me great pleasure to know the music!”
Helen Fost, Healer, Astro Life Coaching, London