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Makis Ablianitis is an inspired composer and one of the best guitar players in Greece. His relationship with music began at the age of 15 when he got his first guitar. He studied theory by attending seminary courses of Theodoros Antoniou and at the Center of Contemporary Musical Research. Following this, he studied higher theory by graduating from the classes of Fugas and Orchestration with excellent. He concluded his studies at the Berklee Music College of Boston with a scholarship. The period of his studies at Berklee was decisive for his later course as a musician, because at the same time of his studies he had the ability to play with renowned musicians of the Boston jazz scene.

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Benjamin Ivry wrote: The legendary CD series featuring Mannheim Steamroller is noteworthy for its freedom from musical categorization as well as its overall refinement, from conception to sound quality. The London Symphony Orchestra is backed by able soloists on the synthesizer, piano, violin, oboe, and drums, and their direct, unassuming musical presentation inspires affection and confidence. The Nebraska-based composer Chip Davis (the brains behind Mannheim Steamroller) performed for years with the acclaimed Norman Luboff Choir, where he polished his expertise by orchestrating his own melodies as well as those from films and the classics. The name Mannheim Steamroller refers to an eighteenth-century classical style of playing an orchestral crescendo as if to flatten audiences. But the new CD, Mannheim Steamroller: Romantic Themes, will inspire, not flatten, listeners with chastely moving tunes from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, and Nino Rota’s medieval-sounding, heartfelt "Love Theme" from the Franco Zeffirelli film Romeo & Juliet. What Davis calls "eighteenth-century classical rock" transforms captivating melodies into ardent songs of praise.

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Suleyman the Magnificent is the soundtrack for the film of the same name which focuses on the life of the great Sultan of the Ottoman empire. Sultan Suleyman reigned from 1520-1566 and was renowned as a consummate reformer of law and administration. His was a golden age of art and architecture. Brian Keane's soundtrack embodies this historic sense of greatness and splendor. The music is at once exciting and profound. Keane has brilliantly scored traditional Turkish melodies and his own original melodies from a combination of authentic Turkish instruments. These instruments include the tanbur (long necked lute), daire (drum), kanun (plucked boxed zither), and kaval (rim-blown flute--a pastoral instrument associated with shepherds and nomads). The film aired on the PBS network and was a winner of the American Film Festival and the Ohio State Film Festival awards. It was produced in conjunction with the opening of an art exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. for which major funding for the film was provided by the Republic of Turkey.

Guitarist William Ackerman was still writing the book on the new age genre when this album came to light in the '80s, back when he operated the Windham Hill record label. You can hear many of the distinct, far-flung elements of the meditative, often-derided music mingling here in a somewhat pre-commercial state: classical, funk, folk, and more. Ackerman's guitar playing is often light as air, but his technique suggests a formidable aesthetic at work, rendering softness with expert, crafty precision. The slurpy electric bass on the opening track, "Visiting," doesn't do the rest of the album justice, especially the intricate, Tangerine Dream-style minimalism of "Synopsis." Of additional interest: the track titled "Garden," a fairly straightforward Utopian nod to "Greensleeves," features Ackerman's neighbors, the San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet. Kronos cellist Joan Jeanrenaud also guests on "Three Observations of the Ocean," a duet.

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New Age flutist/multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Gunn studied music at the Royal School of Music in his native Rochester, England; upon moving to California, his music began to increasingly reflect the spirit of the American Southwest, as evidenced by the title of his self-released 1993 debut LP Afternoon in Sedona. For its 1994 follow-up, The Sacred Fire, Gunn signed with the Real Music label; The Music of the Grand Canyon followed a year later, his second consecutive effort to reach the Top Ten on Billboard's contemporary instrumental charts. With 1996's Crossroads, Gunn began absorbing Latin influences into his sound; Passion in My Heart appeared two years later, followed in 1999 by Return to the Grand Vacation. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

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