Floros Floridis was born in Thessaloniki, Greece.
He studied Physics and Mathematics in Aristotelion University of Thessaloniki where he got his diploma.
Exploring his evident creativity beyond science, Floridis then studied classical clarinet under the Romanian professor Konstantin Ugureanou and started his career as a professional musician in the end of 70s.
He counts as one of the main figures of jazz in Greece, not least because in 1979 Floridis together with Sakis Papadimitriou recorded the first modern jazz album that was produced in Greece – “Improvising at Barakos” (double LP). That moment marked the roots of the Greek domestic scene of improvisation and free jazz which then grew to the one we know today.
His rich and diverse career as well as his ever-progressive vision has been and keeps on pushing his work down often unexplored avenues and certainly beyond the Greek scene from very early on.
Building a name as a top impro and free jazz performer and creator, he had the opportunity as a leader and co-leader to collaborate and record with international improvised-free jazz music names like Peter Kowald, Guenter “Baby” Sommer, Paul Lytton, Okay Temiz, Nicky Skopelitis, Paul Lovens, Phil Wachsman, Carlos Zingaro, Hans Schneider, Louis Moholo, Vincent Chancey, Jean-Marc Montera, Milos Petrovic, Ivo Papazov,… as well as with prominent Greek musicians Michalis Siganidis, Savinna Yannatou, Dimitris Polizoidis, Babis Papadopoulos, Yiannis Mourtzopoulos,, Kostas Vomvolos, Antonis Anissegos, Yorgos Dimitriadis, Ilias Papadopoulos, Yiannis Anastasakis,Spyweirdos… in Berlin with Matthias Bauer, Michael Griener, Jan Roder, Chris Dahlgren, Olaf Rupp, Harri Sjöström, Gerhard Gschlössl, Achim Kaufmann, Elena Kakaliagou, Nikolaus Neuser, Dag Magnus Narvesen…
This has resulted in the release of more than 100 albums throughout the years with his contribution in various productions as included guest of other artists in Greece as well as abroad.
Floridis has played concerts and festivals in Greece, Europe, China, Australia and USA with a great number of European and American musicians – Evan Parker, Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, Irene Schweitzer, Ivo Papazov, Andrew Cyrille, Barre Phillips, Conny Bauer, Johannes Bauer, Hans Reichel, Sirone, William Parker, Steve McCall, Andre Jaume, Barry Guy,…
Some of the international groups, in which he was a founder and/or member, are The Black Sea Orchestra, The Inter-Balkan Orchestra, Mediterranean Ensemble…
Floridis also participated in the well-known Greek group Chimerinoi Kolimvites (“Winter Swimmers”) for more than 20 years, “Florina’s Brass Band”, in the Euro-American Orchestra of Cecil Taylor in Berlin in 1987…
Has taught at “Aristotelean”university,Thessaloniki improvisation courses,2002 in the music department, as composing method.Also in 2019, lectured in China’s universities of Beijing,Fuzhou,Wuhan,Hanyang about improvisation as a creative method for audio-visual art products…