The career of Lucas Michailidis spans more than 20 years. During this period, he has built and sustained a practice and profile, both in Australia and overseas, as composer and performer. His acoustic fingerstyle work is characterised by a musical lyricism, sophisticated counterpoint and resonant harmonic progressions underpinned by an extensive exploration of alternate tunings. His electric playing is sought after for its ingenuity, creativity and taste.
In May 2014, Lucas enjoyed a three week residence at the prestigious Guitar Program at UWM - conducting workshops and performing alongside the legendary Peter Lang. Whilst in Milwaukee, he met with CandyRat label director Rob Poland and a record deal ensued. Laughing at the Thief - a collection of work spanning a fifteen year period was released in November 2014. His two solo recordings, The Offering and Freshwater Road have garnered attention worldwide along withglowing reviews across Australia. He is a past winner of the Open Strings competition in Germany (2001) and has had his composition All Grown Up included in the Korean Fingerstyle compilation CD, My Love, My Guitar - The Best of Acoustic Guitar alongside guitarists Tommy Emmanuel and Pierre Bensusan in 2006. His music has been published by John Stropes in the US (Stropes Editions, Ltd.) Mel Bay's Guitar Sessions along with Guitarist Australia magazine. Two of his compositions are presently included in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) prescribed listed for contemporary / popular guitar.
Michailidis is a member of the contemporary jazz ensemble Way Out West ( recipients of the Age Music Victoria Awards Jazz album of the year 2016) and the ARIA award winning ensemble Zulya and The Children of the Underground. Performances as soloist and band member have extended to Europe, South Korea and the USA, along with all major cities and festivals around Australia, coinciding with regular appearances on State and National radio.
Michailidis was brought up on a healthy dose of Carlos Santana and George Benson and later acquired a taste for Pat Metheny, Pat Martino, Ed Bickert, Ed Gerhard, Michael Hedges, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Steve Reich, Jimi Hendrix, Rickie Lee Jones and James Taylor.
He is presently engaged as an ongoing instructor at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Polytechnic and is the Director of the Melbourne Guitar Lab.