Dine Doneff, also known as Kostas Theodorou (Κώστας Θεοδώρου), is a Macedonian composer and multi-instrumentalist born in 1965 in West Germany. Raised in the northern Greek prefecture of Edessa, he has been active in the music world since the mid-1980s. Over the years, he mastered instruments such as the double bass, guitar and percussion, and developed a career that spans world music, jazz, and free improvisation.
Doneff’s musical journey reflects his deep connection to his Macedonian heritage, often blending Balkan folk traditions with jazz and experimental elements. In the 1990s, he worked as an arranger, ensemble director, and producer on studio recordings. He gained recognition through his collaboration with the group Savina Yannatou and Primavera en Salonico starting in 2001, contributing to four albums released by ECM Records. Between 2002 and 2005, he taught at the Technical Education Institute of Epirus and the University of Macedonia. His creative output also includes composing for theater and film, as well as directing short films under the pseudonym Tome Rapovina.
A significant part of his career unfolded in Thessaloniki, where, from 2005 to 2011, he led a series of "ninety nine (99)," improvised public rehearsal performances in a small underground theatre, collaborating with musicians, dancers, actors, poets, and visual artists. From 2014 to 2016, he worked as a composer and actor with the Kammerpiele, in Munich and the Thalia Theater in Hamburg and from 2014 he has been living in Munich.
In 2017, he co-founded the label NERED music with painter and photographer Fotini Potamia, following a suggestion from ECM founder Manfred Eicher. The label’s first release *Rousilvo* (NERED/ECM 2018), is a Balkan-jazz-folk opera that pays homage to his cultural roots, featuring a septet and seven female voices interwoven with field recordings. Other notable works include *Nostos* (LYRA 1999), *Echotopia* (FM 2003), *In/Out* (NERED/ECM 2019), *Lost Anthropology* (NERED 2021), *Suite Yedi* (NERED 2024), *Doudoule* (NERED 2025)*. His latest album (NERED 12/2025) *Roden Voden* a chamber jazz-folk opera for archived voices and no ensemble, is the closing opus of a trilogy which includes *Nostos* (recorded in 1995) and *Rousilvo* (recorded in 2004).