Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis was born on July 29th 1925 on the Greek island of Chios. Fascinated by music already as a child, he taught himself to write his first songs without access to musical instruments. In Pyrgos and Patras he took his first music lessons, and in Tripolis, he formed a choir and gave his first concert at 17. Active in the resistance movement during World War II and later on, during the Greek Civil War, Mikis went on to study at the Athens Conservatory in the class of Philoktitis Economidis and at the Conservatoire of Paris. His time in Paris was a period of intense artistic creation. His first symphonic works, Concerto for Piano, First Suite, First Symphony, were internationally acclaimed. In 1957 he won the Gold Medal in the Moscow Music Festival; in 1959, Darius Milhaud proposed him for the American Copley-Music Prize as the Best European Composer of the Year after the performances of his ballet "Antigone" at Covent Garden. His most important works up to 1960: Trio for piano, violin, violoncello; "The Feast of Assi-Gonia" (symphonic); Symphony No.1 ("Proti Simfonia"); "Greek Carnival" (ballet); Sonatine for Piano; Suites No.1, 2 and 3 for Orchestra; Sonatines No.1 et 2 for violin and piano; "Antigone" (ballet); Life and Death (for voice and strings); "Oedipus Tyrannos" (for strings), Concerto for Piano.