About
Mikis Theodorakis is a Greek composer and public figure. He is also known as a politician. He is a laureate of the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace among Nations. He was born on July 29, 1925 on the island of Chios in Greece.
Mikis Theodorakis was born on July 29, 1925 on the Greek island of Chios. His father came from Crete, and his mother from Asia Minor. Since childhood, he showed interest in music and began composing songs, not knowing how to play instruments. At the age of 17, he organized a choir in Tripolis in the Peloponnese.
During World War II, Theodorakis participated in the Resistance Movement and was captured by the Nazis and tortured.
After the end of the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), the composer was exiled to the island of Ikaria, and then placed in a concentration camp on Makronisos, where he also suffered from violence.
In 1950, Theodorakis graduated from the Athens Conservatory with a composition degree from Philoktitos Ikonomidis. From 1954 to 1959, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Olivier Messiaen (musical analysis) and Eugene Vigo (conducting). In France, he created many works, including chamber preludes, sonatinas, symphonies and three ballets.
After returning to Greece in 1959, Theodorakis organized an orchestra in Athens and a Musical society in Piraeus. In 1961, he wrote the oratorio "It is Worthy to Eat," setting a poem by Odiseas Elitis to music.
His works include symphonies, chamber compositions, popular folk songs and dances such as "Lyrica", "Dionysus", "Phaedra", "The Sea" and others. He also created operas, including The Quarter of Angels, the ballets Orpheus and Eurydice, Antigone, Medea, Lysistrata, The Song of a Dead Brother, and The Lovers from Teruel. His music was played in dramatic plays such as Sophocles' Oedipus the King and in films such as M. Kakoyannis' The Greek Zorba (1964).
The sirtaki dance and its music, written by Theodorakis, became a symbol of Greece after the release of the film "The Greek Zorba".
Mikis Theodorakis died on September 2, 2021 after a long illness.