38 Facts About Mikis Theodorakis

1.

Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works.

2.

Mikis Theodorakis scored for the films Zorba the Greek, Z, and Serpico.

3.

Mikis Theodorakis was an MP for the KKE from 1981 to 1990.

4.

Mikis Theodorakis helped establish a large coalition between conservatives, socialists and leftists.

5.

Mikis Theodorakis was raised with Greek folk music and was influenced by Byzantine liturgy; as a child he had already talked about becoming a composer.

6.

Mikis Theodorakis took his first music lessons in Patras and Pyrgos, where he was a childhood friend of George Pavlopoulos, and in Tripoli, Peloponnese, he gave his first concert at the age of seventeen.

7.

Mikis Theodorakis went to Athens in 1943, and became a member of a Reserve Unit of ELAS.

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8.

Mikis Theodorakis led a troop in the fight against the British and the Greek right in the Dekemvriana.

9.

Mikis Theodorakis went to Crete, where he became the "head of the Chania Music School" and founded his first orchestra.

10.

In 1960, Mikis Theodorakis returned to Greece and his roots in Greek music: With his song cycle Epitaphios and contributed to a cultural revolution in his country.

11.

Mikis Theodorakis developed his concept of "metasymphonic music".

12.

Mikis Theodorakis founded the Athens Little Symphony Orchestra and gave many concerts in the country, trying to familiarize people with symphonic music.

13.

Mikis Theodorakis was a symbol of resistance to the military regime.

14.

On request of the French politician Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, Mikis Theodorakis was allowed to go into exile to Paris on 13 April 1970.

15.

Mikis Theodorakis's flight left secretly from an Onassis-owned private airport outside Athens.

16.

Mikis Theodorakis arrived at Le Bourget Airport where he met Costa Gavras, Melina Mercouri and Jules Dassin.

17.

Mikis Theodorakis would compose, alongside Pagani, the anthem of the French Socialist Party, in 1977.

18.

In 1971, Mikis Theodorakis was invited to Chile by then-president Salvador Allende.

19.

Mikis Theodorakis loved it and promised to give Chile his musical opinion on the Canto General.

20.

Back to Paris, in 1972 Mikis Theodorakis met Pablo Neruda when the Greek composer was rehearsing the musicalization of Canto General.

21.

Mikis Theodorakis was received by Gamal Abdel Nasser and Tito, Yigal Allon and Yasser Arafat, while Francois Mitterrand, Olof Palme and Willy Brandt became his friends.

22.

For millions of people, Mikis Theodorakis was the symbol of resistance against the Greek dictatorship together with Melina Mercouri.

23.

Mikis Theodorakis's return was in triumph, with huge crowds and his music playing on the radio.

24.

From 1981, Mikis Theodorakis had started the fourth period of his musical writing, during which he returned to the symphonic music, while still going on to compose song-cycles.

25.

Mikis Theodorakis composed his first opera Kostas Kariotakis and the ballet Zorba the Greek, premiered in the Arena of Verona during the Festival Verona 1988.

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26.

Mikis Theodorakis later lived in retirement, reading, writing, publishing arrangements of his scores, texts about culture and politics.

27.

On 26 February 2019, Mikis Theodorakis was hospitalized due to heart problems, and on 8 March, underwent surgery to place a pacemaker.

28.

Mikis Theodorakis died from cardiopulmonary arrest at his home in Athens on 2 September 2021, at the age of 96.

29.

Mikis Theodorakis opposed Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

30.

Mikis Theodorakis later apologized for the comments, stating in a letter to the Central Council of Jews in Greece that they only applied to policies of the Israeli government and its ally the US, stating that he "loves the Jewish people".

31.

Mikis Theodorakis said he would consider anyone who interacted with "these barbarians", for whatever reason, as his enemy.

32.

Mikis Theodorakis greatly opposed the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Yugoslav Wars.

33.

Mikis Theodorakis participated in a charity concert protesting the bombing in 1999.

34.

On 1 December 2010, Mikis Theodorakis founded "Spitha: People's Independent Movement", a non-political movement which calls people to gather and express their political ideas.

35.

On 31 May 2011, Mikis Theodorakis gave a speech attended by approximately 10,000 people in the center of Athens, criticising the Greek government for the loan debt it has taken from the International Monetary Fund.

36.

In 1997 Mikis Theodorakis stated on the Macedonian issue that "The name does not matter so much, as long as the peoples live in peace".

37.

Mikis Theodorakis was one of the main speakers at the Rally for Macedonia in Athens, which took place on 4 February 2018.

38.

Mikis Theodorakis released two albums of his songs and song cycles on Paredon Records and Folkways Records in the early seventies, including his Peoples' Music: The Struggles of the Greek People.