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The latest album by the distinguished and award-winning Greek composer George Kontogiorgos consists of two cycles of vocal works – the first is based on the works of Lord Byron and the second on contemporary Greek poetry.
For the first song cycle, “Lord Byron – The Beauty of a Greek”, the compositions are based on poems from various collections and letters, on excerpts from the poem “The Pilgrimage of Child Harold”, a second song by Lord Byron, and on the ode of Dionysios Solomos dedicated to the poet. Through the poems that masterfully frame “the low-key, simple writing of the composer without extremes or unnecessary elements”, we witness the life and work of this great Philhellene and hero of the revolution of 1821 from a fresh perspective. Leading Greek baritone Tassis Christogiannopoulos performs with the accompaniment of the Athenian Bridge String Quartet.
The second song cylcle, titled “The Affliction of Love” is a cycle of six songs by contemporary Greek poets, most of them friends of the composer. George Kontogiorgos began sketching the first songs in 1972, but his ardent desire to complete them, which tormented him intensely at times, was not fulfilled until thirty years later.
Born in Lamia, Greece, he studied advanced music theory with Alexander Aenian at the Conservatory of Lamia Municipality with a special interest in composition and orchestration.
During the 60s and 70s, he wrote and recorded more than 70 ballads and popular songs, some of them having a very successful career. In addition, he worked as an arranger and conductor, mostly for record companies. He arranged more than 250 songs by many other composers. He also wrote music for the 3rd Hellenic radio channel, for theater, and soundtracks for movies and TV series.
From 1980 and then, he devoted systematically to the composition of classical music. He is recipient of International Prizes and Awards including the 1st Prize from the «Classical Marimba League», International Composition Competition 2007, USA, in the Classical style category and Honorable Mention from the “In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores” Contest, USA 2012.
His compositions include works for solo instruments, piano trios, string quartet, string and symphonic orchestra, and concertos for piano, guitar, violin and saxophone. Premieres of his music have been performed in Concert Halls of Greece, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, UK and USA.
His compositions were performed by the New Hellenic Quartet, the Camerata Orchestra of Fiends of Music, the Colour’s Orchestra and the Patras’ Orchestra (Greece), the Tayrona String Quartet (Colombia), the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (Poland), the International Doctor’s Philharmonia (Italy), the Bilbao Symphonic Orchestra (Spain), the South Shore Orchestra (IN USA) and the Tapiola Sinfonietta (Finland), and soloists through performances, such as baritones Spyros Sakkas and Tassis Christoyiannis (Hellas), percussionists Beverley Johnston (Canada), Dimitris Desyllas (Greece) and Ryszard Habe (Poland), violinists Hilary Hahn (USA), George Demertzis and Sergiu Nastasa (Greece), pianists Maria Asteriadou and Cory Smythe (USA), and Lorenda Ramou (Hellas), guitarists Pavlos Kanellakis (Ireland) and Janne Malinen (Finland), and organist Paul Ayres (UK). Premieres of his music include venues such as St. George’s Cathedral (London, UK), Megaron Athens Concert Hall (Athens, Greece), Botanic Garden of Jagiellonian University, Galicia Museum, St. Peter’s and Paul’s Basilica (Krakow, Poland), Basilica di San Lorenzo (Florence, Italy), Tapiola Hall (Espoo-Helsinki, Finland), Eurogress Concert Hall (Aachen, Germany), Campos Eliseos Theater (Bilbao, Spain), Museo de Antioquia (Medellin, Colombia), Romanian Athenaeum (Bucharest, Romania), Uxbridge Music Hall (Uxbridge, Ont, Canada), Crawford, Municipal Art Gallery (Cork, Ireland), Sandy Ford Church (Dublin, Ireland), Jan Hus Church (Manhattan, New York City, NY, USA), Morphy Hall (Madison WI, USA) and Anderson’s Winery and Vineyard (Valparaiso, IN, USA).
He is a regular member of the Greek Composers’ Union. He is visiting conductor to Patras’ Orchestra (Greece). His works have been released on CD, by NAXOS, SARTON, IRIDA CLASSICA, LYRA and ZODIAC Records.