Celebrity Biographies
Mikis Theodorakis
The legendary composer of soundtracks Mikis Theodorakis, who undoubtedly reached the highest level of his musical popularity with the score of “Zorba, the Greek”, has passed away at the advanced age of 96 years.
A movie could probably be made around Mikis Theodorakis, since he was not only a talented musical composer, but also fought in World War II, and his left-wing social conscience and love of country led him to display extensive political activity. .
Mikis Theodorakis was born on the Greek island of Chios in 1925. His father was a lawyer, and from a young age he liked Greek popular music, much of it linked to the Byzantine liturgy of the Orthodox Church. He soon wrote his own songs, and studied music at Patras and Pyrgos. He would give his first concert at the young age of 17 in the city of Tripoli. He would also train at the Athens Conservatory, although the vicissitudes of history would introduce some irregularity in his studies.
During World War II he was stationed in Africa and was captured in Tripoli. At the end of the war he would become a partisan, and in the civil war that shook his country he joined the ranks of the National Liberation Movement. He would suffer exile on the islands of Ikaria and Makronisos. He married Myrto Altinoglou in 1953, with whom he had two children and with whom he spent his entire life.
In 1954 he moved to Paris where he furthered his musical preparation under the tutelage of Olivier Messiaen. From that moment he developed a wide symphonic work. But in the 1960s he returned to his country, and recovered the ingredients of Greek popular music for his new compositions. He also gets involved in politics with the Left Democratic Unity, and would become a member of his country’s parliament in two different periods. Like others, he would suffer the consequences of the dictatorship of the colonels.
As far as his musical score work in the cinema is concerned, he achieves worldwide popularity thanks to Zorba the Greek by Mihalis Kakogiannis , with unforgettable music for string instruments. For this director he also made the music for Elektra , Las trojanas and Iphigenia . Also associated with Greek tragedies, he composed for Phaedra in a version by Jules Dassin . And for another compatriot, Costa-Gavras , he composed the soundtracks for Z and State of Siege . For Hollywood he only made Serpico , a thriller about police corruption inSidney Lumet .
He would compose many operas, and was associated with the music for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and Athens in 2004.