Galery

3

2

1

Likewise many Greeks, who traveled to the West during the 18^th and 19^th centuries, became the core of the new bourgeois class here. They were immersed in both cultures and under these conditions classical music was born in Greece. When the bourgeois class was formed here, it had a kinship with the bourgeois class in the West. But our country is small, and depth in tradition of classical music was missing from the background of our history. Such was the situation with theater and visual arts. There was always a difference in phases. First things were happening in the West and then 10 or 20 years later, they happened here. Here they took a slightly different form, which helped the formation of an interesting dialogue between the two cultures. 

Music and as I said classical music in specific is of great interest to me. I did about 200 shows for classical music during the 90s. They were aired on the third program of the Greek Radio. 

Now, opera and classical music have been present on the Ionian Islands since the 19^th century. These islands have never been under Turkish occupation. At one time they were owned by the Italians and for a short period by the British. Classical music began its birth in Greece after liberation from the Ottoman Empire. Strong music life emerges in Athens towards the end of the 19^th century and throughout the war period. Composers, who have studied abroad, were creating many works. This was a healthy music life, given the size of the country. People who were creating this music back then were in constant dialogue with people from other circles of culture - as it was happening in the West. Symphonic music, opera, theater, literature, visual arts - all were in one group. Things deteriorated in Greece after World War II and after the Civil War - with the polarization of the bourgeois class to right and left. The elite of army period were forced to determine its position against the dictatorship of Metaxas. After the war populist trends came along. 

Out of the blue we had a strange situation that even scientists have not yet studied. Greek Music School loses its influence, but instead the ordinary, simple song gains popularity – the music, which supports mostly the Left. 

Pity…because Greek music had bad luck. Two great artists of modernism died too early. One is Nikos Skalkotas, who died in 1941 and the second is Yannis Christos, who died in 1970. Another figure from that period - Xenakis, left for France and adapted to international modernism. If these three people did not leave Greece, now things would have been completely different. Unfortunately during the 70s everything ends. 

Quite an end was put to it all by the junta. 

Right now we are experiencing the field of culture in a very strange way. We have bands, we have opera, choirs and so on but we are still enduring the consequences of what happened in the 70s. The result is great confusion and frustration. Right now populist culture has fallen a lot. Everything is a big sphere of problems. But this is my opinion. Others may say otherwise. 

Successes and contributions of Greeks today are much more abroad than here, at home. This contribution has always started from two different places - from people who live and create in Greece and from those living and creating abroad. We have Greeks at very high positions abroad. In Greece, scientific, musical, artistic and cultural spaces are small. What our country is too, actually - with fewer people, narrow borders, but with passion and enthusiasm. Usually when Greeks leave abroad, they realize their strong desire for progress, success and development. When they are given the necessary conditions, they can create wonderful things. We have great experts all around the world, regardless of whether we are talking about computers, physics or art.