The composer

Antonis Kyzoulis was born in Rhodes in 1975. He graduated from the 2nd Lyceum of Rhodes and then studied piano and music theory with Myrto Mavrikou, Anna Michalaki, Kaiti Kastrouni, Panagiotis Kouvaras, and Georgia Charavgi.

Since 1998, he has been systematically composing music for the theater, participating in over thirty productions. He has collaborated with the Municipal Regional Theater of Rhodes, the Municipal Regional Theater of Crete, the Symi Theater, the South Aegean Theater, the Athens Folk Art Troupe, the Children’s Stage of the Municipality of Rhodes, and other troupes.

He also works closely with choreographer Elli Paraskeva as a composer, pianist, and music supervisor. Additionally, he has composed song cycles based primarily on poetic texts by poets like K. Karyotakis, M. Polydouri, G. Ritsos, K. Palamas, C. P. Cavafy, M. Bourboulis, N. Kazantzakis, F. G. Lorca, Oscar Wilde, and A. Dimitrouka. He has also created orchestral works and music for documentaries and short films.

In 2007, he received the Special Award for Best Composition at the Thessaloniki Song Festival, presented to him by the renowned composer Mimis Plessas. From early 2008 to June 2011, he worked in the Culture Department of the Dodecanese Prefecture and the South Aegean Region.

In March 2008, during the mayoralty of Hadji Hadjiefthymiou, he was honored by the Municipality of Rhodes with the Bronze Medal of Honor of the City of Rhodes. Since 2014, he has been the choirmaster of the Rhodes Bar Association Choir.

With the support of the Municipality of Rhodes and DOPAR (Municipal Organization for Culture and Sports of Rhodes), he has staged his works such as “The Song of the Seafaring Woman,” “The Myths of the Street of the Knights,” “Hamlet,” and “Lazybones’ Christmas,” which have been uniquely embraced by the public.

Contemporary Music Orchestra of ERT

he Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation’s (ERT) National Contemporary Music Orchestra was founded in 1954 by the distinguished composer and pianist Yannis Konstantinidis, also known to the public as Kostas Giannidis, and the composer Akis Smyrnaios (Galinos Kiousoglou).

For over 70 years, the ERT National Contemporary Music Orchestra has provided the musical score for some of the most popular Greek films. It also participated in the first “Song Festivals,” accompanying the successful works of Manos Hatzidakis and Mikis Theodorakis. The orchestra has collaborated with the most important Greek composers and conductors, as well as with international music figures like Zbigniew Preisner and Nicola Piovani. They have performed works from both Greek and international repertoires on some of the world’s largest musical stages.

Since July 2020, the acclaimed conductor Giorgos Aravidis has been the principal conductor of the orchestra.

George Aravidis

George Aravidis was born in Athens. He studied Piano (Degree – Soloist Diploma) and Advanced Theory (Singing-Harmony-Counterpoint-Fugue) at the Hellenic Conservatory of Athens, completing his studies with “Highest Honors and Distinction.” Immediately after, he continued his studies in Orchestral Conducting at the Ecole Normale Superieure de Musique de Paris in France, in the class of Professor-Maestro Dominique Ruits, where he graduated with the “First Distinction.” He was then accepted and studied in Orchestral Conducting Master Classes with Richard Schumacher in Switzerland, Yuri Simonov in Hungary, and Choral Conducting with Peter Erdei in Hungary. He completed the seminar series of the “Carl Orff” music education system in Austria (Universitat Mozarteum Salzburg Orff Institut) and “Zoltan Kodaly” in Hungary (Kodaly Pedagogigal Institut of Music).

He began his career in Paris, conducting and recording new works by young French composers, including music for ballet and cinema, in their first performance.

In Greece, at the age of 26, he conducted the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra for the first time. Since then, he has conducted the Athens State Orchestra, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation’s (ERT) National Symphony Orchestra, the ERT Contemporary Music Orchestra, the Athens Municipality Symphony Orchestra, the Greek National Opera Chamber Orchestra, the Volos Symphony Orchestra, and others, as well as orchestras in Hungary, Cyprus, and Italy.

In 2005, he founded the “Sinfonietta Athens” Orchestra, with which he has given several concerts in Athens and throughout Greece.

He is also a composer and has served as a member of the examination board for the State Scholarships Foundation and other Panhellenic music competitions.

He served as the artistic director of the Hellenic Conservatory and is the artistic director of the Venizeleio Conservatory of Chania. Since 2013, he has been the artistic director of the “Future Academy of Arts” Music Education Foundation in Cyprus.

Since June 2020, he has been the artistic director and conductor of the ERT Contemporary Music Orchestra.

Betty Harlafti

Betty Harlafti is a Greek contemporary singer. A classically trained mezzo-soprano, she performs a crossover repertoire in multiple languages.

Often referred to as “the voice of Mikis Theodorakis from the younger generation,” she is well-known in Greece and abroad for her close collaboration with the great Greek composer.

Her latest album, Betty Harlafti in the World of Mikis Theodorakis, produced by the Greek Radio and Television Music Ensembles (ERT), places Harlafti among the few performers in her country to have recorded a personal album with a symphony orchestra. World-renowned artists Zülfü Livaneli and Maria Farantouri honor her with their participation, and George Perris is also featured.

Harlafti has performed in numerous concerts across the United States and Europe with a diverse repertoire.

Her performances include appearances in Manhattan, New York City (Merkin Concert Hall) for the 90th birthday anniversary of Mikis Theodorakis, at the Harvard Club of New York, in Switzerland (Salle Paderewski), in Germany (Lutherkirche, Cologne), in Cyprus, Finland, Israel, and elsewhere. She has also performed in Brussels, singing Theodorakis’s great oratorio, Canto General.

She has performed in major theaters in Greece, such as the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the Alternative Stage of the Greek National Opera, the Athens Concert Hall, and the Badminton Theater, among others.

Harlafti has appeared on stage with Maria Farantouri, El Sistema Greece, and Marios Fragoulis, among others. She has also performed at festivals, on live television and radio shows, and participated as a guest artist on many album releases.

When her first album, Who can you be?, featuring old Greek songs and rebetika from the interwar composer Michalis Sougioul, was released, it was met with praise from Greek magazines and the public.

She has performed works by the Rhodian composer Antonis Kyzoulis, such as The Myths of the Knights’ Street and The Cavafy Poems, which she has recorded with the ERT Contemporary Music Orchestra for the Second Program.

Harlafti has studied voice in Greece and Germany, earning a classical singing diploma. She received a scholarship from the famous English countertenor Michael Chance to study Early Music. She also holds the London College of Music Diploma Examination in Classical Vocal Studies. She has a degree in Geology from the University of Patras and a degree in Physical Education and Sports Science from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Agathi Dimitrouka

Agathi Dimitrouka is a Greek writer, primarily of fairy tales and children’s literature, as well as a translator and lyricist.

At a young age, Dimitrouka met the poet and lyricist Nikos Gatsos in 1974, when she was just 16 years old. From then on, her life and career became indelibly linked with his, as she lived “by the side of the poet of Amorgos for 17 years, from 1975 until his death in 1992.” Dimitrouka’s work as a lyricist began in 1976 with her first collaboration with Manos Hatzidakis. She later went on to work with other notable Greek composers and songwriters, including Mikis Theodorakis, Nikos Mamangakis, Ilias Liougos, and Giorgos Filippakis (of the band Hanomai Giati Remvazo).

Thanasis Papageorgiou

Thanasis Papageorgiou is a Greek director and actor who has staged approximately 130 plays. He studied at the Christos Vachliotis Drama School and began his career in 1962 with the K. Livadeas troupe. He collaborated with various troupes until 1965, after which he shifted his focus to cinema, directing, writing, and acting in the film “Epi eschati prodosia” (1968).

In 1969, he co-founded the “Vimata” troupe, where he directed “The Courtyard of Miracles.” After the troupe was disbanded by the dictatorship, he and actress El. Karpetta established the “STOA” Theater in 1971, which he has directed since 1974. At the STOA Theater, he has directed around 90 plays, primarily by modern and ancient Greek playwrights. He has also directed for the National Theatre and other private theaters, including Mikis Theodorakis’ folk opera “The Song of the Dead Brother.”

In television, Papageorgiou has directed and acted in various productions, including the series “Madam Sousou” and several adaptations of stage plays. He has also had a successful film career, winning the Best Supporting Actor award from the Hellenic Film Academy for his role in “The Son of Sofia.”

Beyond his work as a director and actor, he has written five plays and a book detailing the history of the STOA Theater. He has also worked as a columnist for the newspaper “Ta Nea” for 20 years.

Papageorgiou has taught acting at several drama schools and universities, and he has served on various committees for the Ministry of Culture, including a term as President of the Board of the National Theatre from 2015 to 2018. He has received numerous awards for his acting and directing, as well as for his overall contribution to theater.