Famous Greek Composers

Greek composer Vangelis is one of the finest and most versatile figures in electronic music. He soared to international fame with his Academy Award-winning soundtrack of the film Chariots of Fire. Starting to learn the piano at age 3, he later experimented with jazz and rock-n-roll.

Yanni is a Greek keyboardist, pianist, composer, and music producer. He achieved international recognition by organizing and producing concerts at historic monuments, such as Taj Mahal, Burj Khalifa, and the Great Sphinx of Giza. Adhering to his one world, one people philosophy, Yanni works with musicians of various nationalities to create music that incorporates an eclectic fusion of ethnic sounds.

Greek composer Míkis Theodorakis was the famed composer of the Mauthausen Trilogy, one of the finest works centered on the Holocaust. He had also composed for movies such as Zorba the Greek and Z. An active communist and a Lenin Peace Prize winner, he was also jailed once for a military coup.  

Born to Greek parents in Romania, Iannis Xenakis was inspired to take up music by his parents, especially his pianist mother. He lost an eye in the Greek resistance during World War II but later excelled as an architect, musician, and mathematician in France, merging music and math through his musique stochastique.

Legendary Greek folk singer Tolis Voskopoulos is best remembered for his theatrical hit Oi Erastes tou Oneirou. With a career spanning over 6 decades, he also starred in many plays and movies. He was later married to Greek politician Antzela Gerekou and passed away at age 80.

Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos is regarded as one of the finest in the world. Part of a musical family, he began learning the violin at age 5 and had won 3 major competitions by age 21. He now organizes a chamber music festival and has also proved his mettle as a conductor.

One of the most popular Greek singers of all time, Haris Alexiou has experimented with genres such as folk, laika, and rebetiko. In a career spanning over 5 decades, she has collaborated with multiple artists. She also has a huge fan following in Turkey, where a street has been named in her honor.

Eleni Karaindrou is a Greek composer best known for her work with Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos; Karaindrou has scored many of Angelopoulos' films. A prolific composer, Eleni Karaindrou has also composed music for theatrical productions, TV series, and TV movies. In 2021, she was honored at the Ghent Festival's World Soundtrack Awards with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dimitri Mitropoulos was a Greek composer, conductor, and pianist. Apart from his orchestral career, he also conducted opera; from 1954 to 1960, Mitropoulos was the chief conductor of New York's Metropolitan Opera. His dramatically vivid and musically incisive performances of Puccini, Richard Strauss, and Verdi remain templates of the opera conductors' art.

Nikos Karvelas is a Greek singer, songwriter, and producer. He is best known for his collaboration with his ex-wife and singer-songwriter Anna Vissi. Nikos Karvelas is also a prolific producer who has sold millions of records. In 2012, he was included in Alpha TV's list of top Greek composers in the phonographic era.

Nikos Skalkottas was a Greek classical composer and one of the most important members of the Second Viennese School. He also taught musicians like George Hadjinikos and John G. Papaioannou, who were responsible for publishing his music, which received posthumous appreciation. A short documentary about his life and career was released in 1988.

Born in Cyprus, Alkinoos Ioannidis failed to learn the drums due to the lack of drum trainers in Nicosia and leaned the guitar instead. He later moved to Greece to study theater and then deviated to music. Apart from performing at concerts in Greece and Cyprus, he has also headlined festivals.

Eugenia Manolidou is a Greek classical composer, television presenter, and conductor. Apart from her musical career, Manolidou has also appeared in popular TV shows like Dancing with the Stars and MasterChef Greece. In 2014, her work La Pisanella, the girl from Pisa was honored at Key to the Future, an opera composition competition, with the Popularity Prize. 

Angélique Ionatos was a Greek singer, composer, and guitarist. Over the course of her illustrious music career, which spanned over four decades, Ionatos set and sang many classical and modern Greek texts, including those of Sappho. Consequently, Angélique Ionatos has popularized several modern and classical Greek texts. 

Greek-Cypriot singer Lia Vissi is best known for her appearances on Eurovision and for her song To Katalava Arga. The elder sister of popular singer-actor Anna Vissi, Lia also ran unsuccessfully for the Cypriot House of Representatives elections, failing to get a seat from the Larnaca district.

The son of iconic Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, George Theodorakis had a short-lived career, comprising just 4 albums over a period of 2 decades. He owned the SSR and Theta studios. Though not as successful as his father, he is known for experimenting with synthesized sounds and moving away from traditional Greek music.