Kyriakos Sfetsas
Encyclopedia
Kyriakos Sfetsas is a Greek
composer
. His body of work consists of a large number of compositions: symphonic
, choral, ballet
and theatre music, chamber
, electronic
, film scores, pieces for solo instruments, pieces in jazz
and fusion style, songs in Greek
and world poems.
and raised in Lefkada
where, at an early age, he studied music for the first time at the Philarmonic Band and the National Conservatory of the city with the late Fotis Vlachos. He continued his studies at the National Conservatory of Athens (1963-1966), where he studied the piano
with Krino Kalomiri and theory of music
with Michalis Vourtsis. On August 30, 1964, in Lefkada, he accompanied Maria Callas
on the piano in her last performance in Greece. A few months after the 1967 dictatorship, he moved to Paris
. There, on a French State scholarship (1969-1972), he pursued further studies with the composer and educator Max Deutsch
(composition, analysis, orchestra
l conducting), while seeking the mentorship and advice of Iannis Xenakis
, Luigi Nono
and Henri Dutilleux.
, Reims
, Bordeaux
and Paris
); at the same time, he works on a regular basis with the contemporary dance group of Vitry
and the choreographer Michel Cazerta. A portion of his Paris works were published by Editions Transatlantiques, and it was in Paris in 1974 that he released for the first time one of his works on record: Four-channel electro-acoustic music for the "Ballet Smog", one of the first pieces written for four-channel tape in the world. In Greece, he made his debut as a composer at the 4th Hellenic Week of Contemporary Music (Athens
, 19 - 26 September 1971) with his work "Docimology".
He returned to Greece in autumn of 1975, this time to stay. At the invitation of Manos Hatzidakis, he worked at the Third Programme of the Hellenic Radio (1975-1976) as a free lance producer. In 1977, as a regular employee of the Hellenic Radio, he served as head of the music departments of the 2nd and 1st Programmes, and from the summer of 1982 to January 1994 as director of the 3rd Programme. In 1980, his music for Pavlos Tassios
' "Parangelia" receives first prize at the Film Festival of Thessaloniki. He also writes the music for Stigma, by the same director (1982), D. Panagiotatos' The night with Silena (1986), M. Ditsas' Night Exit (1991), N. Grammatikos' U Turn (1991) and "A time to kill" (1993).
Since the recording of "Without Boundaries" (1980), several recordings of his work have been released on several labels (EMI
, CBS, ENM, PRAXIS etc.), with favourable reviews. In the spring of 1991, he released his first digital recording (on CD), Silent Days, on UTOPIA; and in 1993, the CD Colours in Double, a tribute to the art of the great traditional music performer Vassilis Soukas, containing the works Colours in Double and Lyrical Suite (recorded live at the Festivals of Irakleion ('88) and Patra ('87)), in which the late musician had substantial solo parts. In 1999, his entire recordings were re-released in 8 CDs on FINEAS, a record label owned by S. Gavrielides Publications.
Most of his work in the last few years has been commissioned by Greek
and other cultural authorities and organizations, and has been performed in Europe
, Australia
and America
by renowned music ensembles, such as the Bolshoi Soloists, the Ensemble Modern of Frankfurt
, Polyrhythmia of Sofia, the Okada percussion ensemble of Tokyo, the Russo and Mlada Quartets, the Symphony Orchestras of Leipzig, Ljubljana, ABC (Australian Radio), ALEA (Boston University
), the Orchestra of the Hellenic Radio and the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki. In addition, from its very early days, the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron) has on numerous occasions commissioned and hosted works by Kyriakos Sfetsas, performed by famous Greek and other soloists and ensembles, including the organist Daniel Chorzempa and the Camerata Orchestra.
, who had charmed the composer at the time. (Docimology, one of his more beautiful and characteristic works, is from this period.) Chronologically, his musical turn Concert Music Slides, 1977 follows his coming home (1975): melody (tonal
, modal
, atonal), themes, elaboration as well as improvisation, 'physical' rhythms (sometimes asymmetrical and folkish), chord
s contradicted by unisoni, elements or inspirations from folk music
(from Greece and Eastern cultures, either traditional or elaborated through 'ethnic' schools) and Byzantine music (his Love Song is performed by a cantor), and other codes or techniques of communication (e.g. jazz, rock). However, by replacing this 'hermetic' idiom with authenticated codes of communication, the music of Sfetsas expands sometimes into great lengths, and reveals a painful loneliness and a quest for the other, in which it is difficult to distinguish between the personal and the socio-environmental factors. Behind the persistence of his writing one can guess a dramatic need for communication. Despite the ruggedness of the themes and some instances of classical 'elaboration', the three parts of his gigantic (duration: 61'46"!) piano suite Cactus Light ('80-'83) often give the impression of one lonely pianist improvising. One of the most fascinating of his latest works is Moments of a Lonesome Town: within the aloneness and inhumanity of the modern world, the quest for the other continues, with a more emphatic lyricism. So, hope still persists."
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. His body of work consists of a large number of compositions: symphonic
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
, choral, ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
and theatre music, chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, film scores, pieces for solo instruments, pieces in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and fusion style, songs in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and world poems.
Early life
Sfetsas was born in AmfilochiaAmfilochia
Amfilochia is a town and a municipality in the northwestern part of Aetolia-Acarnania in Greece, on the site of ancient Amfilochia. Under the Ottoman Empire, it was known as Karvassaras ....
and raised in Lefkada
Lefkada
Lefkada, or Leucas or Leucadia , is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece, connected to the mainland by a long causeway and floating bridge. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Lefkada . It is situated on the northern part of the island,...
where, at an early age, he studied music for the first time at the Philarmonic Band and the National Conservatory of the city with the late Fotis Vlachos. He continued his studies at the National Conservatory of Athens (1963-1966), where he studied the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
with Krino Kalomiri and theory of music
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
with Michalis Vourtsis. On August 30, 1964, in Lefkada, he accompanied Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
on the piano in her last performance in Greece. A few months after the 1967 dictatorship, he moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. There, on a French State scholarship (1969-1972), he pursued further studies with the composer and educator Max Deutsch
Max Deutsch
Max Deutsch was an Austrian-French musical composer, conductor, and teacher.He was a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg and founded the theater Der Jüdische Spiegel in Paris. Here, many works of composers like Schoenberg, Anton Webern, or Alban Berg were debuted in France...
(composition, analysis, orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l conducting), while seeking the mentorship and advice of Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
, Luigi Nono
Luigi Nono
Luigi Nono was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music and remains one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century.- Early years :Born in Venice, he was a member of a wealthy artistic family, and his grandfather was a notable painter...
and Henri Dutilleux.
Composition
The first public performance of his work ("Episodes for piano solo") took place just after the uprising of May '68 at the "Latin America Hall" in Paris, receiving favourable reviews. After that, his music was often performed and he had his first commissions (by French Radio and TV, the Ars Nova Orchestra and the Dance Group of Vitry). After that period, several of his works are performed in renowned international contemporary music festivals (RoyanRoyan
Royan is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department, along the Atlantic Ocean, in southwestern France.A seaside resort, Royan is in the heart of an urban area estimated at 38,638 inhabitants, which makes it the fourth-largest conurbation in the department, after La Rochelle, Rochefort and Saintes...
, Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
, Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
); at the same time, he works on a regular basis with the contemporary dance group of Vitry
Vitry
Vitry is part of the name of several communes in France:* Vitry-aux-Loges, in the Loiret département* Vitry-en-Artois, in the Pas-de-Calais département* Vitry-en-Charollais, in the Saône-et-Loire département...
and the choreographer Michel Cazerta. A portion of his Paris works were published by Editions Transatlantiques, and it was in Paris in 1974 that he released for the first time one of his works on record: Four-channel electro-acoustic music for the "Ballet Smog", one of the first pieces written for four-channel tape in the world. In Greece, he made his debut as a composer at the 4th Hellenic Week of Contemporary Music (Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, 19 - 26 September 1971) with his work "Docimology".
He returned to Greece in autumn of 1975, this time to stay. At the invitation of Manos Hatzidakis, he worked at the Third Programme of the Hellenic Radio (1975-1976) as a free lance producer. In 1977, as a regular employee of the Hellenic Radio, he served as head of the music departments of the 2nd and 1st Programmes, and from the summer of 1982 to January 1994 as director of the 3rd Programme. In 1980, his music for Pavlos Tassios
Pavlos Tassios
Pavlos Tassios was a Greek film director.Born in Polygyros, Greece, he directed such films as Ta vaporakia, Stigma, Parangelia!, To vary... peponi, Oi prostates, and Nai men, alla......
' "Parangelia" receives first prize at the Film Festival of Thessaloniki. He also writes the music for Stigma, by the same director (1982), D. Panagiotatos' The night with Silena (1986), M. Ditsas' Night Exit (1991), N. Grammatikos' U Turn (1991) and "A time to kill" (1993).
Since the recording of "Without Boundaries" (1980), several recordings of his work have been released on several labels (EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, CBS, ENM, PRAXIS etc.), with favourable reviews. In the spring of 1991, he released his first digital recording (on CD), Silent Days, on UTOPIA; and in 1993, the CD Colours in Double, a tribute to the art of the great traditional music performer Vassilis Soukas, containing the works Colours in Double and Lyrical Suite (recorded live at the Festivals of Irakleion ('88) and Patra ('87)), in which the late musician had substantial solo parts. In 1999, his entire recordings were re-released in 8 CDs on FINEAS, a record label owned by S. Gavrielides Publications.
Most of his work in the last few years has been commissioned by Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and other cultural authorities and organizations, and has been performed in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by renowned music ensembles, such as the Bolshoi Soloists, the Ensemble Modern of Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Polyrhythmia of Sofia, the Okada percussion ensemble of Tokyo, the Russo and Mlada Quartets, the Symphony Orchestras of Leipzig, Ljubljana, ABC (Australian Radio), ALEA (Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
), the Orchestra of the Hellenic Radio and the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki. In addition, from its very early days, the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron) has on numerous occasions commissioned and hosted works by Kyriakos Sfetsas, performed by famous Greek and other soloists and ensembles, including the organist Daniel Chorzempa and the Camerata Orchestra.
Critical response
In volume 9B of the Dictionary of World Biography, the music critic Giorgos Leotsakos notes, among other things: "No other Greek 'avant-garde' composer's return to tradition was more impressive than that of Sfetsas. Before 1977, in France, he was distinguished by a sound 'pointillisme': a marked harmonic sensitivity, with which he organized imaginative soundcolour combinations into 'microstructures' spread out in an imaginary sound canvas, bringing to mind the paintings of Joan MiróJoan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
, who had charmed the composer at the time. (Docimology, one of his more beautiful and characteristic works, is from this period.) Chronologically, his musical turn Concert Music Slides, 1977 follows his coming home (1975): melody (tonal
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
, modal
Modal
Modal may refer to:* Modal , a textile made from spun Beechwood cellulose fiber* Modal analysis, the study of the dynamic properties of structures under vibrational excitation...
, atonal), themes, elaboration as well as improvisation, 'physical' rhythms (sometimes asymmetrical and folkish), chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
s contradicted by unisoni, elements or inspirations from folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
(from Greece and Eastern cultures, either traditional or elaborated through 'ethnic' schools) and Byzantine music (his Love Song is performed by a cantor), and other codes or techniques of communication (e.g. jazz, rock). However, by replacing this 'hermetic' idiom with authenticated codes of communication, the music of Sfetsas expands sometimes into great lengths, and reveals a painful loneliness and a quest for the other, in which it is difficult to distinguish between the personal and the socio-environmental factors. Behind the persistence of his writing one can guess a dramatic need for communication. Despite the ruggedness of the themes and some instances of classical 'elaboration', the three parts of his gigantic (duration: 61'46"!) piano suite Cactus Light ('80-'83) often give the impression of one lonely pianist improvising. One of the most fascinating of his latest works is Moments of a Lonesome Town: within the aloneness and inhumanity of the modern world, the quest for the other continues, with a more emphatic lyricism. So, hope still persists."