Manolis Kalomiris
Biography
Born in Smyrna (modern Izmir, Turkey), he attended school in Constantinople and studied piano and composition in Vienna. After working for a few years as a piano teacher in Kharkov, Russian Empire, he settled in Athens. An admirer of Richard Wagner, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Kostis Palamas, and Nikos Kazantzakis, he set himself the life goal of establishing a Greek "national school" of music, based on the ideas of the Russian national composers, on western musical achievements and on modern Greek folk music, poetry and myth.{{cite web|url=http://www.naxos.com/person/Manolis_Kalomiris/28406.htm|title=Manolis Kalomiris- Bio, Albums, Pictures – Naxos Classical Music.|publisher=|accessdate=28 August 2016}} He thus founded in 1919 the Hellenic Conservatory and in 1926 the National Conservatoire. At the same time, he served as the General Supervisor of military bands in the country.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ms2PCgAAQBAJ&q=Hellenic+Military+Band&pg=PA191|title = Singing in Greek: A Guide to Greek Lyric Diction and Vocal Repertoire|isbn = 9781442229785|last1 = Zervanos|first1 = Lydía|date = 7 May 2015| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield }} He wrote three symphonies and five operas, one piano concerto and one violin concertino, other symphonic works, chamber music and numerous songs and piano works. He held various public posts and was elected member of the Academy of Athens.
A passionate composer, he has a post-romantic idiom characterised by rich harmonies and orchestrations, complex counterpoints, long eastern melodies, and the frequent use of Greek folk rhythms. A preoccupation with love and death transcends all five of his music dramas.
References
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External links
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Category:People from Aidin vilayet
Category:20th-century Greek classical composers
Category:Greek National School
Category:Members of the Academy of Athens (modern)
Category:Greek opera composers
Category:Greek male classical composers
Category:20th-century Greek people
Category:20th-century Greek male musicians
Category:19th-century Greek musicians
Category:20th-century Greek musicians
Category:Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Greece
Category:Greek classical composers
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