Alexandros Symeonidis

He was born in Argostoli in 1940. He began his musical studies under composer Alexandros Kontis and, in 1960, he studied conducting at the Munich Academy of Music. In 1963, he attended conducting classes, on a scholarship, at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with which he also worked. Following a suggestion by conductor Andreas Paridis, he became a solo percussionist with the Athens State Orchestra. In Greece, he served as a conductor at the Athens State Orchestra, the Thessaloniki State Orchestra and the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) National Symphony Orchestra. Abroad, he conducted the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony, the philharmonic orchestras of Munich, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Slovakia, the Bucharest-based George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Academy of Music Orchestra, the Bellingham Music Club Symphony Orchestra (Washington), the Capella Istropolitana, the “Tchaikovsky” State Conservaroty Orchestra in Moscow, the Angelicum Orchestra of Milan, the national philharmonic orchestras of France, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Latvia, etc. He has conducted recitals featuring prominent cusicians, such as Nikolai Petrov, Mikhail Pletnev, Viktoria Postnikova, etc. He died in Athens in 1997. At the Athens State Orchestra, he served as a resident conductor (1978-1988) and as musical director (1989-1995). During the years 1974-1996, he worked with the GNO, conducting 21 productions and/or revivals of opera, operetta and ballet. Operas he conducted include La bohème, Tosca, La traviata, The troubadour [Il trovatore]; among the operettas he conducted were The land of smiles [Das Land des Lächelns] and The Godson [O vaftistikos]; ballets he conducted included Don Quixote, Walpurgis Night [Walpurgisnacht], Giselle, etc.

Source: Greek National Opera Virtual Educational Museum