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updated: 19/08/2024
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Performer Information

Antonis Kontogeorgiou

Αντώνης Κοντογεωργίου

Baritone, Chorusmaster

ERT Choir (Hellenic Radio and Television)

Antonis Kontogeorgiou (December 11, 1945 – October 1, 2018) was a Greek musician, baritone, and director of the ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation) Choir and the “Macedonia” Choir.

Born in Thessaloniki in 1945, Kontogeorgiou studied music theory, piano, and singing at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki alongside his medical studies at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, which he abandoned to devote himself to music. He continued his music studies at the R. Strauss Conservatory and mainly at the Munich Academy of Music, where he graduated with two degrees – Magister Artium in Choral Conducting and Lied-Oratorio. He also attended classes at the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg and the Departments of Honors Singing in Zurich.

Kontogeorgiou organized and directed many choirs, starting with the Christian Student Groups (XMO) children’s choir in Thessaloniki in the 1960s. He directed large choral ensembles at the Millenium and at the 2004 Olympic Games.

He taught music at the Anatolia American College, in many conservatories, in 34 seminars, and organized many Choir Meetings. He published numerous specialized articles on choral music, released 11 books including five volumes under the title “FOR OUR CHOIRS”, produced 29 recordings, and over 600 radio and TV broadcasts. He repeatedly collaborated with the National Theater, various other troupes, the Athens, Epidaurus, Thessaloniki, and Heraklion Festivals, and taught at the Spyros Evangelatos School. He founded and directed the Pro Musica ensemble for the dissemination of early music and the solo vocal ensemble “The Singers,” with which he presented the complete surviving work of Frangiskos Leontaritis in its first performance.

In 1977, invited by the then Director of the Third Program of ERT, Manos Hadjidakis, he organized for the first time a choir at ERT, the Choir of the Third Program, today’s ERT Choir, which he directed for 32 years. He was a key member of Manos Hadjidakis’ Third Program, a member of the Ministry of Culture’s (YPPO) Committee for Choral Development, and for several years the President of the Artistic Committee of the Thessaloniki State Orchestra. He served as director and teacher of conservatories, director of the Ministry of Culture’s Center for Choral Practice, and among others, directed the choirs of the Athens Conservatory, “Macedonia”, the Greek Festival, and the Municipality of Athens. He taught as a guest professor in the postgraduate departments of the Ionian University in collaboration with Professor Miranda Kaldi. As a soloist or conductor, he performed over 1200 shows in Greece and abroad (Germany, Austria, Spain, Finland, Yugoslavia, France, Italy, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, United States, Canada), and collaborated with all Greek orchestras and many foreign ones, as well as with famous conductors (Bernstein, Rilling, Askenazy, Menuhin, Mazur, Marriner).

His repertoire included 142 choral works with orchestra (87 in their first Greek performance), 1030 other choral works, 21 operas, and over 800 Lieder. Many Greek composers dedicated works to him (Theodoros Antoniou, Periklis Koukos, Mikis Theodorakis, Yiannis Markopoulos, Alkis Baltas, Christos Samaras, Andreas Nezeritis, Marielli Sfakianaki, Nikos Christodoulou, etc.).

Source: Wikipedia

Works
#
Work Page
1
YSC92
A Small Escape

Six Songs On Poems by Alexis Zakythinos.

49

Tenor and Piano

Discography
#
Album Page
1
Greek Songs
Alexandra Papastefanou, Antonis Kontogeorgiou
A Small Escape Six Songs On Poems by Alexis Zakythinos Op. 49
LP - Vinyl
Nova Copacabana
1986
References
  1. Valia Christopoulou, Yorgos Sicilianos Catalogue of Works [Κατάλογος Έργων Γιώργου Σισιλιάνου] (Athens: Panas Music Papagrigoriou - Nakas, 2011) , 128
  2. Greek Songs, performed by Antonis Kontogeorgiou, Alexandra Papastefanou, Misa Ikeuchi, Alexandra Kambouropoulou, Stathis Kiossoglou, Nina Patrikidou, Byron Fidetzis, and Diana Vranoussi. Nova Copacabana, 1986, LP, 45:49. Catalogue No.: 86 1509.
  3. “Αντώνης Κοντογεωργίου,” Wikipedia, accessed August 19, 2024, https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Αντώνης_Κοντογεωργίου.