Athens Philharmonia Orchestra

The Athens Philharmonia Orchestra began its musical journey in November 2016, embarking on a mission to systematically explore the cultural and intellectual treasure of the Modern Greek art music creation. It was founded on the aim of performing, recording and generally promoting the art music created during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries within or outside the Greek borders by Greek composers or composers of Greek origin. It is a very significant area of Modern Greek culture that has not been sufficiently appreciated until today.

The Athens Philharmonia Orchestra is supported exclusively by private financial sources; it has already made a remarkable journey in the Greek art scene and aspires to continue contributing to the effort of enriching our musical life. The concerts usually include at least one Greek work, along with pieces from the international repertoire which, despite their major artistic value, are largely unknown to the Greek audience. The orchestra aims to highlight the Greek art music repertoire and at the same time to complement but not compete with existing Greek orchestras.
A substantial part of the works performed by the orchestra has been retrieved and restored through musicological research carried out in Greek universities.

In its course so far, the Athens Philharmonia orchestra has performed rare works by Nikolaos Chalikiopoulos Mantzaros, Pavlos Carrer, Joseph–Michael Stratico, Demetrios Lialios, Dionysios Rodotheatos, Manolis Kalomiris, Vasily Kalafati, Nikos Skalkotas, Dimitris Mitropoulos, Yannis A. Papaioannou, Theodoros Karyotakis, Andreas Nezeritis, Napoleon Lambelet, Dimitrios Andronis, George Axiotis, Dionysios Visvardis, Dimitrios Themelis, Pericles Koukos, Petros Petridis, Theodore Antoniou, George Tsontakis, Antonis Karatzikis, Giorgos Hatzinasios, Theophrastos Sakellaridis, George Sicilianos, Marcos Mastrekinis and other contemporary Greek composers, as well as standard repertoire works.

The orchestra has presented many works by Greek composers in their first worldwide performances, such as Demetrios Lialios’ Requiem that was composed in 1889 but was never performed for 130 years, and Eleni Lambiri’s Symphony in B minor. On December 2019, in a truly momentous concert, the orchestra performed the opera Maria Antonietta by Pavlos Carrer, retrieving it from its 140-year oblivion.

In its debut performance at the Athens Concert Hall, following an invitation by the “Friends of Music” Society, the Athens Philharmonia Orchestra participated in the 20th anniversary celebration of the “Lilian Voudouri” Music Library of Greece, with the first nationwide performance of two recently discovered works by Nikos Skalkotas. In June 2018, the orchestra performed at the Athens Festival, presenting the opera Perouze by Theophrastos Sakellaridis, after 70 years of silence. In June 2021, also at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and for the Athens Festival, the orchestra presented Nikos Skalkotas’ 36 Greek Dances for the 1821 Revolution bicentennial.

In October 2021, after meticulous musicological research, the orchestra presented the formerly considered lost opera by the Ionian composer Nikolaos Metaxas-Tzanis, Marco Bozzari. The production was organized in collaboration with the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens and with the support of the Attica Prefecture.

In December 2019 and January 2020, Philharmonia went on an 18-day tour in China. At the invitation of the Chinese Ministry of Culture and international arts agencies, Philharmonia visited 10 cities and performed a total of 11 symphony concerts with a festive programme. It thus became the first European Symphony Orchestra to propagate the European musical culture throughout China.

In February 2020, the Swedish record label BIS released Philharmonia’s first digital CD with works by Nikos Skalkotas. George Demertzis and Vassilis Varvaresos were the soloists in this album, under the direction of Byron Fidetzis. In August 2020, NAXOS released Philharmonia’s second digital CD with works by Vasily Kalafati. Philharmonia’s next album will include symphonic works by Yannis Papaioannou that have already been recorded under the attentive eye of the world-renowned Tonmeister, Hans Kipfer, and are scheduled to be released soon. All works are recorded for the first time, while four more CDs are in development, with works by Manolis Kalomiris, Nikolaos Chalikiopoulos Mantzaros and Joseph–Michael Stratico.
For the bicentennial year 2021, and in the midst of a pandemic, APhO directed its activity into producing video recordings of works by Greek composers, creating the series “1821-2021. Liberty-Creation”. In September 2021, the orchestra released its third CD, with the symphonic work “The fall of Tripolitsa” by Giorgos Katralis, dedicated to the 200 years of the Greek Revolution, which was sponsored by the Municipality of Tripolis.

In January 2020, the “Athens Philharmonia Pop Orchestra” was founded, an orchestra dedicated in performing popular music, and has already performed at the Odeon of Herodus Atticus and the “Stavros Niarchos” Foundation.

The orchestra is based in “Artemis” Concert Hall, 8 Pythagora Street in Alimos. APhO’s chairman is Dr Nikos Maliaras, who is a Professor of Historical Musicology in the University of Athens, and its artistic director is the internationally renowned conductor Byron Fidetzis.

Source: Athens Philharmonia Orchestra