Giannis Mantakas

Giannis Mantakas was a Greek choir conductor born on March 4, 1934, and passed away on December 26, 1998, in Thessaloniki.

His father, Nikolaos, was from Chania, Crete, and his family played an active role in the Revolution, the Macedonian Struggle, and the National Resistance. His mother, Margarita, was the daughter of Argyris Zachos, a diplomat who served in the Macedonian Struggle alongside Ion Dragoumis. These roots sparked his interest in the history of the region, art, European culture, making him a cosmopolitan with open-minded ideas and a refined aesthetic.

In 1993, he was diagnosed with a rare motor neuron disease. He passed away in Thessaloniki on December 26, 1998.

From 1949, he began taking lessons in counterpoint, fugue, and choir direction at the Macedonian Conservatory with Epaminondas Floros and his son Konstantinos Floros. Later, he entered the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh).

In 1951, he started writing music critiques for Thessaloniki newspapers, continuing until 1978. He collaborated with newspapers such as “To Fos,” “Nea Alitheia,” “Makedonia,” and “Ellinikos Vorras.”

While still a law student, he founded the AUTh Choir and later the Music Department of the University Student Club of AUTh. This became his main field of activity, earning him recognition for his contribution to Greece’s musical scene. He revitalized choral music by introducing new repertoire, premiering many Greek and foreign works, especially from the Renaissance, Baroque, and contemporary eras. He organized numerous concerts and events in Thessaloniki, Athens, and various cities in Greece.

He consistently participated in major international choir festivals. He produced several recordings, radio and TV programs, musical publications, choir meetings, music education seminars, and choral music workshops. These activities continued until 1993.

He initiated the choir’s international presence through events of the Europa Cantat Youth Music Festival. Later, the choir performed concerts in France, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain, and the UK.

In 1966, he organized the first “International Choir Week” in Thessaloniki in collaboration with the European Federation of Young Choirs, Europa Cantat. Three more editions followed in 1980, 1983, and 1986.

He was a regular collaborator with the National Radio Foundation and the Radio Station of Macedonia from 1954 to 1991. In this capacity, he promoted the work of many Greek composers, especially those at the forefront of Greek music in the 20th century. In 1958, he founded the Radio Station of Macedonia Choir.

In collaboration with musicologist Uwe Martin, he established the “Contemporary Music Workshop” at the Goethe Institute Thessaloniki.

In 1965, he organized the first “Choir Encounter,” introducing a successful foreign model to Greece. Later, it evolved into the “Choir Week” and the “Encounter of Choirs and Youth Orchestras.”

From 1970 to 1973, he served as a member of the Board of Directors and President of the Greek Section of the International Heinrich Schütz Society.

In 1972, invited by the Lincoln Center in New York and the State Department’s Cultural Exchange Program, he visited universities and institutions in Washington, Florida, Atlanta, Michigan, Bloomington, and Philadelphia. The purpose was to study American music education and promote contemporary Greek music there.

For many years, he was a member of the Board of Directors of ETOS (Special Fund for Concert Organization) of the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki (SOT) and a member of the Artistic Committee of the Young Artists’ Week of the Thessaloniki International Fair.

In 1977, following Manos Hadjidakis’s invitation, he founded the Attica Choir as part of the State Orchestra of Athens.

At various times, he was invited to conduct the ERT Choir.

From 1965, he began teaching at the Macedonian Conservatory and elsewhere. Specifically, for the next 40 years, he taught theory, choir direction, and contemporary music education systems. From 1966 to 1979, he served as the director of the Macedonian Conservatory in Thessaloniki.

From 1979 to 1996, he was the director of the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki. Together with Karolos Trikolidis, they organized the first Music Preparatory School in Greece.

From 1983 to 1995, he served as the director of the Municipal Conservatory of Kavala. In this capacity, he organized the Kavala Music Camp, in which students from conservatories across the country participated, and this tradition continues to this day.

From 1985 to 1993, he taught music at the School of Education of AUTh. Since 2011, the choir of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki has been renamed the “Giannis Mantakas Choir.”

Source: Wikipedia