Spyros Sakkas

Spyros Sakkas, born in Athens in 1937, studied voice at the Athens Conservatoire under Kimon Triantafyllou and Marika Kalfopoulou, where he graduated with First Prize in 1964. Alongside vocal training, he pursued music theory and piano. Further studies continued at the Mozarteum in Salzburg from 1963 to 1967. Sakkas performed in over 500 contemporary musical and stage works, including around 200 world premieres, with several pieces composed especially for him by notable composers such as Iannis Xenakis (Polytope, Aïs), John Cage, Giorgos Apergis, Jani Christou, Wolfgang Rihm, Theodore Antoniou, Michael Adamis, and George Crumb.

Sakkas sang in numerous European theatres and collaborated with distinguished orchestras and conductors across the continent. His close partnership with composer Manos Hadjidakis, which began in 1961, led to several performances and recordings of Hadjidakis’s songs. Additional appearances included roles in film and television, as well as recordings of songs by Thanos Mikroutsikos.

From 1973 to 1975, Sakkas taught singing at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in California, leading workshops at various U.S. universities. In 1985, he founded the Workshop of Vocal Art in Athens and later directed the Municipal Conservatory of Piraeus. His extensive discography includes numerous recordings available on record.

Sakkas also directed music theatre performances, notably at Delphi (1996, 1997), Volos (1996), and Thessaloniki (1997). At the Greek National Opera (GNO), he directed the premieres of Mauricio Kagel’s Oral Betrayal (La Trahison orale) in 1994/95 and Dimitris Maragopoulos’ The Mask of Red (I maska tou kokkinou) in 1998/99. Between 1976 and 1990, Sakkas performed several roles at the GNO, including Conroy (Conroy and His Copies by Periklis Koukos), A Man (Fire by Yorgos Sicilianos), Papageno (The Magic Flute), the title role in Luigi Dallapiccola’s The Prisoner (Il prigioniero), Luigia’s mother (Conventions and Inconveniences of the Stage), Peter (Hansel and Gretel), and Ottone (The Coronation of Poppaea).

Source: Greek National Opera Educational Virtual Museum