Manolis Kalomiris
Manolis Kalomiris was a Greek classical composer. He was the founder of the Greek National School of Music.Biography
Born in Smyrna, he attended school in Constantinople and studied piano and composition in Vienna. After working for a few years as a piano teacher in Kharkov he settled in Athens. An admirer of Richard Wagner, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Kostis Palamas, and Nikos Kazantzakis, he set himself the life goal of establishing a Greek "national school" of music, based on the ideas of the Russian national composers, on western musical achievements and on modern Greek folk music, poetry and myth. He thus founded in 1919 the Hellenic Conservatory and in 1926 the National Conservatoire. At the same time, he served as the General Supervisor of military bands in the country. He wrote three symphonies and five operas, one piano concerto and one violin concertino, other symphonic works, chamber music and numerous songs and piano works. He held various public posts and was elected member of the Academy of Athens.
A passionate composer, he has a post-romantic idiom characterised by rich harmonies and orchestrations, complex counterpoints, long eastern melodies, and the frequent use of Greek folk rhythms. A preoccupation with love and death transcends all five of his music dramas.
