The great Greek composer is known for unforgettable film scores – Zorba, for instance – and overwhelming song cycles – Ballad of Mauthausen – each of them amounting to a cultural history of his country in the 20th century. Theodorakis, who died in 2021, was politically active to the last. His concert music was overshadowed by his status as national icon and prisoner of conscience. Theodorakis was twice held in concentration camps, during the civil war of the late 1940s and under the colonel’s regime two decades later. The manuscript of his first symphony was mislaid in his 1949 incarceration,…
Mikis Theodorakis. Photo: Diane Hocker
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