Michail "Mikis"Theodorakis (Greek:Μιχαήλ "Μίκης" Θεοδωράκης[mixaˈilˈmicisθeoðoˈracis]; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021)[1] was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works.[2][3][4][5][6]
He scored for the filmsZorba the Greek (1964),Z (1969), andSerpico (1973). He was a three-timeBAFTA nominee, winning forZ.[7] For the score inSerpico, he earnedGrammy nominations.[8] Furthermore, for the score toZorba the Greek, with its song "Zorba's Dance", he was nominated for aGolden Globe.[9]
He composed the "Mauthausen Trilogy", also known as "The Ballad of Mauthausen", which has been described as the "most beautiful musical work ever written aboutthe Holocaust" and possibly his best work.[10] Up until his death, he was viewed as Greece's best-known living composer.[3][5][11] He was awarded theLenin Peace Prize.[12]
Politically, he was associated with the left because of his long-standing ties to theCommunist Party of Greece (KKE). He was an MP for the KKE from 1981 to 1990. Despite this, however, he ran as an independent candidate within the centre-rightNew Democracy party in 1989, for the country to emerge from the political crisis created by the numerous scandals of the government ofAndreas Papandreou.[13] He helped establish a large coalition between conservatives, socialists and leftists.[clarification needed] In 1990, he was elected to the parliament (as in 1964 and 1981), became a government minister underKonstantinos Mitsotakis, and fought against drugs and terrorism and in favor of culture and education. He continued to speak out in favour of leftist causes, Greek–Turkish–Cypriot relations, andagainst the War in Iraq.[14][15] He was a key voice against the 1967–1974Greek junta, which imprisoned him and banned his songs.[16]
His fascination with music began in early childhood; he taught himself to write his first songs without access to musical instruments. He took his first music lessons in Patras[18] and Pyrgos,[20] where he was a childhood friend ofGeorge Pavlopoulos,[30] and in Tripoli,Peloponnese,[22] he gave his first concert at the age of seventeen. He went to Athens in 1943, and became a member of a Reserve Unit ofELAS. He led a troop in the fight against the British and the Greek right in theDekemvriana.[31] During theGreek Civil War he was arrested, sent into exile on the island ofIcaria[32] and then deported to the island ofMakronisos, where he was tortured and twice buried alive.[33]
During the periods when he was not obliged to hide, not exiled or jailed, he studied from 1943 to 1950 at theAthens Conservatoire underFiloktitis Economidis [el].[34] In 1950, he finished his studies and took his last two exams "with flying colours".[35] He went to Crete, where he became the "head of the Chania Music School" and founded his first orchestra.[36]
In 1953, Theodorakis married Myrto Altinoglou.[37] The following year, they travelled to Paris, where he entered the Conservatory and studied musical analysis underOlivier Messiaen[38] and conducting underEugene Bigot.[39]
His symphonic works: aPiano concerto, his firstsuite, his firstsymphony, and his scores for theballet:Greek Carnival, Le Feu aux Poudres, Les Amants de Teruel, received international acclaim. In 1957, he won the Gold Medal in the Moscow Music Festival.[40] In 1959, after the successful performances of Theodorakis's operaAntigone atCovent Garden in London, the French composerDarius Milhaud proposed him for theAmerican Copley Music Prize – an award of the "William and Noma Copley Foundation",[41] which later changed its name to "Cassandra Foundation" as the "Best European Composer of the Year". His first international scores for the filmIll Met by Moonlight andHoneymoon (akaLuna de Miel), directors:Michael Powell andEmeric Pressburger, were successful:The Honeymoon Song, title song of the later, became part of the repertoire ofThe Beatles.[42]
Mikis Theodorakis shortly after his return to Greece in 1961
In 1960, Theodorakis returned to Greece and his roots in Greek music. With his song cycleEpitaphios, he contributed to a cultural revolution in his country.[43] His most significant and influential works are based on Greek and world poetry –Epiphania (Giorgos Seferis),Little Kyklades (Odysseas Elytis),Axion Esti (Elytis),Mauthausen (Iakovos Kambanellis),Romiossini (Yannis Ritsos), andRomancero Gitano (Federico García Lorca) – he attempted to give back to Greek music a dignity which in his perception it had lost. He developed his concept of "metasymphonic music" (symphonic compositions that go beyond the "classical" status and mix symphonic elements with popular songs, Western symphonic orchestra and Greek popular instruments).[44]
He founded theAthens Little Symphony Orchestra and gave many concerts in the country, trying to familiarize people with symphonic music.[45]
After the assassination ofGregoris Lambrakis in May 1963 he founded theLambrakis Democratic Youth ("Lambrákides") and was elected its president.[46] Under Theodorakis's impetus, it started a vast cultural renaissance movement and became the greatest political organisation in Greece with more than 50,000 members.[47] Following the 1964 elections, Theodorakis became a member of the Greek Parliament, associated with the left-wing partyEDA. Because of his political ideas, the composer was black-listed by the cultural establishment; at the time of his biggest artistic glory, a large number of his songs were censored-before-studio or were not allowed on the radio stations.[48]
During 1964, he wrote the music for the Michael Cacoyiannis filmZorba the Greek, whose main theme, since then, exists as a trademark for Greece. It is also known as "Syrtaki dance", inspired by old Cretan traditional dances.[49]
On 21 April 1967 theRegime of the Colonelstook power in a putsch. Theodorakis was a symbol of resistance to the military regime. He went into hiding, issued the first call for resistance against the dictatorship on 23 April. and founded thePan-Hellenic Anti-Dictatorship Front [el] (PAM).[37][50] On 1 June, the Colonels published "Army decree No 13", which banned playing, and even listening to his music. Theodorakis was arrested on 21 August,[51] and jailed for five months. He was released at the end of January 1968, and then deported in August toZatouna with his wife, Myrto, and their two children, Margarita andGeorge [de].[52] Later he was interned in theconcentration camp ofOropos.[53]
Mikis Theodorakis at a concert in Caesarea, Israel, in the 1970s
In 1971, Mikis Theodorakis was invited to Chile by then-presidentSalvador Allende. InValparaíso, he listened to a group of young people who introduced him to part of the work of the poetPablo Neruda. Theodorakis loved it and promised to give Chile his musical opinion on theCanto General. Back to Paris, in 1972 Theodorakis met Pablo Neruda when the Greek composer was rehearsing the musicalization ofCanto General. Neruda was impressed and asked him to include poems such as "Lautaro" and "A Emiliano Zapata".[58]
After the fall of the colonels, Mikis Theodorakis returned to Greece on 24 July 1974 to continue his work and his concert tours, both in Greece and abroad.[62] His return was in triumph, with huge crowds and his music playing on the radio.[63] At the same time he participated in public affairs. In 1978, through his articleFor a United Left Wing, he had "stirred up the Greek political life. His proposal for the unification of the three parties of the formerUnited Left (Greece)—which had grown out of theNational Liberation Front—had been accepted by the Greek Communist Party which later proposed him as the candidate for mayor of Athens during the 1978 elections." (Andreas Brandes)[64] He was later elected several times to the Greek Parliament (1981–1986 and 1989–1993) and for two years, from 1990 to 1992, he was a minister in the government ofConstantine Mitsotakis. After his resignation as a member of Greek parliament, he was appointed General Musical Director of the Choir and the two Orchestras of the Hellenic State Radio (ERT), which he reorganised and with which he undertook successful concert tours abroad.[65]
He was committed to raising international awareness of human rights, environmental issues, and the need for peace. For this reason, he initiated, along with the Turkish author, musician, singer and filmmakerZülfü Livaneli, the Greek–Turkish Friendship Society.[66]
From 1981, Theodorakis had started thefourth period of his musical writing, during which he returned to the symphonic music, while still going on to compose song-cycles. His most significant works written in these years are hisSecond,Third,Fourth, andSeventh Symphony, most of them being first performed in the formerGerman Democratic Republic between 1982 and 1989. It was during this period that he received theLenin Peace Prize. He composed his first operaKostas Kariotakis (The Metamorphoses of Dionysus) and the balletZorba the Greek, premièred in theArena of Verona during the Festival Verona 1988. During this period, he also wrote the five volumes of his autobiography:The Ways of the Archangel (Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου).[37]
In 1989, he started thefifth period, the last, of his musical writing: He composed three operas (lyric tragedies)Medea, first performed inBilbao (1 October 1991),Elektra, first performed inLuxembourg (2 May 1995) andAntigone, first performed inAthens Concert Hall (7 October 1999). This trilogy was complemented by his last operaLysistrata, first performed in Athens (14 April 2002): a call for peace... With his operas, and with his song cycles from 1974 to 2006, Theodorakis ushered in the period of hisLyrical Life.[67]
In March 1997, gave a concert at the BerlinHaus der Kulturen der Welt. Afterwards he was hospitalized due to respiratory difficulties and it was when he declared that this was his last concert.[68]
He later lived in retirement, reading, writing, publishing arrangements of his scores, texts about culture and politics. On occasions he took position: in 1999, opposingNATO'sKosovo war and in 2003 against theIraq War. In 2005, he was awarded theSorano Friendship and Peace Award, the RussianInternational St.-Andrew-the-First-Called Prize, the insignia ofGrand Officer of the Order of Merit ofLuxembourg, and theIMC UNESCO International Music Prize, while already in 2002 he was honoured in Bonn with theErich Wolfgang Korngold Prize for film music at the International Film Music Biennial in Bonn[70] (cf also: Homepage of the Art and Exhibition Hall Bonn).[71] In 2007, he received aLifetime Achievement Award at the distribution of theWorld Soundtrack Awards in Ghent.[72]
A final collection of songs titledOdysseia setpoetry byKostas Kartelias. In 2009 he composed a Rhapsody for Strings (mezzo-soprano or baritonead lib.). Created on 30 January 2013, this was one of the largest works by any composer of any time.[73]
On 26 February 2019, Theodorakis was hospitalized with heart problems. On 8 March, he underwent surgery for apacemaker.[74][75] He died of cardiopulmonary arrest at his home in Athens on 2 September 2021, at the age of 96.[37][1] The Greek Prime Minister declared three days of national mourning to honour him,[37][76] and his body lay in state in the chapel of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, with thousands of people, including artists, as well as political leaders from all Greek parties paying their last respects. Epitaphs were delivered by the president of the Hellenic Republic, Aikaterini Sakellaropoulou, and the general secretary of theCommunist Party of Greece,Dimitrios Koutsoumbas. Afterwards, according to his will, his body was transferred by boat overnight to be buried in his hometown of Galatas, near Chania, Crete, where his parents and brotherGiannis Theodorakis [el] were buried.[37][77]
In 2025, the Greek government declared 2025 the “Year of Mikis Theodorakis” to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth. As part of this, ERTFLIX International launched a tribute with concerts abroad and archives of interviews and rare performances becoming more accessible.[78]
Also in 2025, his childhood home in Galatas, Chania, Crete was officially made a modern monument. The house and adjacent donated properties will be restored with joint funding to become a cultural centre for exhibitions and research.[79][80]
In September 2025, theCommunist Party of Turkey (TKP) and theCommunist Party of Greece (KKE) held cross-border centenary concerts titled “Bir Asır Theodorakis”, (Theodorakis for a century) first onChios and then atİzmir’s Bostanlı Democracy Square.[81] The İzmir concert drew a large audience, where TKP General SecretaryKemal Okuyan and KKE Political Bureau memberNikos Sofianos emphasized Theodorakis’ role as both apatriot and aninternationalist. Sofianos highlighted that his music and political life were inseparable, rooted in his early membership in the KKE and lifelong communist identity, while also carrying a message of solidarity across peoples. He noted that Theodorakis’ works, inspired by poets such asYannis Ritsos,Pablo Neruda, andNâzım Hikmet, continue to inspire struggles against imperialism and for social justice. Okuyan, in turn, placed Theodorakis among a global tradition of communist artists likeDmitri Shostakovich,Víctor Jara, andPaul Robeson, arguing that his absence would leave a void in twentieth-century culture. The event concluded with Turkish and Greek musicians performing his songs together, including a bilingual rendition of “We Will Not Die Fighting” (Dövüşmeden Ölmeyiz).
Theodorakis opposed Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. He criticised Greek Prime MinisterGeorge Papandreou for establishing closer relations with Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu, who was guilty, he said, of "war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza."[82] Theodorakis was a vocal critic of Zionism, and referred to himself as an "anti-Zionist."[83][84][85][86] In 2003, he stated, "Everything that happens today in the world has to do with the Zionists... American Jews are behind the world economic crisis that has hit Greece as well." He was accused of saying that "this small nation (Israel) is the root of evil".[87] Theodorakis later clarified his comments, stating in a letter to the Central Council of Jews in Greece that what he had said was: "Unfortunately the state of Israel supports the United States and their foreign policy, which is the root of the Evil and, therefore, it is close to the root of the Evil."[88] He was also accused of having admitted his anti-Semitism during an interview on Greek TV on 8 February 2011. His controversial statement on television had been: "I should clarify that I am anti-Semite. Essentially, I love the Jewish people, I love the Jews, I have lived long with them but as much as I hate anti-Semitism, I hate Zionism even more so", being "I am anti-Semite" an obvious slip of the tongue for "anti-Zionist".[88] In 2013, he condemnedGolden Dawn forHolocaust denial.[89]
Theodorakis was a long-time critic of the United States foreign policy. During the invasion of Iraq, he called Americans "detestable, ruthless cowards and murderers of the people of the world". He said he would consider anyone who interacted with "these barbarians", for whatever reason, as his enemy.[90] Theodorakis greatly opposed theNATO bombing of Yugoslavia during theYugoslav Wars. He participated in a charity concert protesting the bombing in 1999.[91]
On 1 December 2010, Mikis Theodorakis founded "Spitha: People's Independent Movement", a non-political movement which calls people to gather and express their political ideas. The main goal of "Spitha" is to help Greece stay clear of its economic crisis.[92] On 31 May 2011, Theodorakis gave a speech attended by approximately 10,000 people in the center of Athens, criticising the Greek government for the loan debt it has taken from theInternational Monetary Fund.[93]
In 1997 Mikis Theodorakis stated on theMacedonian issue that "The name does not matter so much, as long as the peoples live in peace". Later, in an interview, he stressed "In fact, this country is being pushed towards improving relations with Greece. So why shouldn't it be possible for our relations to prosper at all levels and whatever comes up? The Customs Union, confederation, etc. are just conditions. In any case, I think that the name issue will be overcome when the relations between the two peoples reach such a point that the name will not matter at all".[94]
Theodorakis was one of the main speakers at the Rally for Macedonia in Athens, which took place on 4 February 2018. In his speech, he stated that "Macedonia is one, was, is and will always be Greek."[95][96] The statements garnered support from parties in parliament, while evenGolden Dawn MPs welcomed Mikis Theodorakis' shift on the name of Macedonia. Members ofSYRIZA andYiannis Boutaris commented negatively on Theodorakis' statements. Also, the day before the rally, a group of anarchists threw paint at the entrance of his house and then wrote threatening messages, such as: "Your story starts from the mountain and ends in the national swamp ofSyntagma Square.[97]
His song cycles are based on poems by Greek authors, as well as byGarcía Lorca andNeruda: Epitaphios, Archipelagos, Politia A-D, Epiphania, The Hostage, Mykres Kyklades, Mauthausen, Romiossini, Sun and Time, Songs for Andreas, Mythology, Night of Death, Ta Lyrika, The Quarters of the World, Dionysos, Phaedra, Mia Thalassa, Os Archaios Anemos, Ta Lyrikotera, Ta Lyrikotata, Erimia, Odysseia.Theodorakis released two albums of his songs and song cycles on Paredon Records andFolkways Records in the early seventies, including hisPeoples' Music: The Struggles of the Greek People (1974).[98]
^John Chrysochoos, Ph.D. (17 November 2010).Ikaria – Paradise in Peril. Dorrance Publishing. p. 24.ISBN978-1-4349-8240-7. Retrieved1 November 2012.Theodorakis the internationally renowned Greek composer
^abMaura Ellyn; Maura McGinnis (1 August 2004).Greece: A Primary Source Cultural Guide. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 86.ISBN978-0-8239-3999-2. Retrieved1 November 2012.Considered Greece's greatest living composer, Theodorakis has written many scores.
^George Giannaris (1972).Mikis Theodorakis: music and social change. Praeger. Retrieved3 November 2012.For nearly six months, Mikis remained on the island of Crete trying to put the past behind, and become a human being ... For too long, he had been a drain on hisfather who was finding it difficult to practice his profession in the tiny village of KatoGalata, or even the larger town of Cha- nia. There was no dearth of lawyersestablished in the area for years, and even though Yiorgos had been born there, his
^Sir Compton Mackenzie; Christopher Stone (2005).The Gramophone. C. Mackenzie. Retrieved3 November 2012.MIKIS THEODORAKIS AT 80 Mikis Theodoralris celebrated his 80th birthday on July 29 this year. ... His mother had moved to the Greek islands from Asia Minor just before the Lausanne Peace Conference in 1923 obliged 1.5 million other
^Journal of Modern Hellenism. Hellenic College Press. 2001. Retrieved3 November 2012.While there is no record of a young Mikis Theodorakis being subjected to any serious direct personal physical or psychological trauma, he did grew up in ... His mother, Aspasia Poulakis, was a refugee form Tsemes, a coastal city in Asia Minor
^Mikis Theodorakis (1973).Journals of resistance. Hart-Davis McGibbon.ISBN978-0-246-10597-4. Retrieved3 November 2012.29 July 1925 Mikis Theodorakis is born on the island of Chios. ... Theodorakis learns to sing Byzantine hymns and, since his father is from Crete and his mother from the Greek colony in Asia Minor, he also gets to know the very varied tradition=
^Theodorakis:Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου II / The Ways of the Archangel, Autobiography, Volume II, Ch. 3, p. 11 sq; cf. also p. 174sq; Mikis Theodorakis,Τα δικά μου Δεκεμβριανά / My December '44, 1944:Ο Μοιραίος Δεκέμβριος / The Fateful December, special supplement of newspaper 'Vima', Sunday, 5 December 2010, p. 54.
^Jean Boivin, 'Messiaen's Teaching at the Paris Conservatoire: A Humanist Legacy', in Siglind Bruhn,Messiaen's Language of Mystical Love (New York, Garland, 1998), p.10
^The story of this rescue in French, cf. Guy Wagner: Mikis Theodorakis. Une vie pour la Grèce, p. 387 sq.; in German, cf. Guy Wagner: Mikis Theodorakis. Ein Leben für Griechenland, p. 420 sq
Jean Boivin,Messiaen's Teaching at the Paris Conservatoire: A Humanist Legacy, in Siglind Bruhn,Messiaen's Language of Mystical Love (New York, Garland, 1998), 5–31: 10
George Giannaris:Mikis Theodorakis. Music and Social Change, Foreword by Mikis Theodorakis. G. Allen, London, 1972
Gail Holst:Myth & Politics in Modern Greek Music, Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam, 1980
Mikis Theodorakis:Journals of Resistance. Translated from the French by Graham Webb, Hart-Davis MacGibbon, London, 1973
Mikis Theodorakis:Music and Theater, Translated by George Giannaris, Athens, 1983
Guy Wagner:Mikis Theodorakis. Mia Zoi yia tin Ellada. Typothito – Giorgos Dardanos, 2002.ISBN960-402-008-0 (The biography exists also in French:Mikis Theodorakis. Une Vie pour la Grèce. Editions Phi, Luxembourg, 2000; and in German:Mikis Theodorakis. Ein Leben für Griechenland. Editions Phi, Luxembourg, 1995)
George Logothetis:Mikis Theodorakis: the Greek soul, translated from the Greek by Phillipos Chatzopoulos, Agyra editions 2004,ISBN960-422-095-0. The Chinese version has been published by Shanghai Baijia Publishing House in 2008,ISBN978-7-80703-861-0.
Asteris Kutulas:Mikis Theodorakis. A Life in pictures (in German), Coffee-table book with 1 DVD & 2 CDs. Schott Music, Mainz 2010,ISBN978-3-7957-0713-2
Arja Saijonmaa:En ung naken kvinna : mötet med Mikis (A young naked woman – the meeting with Mikis),ISBN978-91-642-0345-8 (bound) Stockholm : Piratförlaget, 2011 Swedish 443 pages, [16] picture pages + 1 CD with four songs by Mikis Theodorakis.
