Βύρων Κολάσσης

b. Istanbul 1921 d. Athens, Greece 17 April 1999. Greek violinist and principal conductor at the Greek National Opera in Athens. He was Μαρία Αλκαίου's second husband. Cousin of the mezzo-soprano Irma Kolassi. He studied at the Athens Conservatory and graduated at the age of 16. He was director of the Athens Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1941 and director of the State Orchestra from 1946. Prominent Greek violinist, principal musician, pianist, teacher and composer. He is one of the most talented personalities of our musical history (once his name was synonymous with the Greek violin...). He was born in Antigone of the Princely Islands, to parents originally from Trebizond. At the age of 3 he came to Athens with his family and at the age of 6 he started playing the violin. Being a "child prodigy", he appeared for the first time in a concert at the age of 9 (Central Theater) and at the age of 10 he was in the first violins of the Symphony Orchestra. of the Athens Conservatory(!). He studied violin with I. Boustintoui (Athens Conservatoire), graduating in 1938 with first prize. He immediately started giving concerts, in Greece and abroad, while later he studied sporadically at the Scuola Cantorum in Paris (1946-51) obtaining a diploma in fugue and orchestra conducting. Since 1941, professor of violin and chamber music at the National Conservatory. Since 1943, director of the Radio Symphony Orchestra. Since 1949, former violinist of both the KOA (he resigned on 8.4.1968) and the ELLS. In 1954 he founded and occasionally conducted the "Chamber Orchestra of Athens" or "Camerata of Athens" (with many appearances in Greece, Cyprus and abroad). From 1960, he was chief musician of the Court (until the position was abolished) and from 1982 artistic director of the National Conservatory. To his students and (alphabetically): Fotis Evst. Vlachos, Vagias Deligiannis, Gertrudi Dounia, Dafni Zafeirakopoulou, Manolis Kazabakas, Stelios Kafantaris, Kyriakos Patras, Xeni akellariou, Samos Thomas, Giota Saravalou, Titika Chalkoutsaki, etc.). From 1978 (until 1987) he held the position of the 1st chief musician of KOA. As the 1st chief musician of ELS (1965-1981) he conducted dozens of performances of several works of the repertoire. Among them, we mention the uploading of the Greek works: "Hero and Leandros" (1970), "Kon/nos Paleologos" and "The Mother's Ring". he was also trained in the composition of chamber music works, such as: "Sonata no. 1 for violin and piano" (1951), "Sonata no. 2" (1958), "Quartet for strings" (1959), etc. It has appeared in many foreign countries (Italy, Switzerland, France, England, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Romania, Bulgaria, former Soviet Union, former Yugoslavia, Egypt, Turkey, etc.). He was a member of the Committee of the International Competition of Opera Singers in Sofia (1963). He has been honored with numerous distinctions, such as: the Order of George I and the Order of Phoenix, the Golden Cross of Saint Mark of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the famous officer of the French Legion of Honor, etc. Gifted with rare musical gifts (both as a violinist and - later - as a conductor) and possessing perhaps the best "musical ear" that appeared in our country, he is rightfully ranked among the greats of Greek Music, with international influence.