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MINISTRY OF CULTURE - ORCHESTRA OF COLOURS - ATHENS CONCERT HALL
DIMITRIS MITROPOULOS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION Under the patronage of the Greek Ministry of Culture
Organized by the Orchestra of Colours in collaboration with Megaron-the Athens Concert Hall HONORARY COMMITTEE
Christos LAMBRAKIS (President) Theodore ANTONIOU Alkis BALTAS Agnes BALTSA Luciano BERIO George COUROUPOS George CRUMB Dr. Claus Helmut DRESE Aris GAROUFALIS Prof. Hans Werner HENZE Leonidas KAVAKOS Apostolos KOSTIOS Sir Neville MARRINER Thanos MIKROUTSIKOS Alexandros MYRAT Krzysztof PENDERECKI Gunther SCHULLER Claudio SCIMONE John TAVENER
The Dimitris Mitropoulos International Competition was inaugurated under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture in 1996, to mark the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Greek conductor and composer Dimitris Mitropoulos.
The competition aspires to keep alive the memory of this great musician by following his footsteps in the support and promotion of young musicians. The competition standards aim at combining creativity and an artful interpretation, as well as respect for tradition and encouragement of the avant-garde - in short, it promotes devotion to art with that special selflessness and humanity characteristic of the personality of Dimitris Mitropoulos. The Competition is organized by the Orchestra of Colours in close collaboration with Megaron-the Athens Concert Hall and takes place every year in Athens, for conductors and composers, alternatively. In recognition of the particularly high standards of the competition, the Wiener Kammerorchester has offered their permanent cooperation by enabling prize-winners to give one concert in Konzerthaus Wien. For further information, please contact: The Dimitris Mitropoulos International Competition, Ms. Traute Lutz 18, Alex. Soutsou St., GR-106 71 Athens, Greece Tel: +30-210-3627 412 Fax: +30-210-3621 477 colours@otenet.gr http://www.mitropouloscompetition.gr Former Prize-winners
1996 Conducting Steven Lipsitt, First Prize United States Dorian Wilson, Second Prize United States Luciano Acocella, Third Prize Italy Ya-Hui Wang, Fourth Prize Singapur JURY Claudio Scimone (President), Theodore Antoniou, Tatsis Apostolides, George Couroupos, Jordi Mora, Lorne Munroe, Gunther Schuller 1997 Composition Hendrik Hofmeyr, Second Prize South Africa Joseph Papadatos Third Prize Greece Paolo Minetti, Third Prize Italy JURY Luciano Berio (President) Theodore Antoniou, Andre Boucourechliev, Betsy Jolas, Argyris Kounadis, George Couroupos, Gunther Schuller 1998 Conducting Masahiro Ueno, Second Prize Japan Giampaolo-Maria Bisanti, Second Prize Italy Martin Lebel, Third Prize France Domonkos Heja, The Orchestra´s Prize Hungary JURY Sir Neville Marriner (President) Theodore Antoniou, George Couroupos, Alexandros Myrat, Olaf Koch, Rolf Reuter, Stanley Drucker 1999 Composition Alberto Colla, First Prize Italy Michalis Economou Second Prize Greece Naomi Sekiya, Third Prize Japan JURY George Crumb (President) Theodore Antoniou, George Couroupos, Argyris Kounadis, Paul Mefano, Jay Reise, Claude Samuel 2000 Conducting Kiyotaka Teraoka, First Prize Japan Vassilis Christopoulos Second Prize Greece Laurent Melin, Third Prize France Lukasz Borowicz Honorary Mention Poland Domonkos Heja, The Orchestra´s Prize Hungary JURY Sir Neville Marriner (President) Theodore Antoniou, Nikos Athineos, Angelo Cavallaro, Alkis Baltas, Miltos Logiades, Hans Ulrich Schmid, Charalambos Farantatos 2001 Composition «World Opera Project» Vasil Tole First Prize Albania Robert Weirauch Second Prize Holland Francesco Venerucci Third Prize Italy Luca Belcastro Fourth Prize Italy JURY Cesare Mazzonis (President) George Couroupos Theodore Antoniou Pascal Dusapin Giorgis Yatromanolakis Giya Kancheil Victor Kissin Yannis Kokkos Argyris Kounadis Christos Lambrakis Claude Samuel Fabio Vacchi 2002 Conducting «World Opera Project» Alpaslan Ertungealp First Prize Turkey Kynan Johns Second Prize Australia Mikhail Agrest Third Prize United States Jean-Philippe Tremblayln Prize of the Orchestra France JURY Rudolph Barshai (President) Theodore Antoniou Rudolph Buchmann Lukas Karytinos Miltos Logiades Cesare Mazzonis Ulrike Range DIMITRIS MITROPOULOS
1896 - Born in Athens to a non-musical family 1910 - First piano lessons at the Athens Conservatory 1913 - Appeared in a concert with his teacher, showing his qualities both as a composer and a pianist 1915 - On the podium, for the first time 1919 - Diploma and Gold Medal in Piano from the Athens Conservatory 1920 - Went to study in Brussels on scholarship 1921 - Settled in Berlin, met Ferruccio Busoni, well-known composer and music teacher. 1924 - Back to Athens, accepted the post of assistant conductor of the Orchestra of the Hellenic Conservatory 1936 - As a guest conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he defied all odds and gave a performance of Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto, playing the solo part as well as conducting the orchestra. This was his great opportunity, and he soon signed a contract as principal conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (1938-49). 1944 - Artistic director and principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra 1949 - Mitropoulos was asked to take up the post of associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic, along with Leopold Stokowski. The following year, Stokowski withdrew and Mitropoulos became the sole and permanent conductor of the orchestra. 1951 - Named artistic director, of the same orchestra, up until 1957, when he was replaced by Leonard Bernstein. 1958 - Visited Athens with the Vienna Philharmonic. During those years he conducted other great European orchestras such as: the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam etc. and conducted at the Salzburg Festival, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino etc. 1959 - Mitropoulos suffered his second heart attack. Was advised to give up conducting if he wanted to live. That would have been worse than death, so he continued conducting with the same verve and passion. 1960, 2 November He suffered the last and fatal heart attack on La Scala's podium in Milan. According to his wishes, his body was cremated in Switzerland and his ashes returned to Athens where they lay in state for two days at the Theatre of Herod the Attic under the Acropolis. |
