Twenty years ago, on November 23th 1989, the Orchestra of Colours made its first appearance at the Pallas Theater in Athens. It was conducted by its founder, Manos Hadjidakis, in a program consisting of works by Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart and Brahms. In the following four-year period between November 1989 and June 1993, Manos Hadjidakis included in his programs many works by 20th century composers, which were unknown till that time in Greece: Copland, Menotti, Poulenc, Milhaud, Ohana, Hindemith, Nielsen, Ives, Britten, Thomson, Szymanowski, Kurt Weill, Piazzolla, Rota e.t.c. There was a strong presence, too, of greek music (Petrides, Varvoglis, Pallandios, Xenakis, Sicilianos, Mamangakis, Antoniou, Couroupos), including young composers as well (Anissegos, Kritsotakis). Special programs paid homage to Manolis Kalomiris, Nikos Skalkottas, Jani Christou and Mikis Theodorakis.
Besides symphonic works, the first four-year period of concerts included many chamber music concerts, even some music theater productions, too. Concerts were initially taking place at the Pallas Theater, while after April 1991, most of them were given at Megaron-The Athens Concert Hall. The Orchestra traveled outside Athens, to give concerts in different cities of Greece (Salonika, Patras, Volos).
What were Manos Hadjidakis’ intentions when he founded the Orchestra of Colours? Its establishment, in 1989, was his last enterprise; one that realized his vision for the existence of a first-rate orchestra in Greece, dedicated to presenting interesting works not usually included in standard repertory. He wanted the orchestra to be fully prepared to meet the requirements of very varied programs and to have adequate rehearsal time. Its flexible administration and the high musicianship of its members would, likewise, guarantee a perfect artistic result.
As it is, today, the Orchestra΄s appearances are always marked by inventive programs, that include the classic as well as the avant-garde, and very often such works that have either been neglected or too strenuous to perform i.e. Turangalîla-symponie by Olivier Messiaen, the full operas Pelléas et Mélisande by Claude Debussy and The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten, Sympony No 2 by Kurt Weill, Ais by Iannis Xenakis, the concerti for piano by G. Ligeti and W. Lutoslawski, works by T. Takemitsu, A. Schnittke, P. Vasks, B. Kutavicius, A. Part, and so on. The orchestra΄s aim is to bring to light neglected masterpieces of the 20th century, as well as to offer fresh interpretation for older but less known compositions of the 18th and the 19th centuries.
A good part of the Orchestra΄s repertory comprises works by Greek composers. These are either presented in concert as profiles of established figures among Greek composers, or as first performances of newly commissioned works by the younger generation.
Concluding, we would say that during that first period of its existence, the orchestra set its goals, but was not in the position to reach fulfillment, owing to great financial difficulties – it had not yet been under any state subsidy. Besides, Manos Hadjidakis’ health deteriorated gradually. The last time he conducted the Orchestra of Colours was on February 22nd 1993, at Megaron-the Athens Concert Hall, at a concert voicing a protest against the emergence of new Nazism. The program included works by K. Weill, F. Liszt and B. Bartok, with György Sandor participating as a soloist. After that, all concerts for the period 1993-1994 were conducted by Miltos Logiades, who had been working for the Orchestra of Colours as an assistant conductor since 1991. Manos Hadjidakis departed from this world on June 15, 1994.

Near the end of 1994, almost half a year after Manos Hadjidakis’ death, Thanos Mikroutsikos, who was then Minister of Culture, managed to obtain state funds in order to ensure the orchestra’s survival, thus keeping his promise to the founder of the orchestra. In this way, the Orchestra of Colours, always bearing the same name, changed status and was re-established on December 27, 1994, as a legal entity under private law subsidized by the Ministry of Culture. President of this new organization was named the distinguished lawyer George Stephanakis, while the position of Artistic Director was offered to composer George Couroupos. Miltos Logiades was named Permanent Conductor of the orchestra, and Vicky Galatou Head of Productions and Administration.
The new beginning of the orchestra was guided by Manos Hadjidakis’ aims and visions. The first concert, with a program including works by Fauré, Pallandios, Hadjidakis (it was, then, the world premier of his Gioconda’s Smile), took place at Megaron-the Athens Concert Hall. Soloist for Pallandios’ Concerto for Piano was Maria Cherogeorgou-Sigara. Immediately after that beginning, the Orchestra of Colours strived, mainly, towards two objectives: first, the continuous improvement of its performances, and, second, the re-assessment of its position in the new circumstances. One should note, here, the changing circumstances the orchestra had to face: First, Megaron-The Athens Concert Hall had just opened its doors to the public. Second, there had been revision of all laws determining function of state subsidized organizations, including orchestras and theater companies. Third, there had been a number of newly-established music ensembles and orchestras (the Camerata-Orchestra of the Friends of Music Society, the National Orchestra of Greek Music e.t.c.). Five years after its first appearance, the orchestra had to face different challenges. Nevertheless, it did not take long for the orchestra to adjust to the new conditions, without in fact being distracted from its aims. As an example, the orchestra’s future activities in reference to other art forms emerge in September 1995, with the successful “100 Years of Movie-Making”, a program of live music and simultaneous projection of excerpts from famous motion pictures of the past century, in a concept supervised by movie director Pantelis Voulgaris. A little later, in November 1995, Michalis Grigoriou first world performance of Dark Act on poetry by Tassos Livaditis, comes as a starting point for the orchestra’s dedication in encouraging and promoting greek contemporary music. The orchestra’s collaboration with other organizations, especially with Megaron-The Athens Concert Hall for opera productions, begins in January 1996, with The Tango of Rubbish, an opera-strip cartoon by Dimitris Marangopoulos, based on texts by the cartoonist Arcas. The long-time dedication of the Orchestra of Colours to the art of song, either greek or non-greek, is brought forth soon enough with concerts dedicated to the songs of Beatles and to the songs of Nikos Kipourgos (1996).
Decisive, though, for the orchestra’s status remains the establishment, jointly by the Orchestra of Colours and Megaron-The Athens Concert Hall, of the prestigious Dimitris Mitropoulos International Competition, for Conductors and Composers, in alternate years. This not only makes the orchestra known abroad, but establishes its long-held interest and dedication to contemporary music. Already, since 1996, there have been an extremely high number of participants from very many countries of the world. The competition went on very successfully during the following years, and after 2001 it had been part of the Cultural Olympiad, which ran parallel with the Olympic Games of Athens. In September 2005, there will be the first world performance of Eumenides, an opera whose composer, conductor and singers have been selected since 2001, among participants from all over the world through the processes of the Dimitris Mitropoulos International Competition.
Back to its concerts, the Orchestra of Colours reaches a high point in 1998, only three years after its re-establishment, with its participation in a joint production with Megaron-the Athens Concert Hall of the opera Pelléas and Mélisande by Claude Debussy, performance that gained high acclaim from foreign press, as well. A little later, during the same year, the orchestra offers an extremely difficult program of three symphonic works by Jani Christou, in a performance which gained excellent reviews and circulated in a CD a few months later. That same year, the Orchestra of Colours traveled abroad: on March 16th it appeared in Budapest, on June 15th in London, and on July 7th in Lisbon, this time for representing Greece in EXPO ’98. There followed the first attempt, under the supervision of the poetess Ioulita Eliopoulou, of a joint music and literature concert: a homage, this time, to Dionysius Solomos, with music by Theodoros Antoniou. Following this success, a joint music and literature series has been established since 1999 by the Orchestra of Colours and Ioulita Eliopoulou at the Melina Mercouri Foundation in Plaka.
In recognition of its stature, the Orchestra of Colours has regularly participated in all the great cultural events in Greece. Already, as back as 1997, the orchestra had been invited to participate in the events of “Salonica-Cultural Capital of Europe” with a concert-homage to the great poet Odysseus Elytis. Every year the Orchestra of Colours appears, mainly with greek contemporary music, in the program of the Athens Festival in the Odeon of Herod the Attic under the Acropolis: in the summer of 2000, the Orchestra of Colours participated in Carole Armitage’s ballet production Io Casanova, and during the summer of 2001, it appeared twice, once for a concert-homage to Iannis Xenakis, including the first performance in Greece of his work Ais, and the second time for a concert focusing on greek song with participation of Maria Farantouri (this has been, also, recorded on CD). During the summer of 1999, the Orchestra of Colours appeared in Delphi, during the works of the International Conference on Mythos, Music and Drama, in an opera gala with distinguished singers. Since then, every year there is an opera gala organized by the Orchestra of Colours. In December 1999, the Orchestra of Colours represented Greece for the international 24-hour televised celebrations of the beginning of the new century, broadcasted on January 1st, 2000. New Year’s Eve found the orchestra performing a live concert under the Acropolis. Other participations in state events include: 3/1/2000 inauguration concert of Megaron - The Salonica Concert Hall, 13/7/2000 a concert celebrating the Year of Socrates. On March 25, 2002, the Orchestra of Colours traveled to Tirana, Albania, to celebrate the national anniversary of the 1821 Greek Revolution, a highly successful event marking the good prospects of cultural interchange between the two countries.
Besides these important special events, the regular program of the Orchestra is based on several cycles a specific thematic character each:
GREEK MUSIC CYCLE – 5 Concert in the Greek-American Union
ROMANTIC TUESDAYS CYCLE – Popular concerts at Trianon Cinema
MUSIC AND CINEMA CYCLE – Concerts at Trianon Cinema
MUSIC AND LITERATURE CYCLE – 9 Concerts at the Melina Mercouri Foundation

Special mention should be made to the performance of other important works such as the symphonic works The Sea by Nikos Skalkottas (Megaron – Athens Concert Hall, 1993), The Planets by Gustav Holst (Megaron- Athens Concert Hall, 1997), Turangalîla-symphonie by Olivier Messiaen (Megaron-Athens Concert Hall, 2000), important works by G. Ligeti (including the Concerto for Piano, Megaron-Athens Concert Hall, 2001), Socrates by Erik Satie (Pnyka, 2001), works by W. Lutoslawski (Megaron-Athens Concert Hall, 2002), T. Takemitsu (Megaron-Athens Concert Hall, 2003), A. Schnittke, as well as other 20th century masterpieces and CD releases which include works by Jani Christou, Petros Petrides, Yiannis Constantinides, Astor Piazzolla, Nikos Skalkottas, George Couroupos.

In conclusion, we should mention the fact that the Orchestra of Colours is moving in two directions: the first is towards contemporary music, including commissions to greek composers as well. In clear mathematics, the orchestra has performed 227 works by more than 89 greek composers, many of these works on commission. Besides, the orchestra focuses on contemporary music from many other countries: Messiaen (2000), Ligeti (2001), Lutoslawski (2002), Takemitsu (2003), and then, in 2004, composers of the Baltic Sea (Kutavicius, Paert, Vasks). This year the Orchestra of Colours gave a concert with the Concerto for Piano and Strings, and Symphony no. 4 by Alfred Schnittke. Aim of this activity is to familiarize Greek audience to contemporary music. The second direction aims at a widening of the music experience, into links with other art forms. This is the purpose of the joint music and literature cycles, the music and cinema cycles, participation in contemporary and classical dance. Along with this, comes the pedagogical aspect of many of the orchestra’s concerts, especially those in the “Romantic Tuesdays” cycle at Trianon, aiming to attract a wider public, unfamiliar with classical music. Last, but not least, we must consider the great impact of the annual International Dimitris Mitropoulos Competition.

Many of the Orchestra’s productions are recorded on CD:
*MENELAOS PALLANDIOS, Seirios 1993
*MICHALIS GREGORIOU, DARK ACT, Lyra 1996
*YIANNIS CONSTANTINIDES-PETROS PETRIDES, Ankh 2000
*JANI CHRISTOU, Ankh 2000
*ASTOR PIAZZOLLA, Ankh 2000
*NIKOS PLATIRAHOS, SEPTEMBER (participation), Legend 2001
*NIKOS SKALKOTTAS, THE SEA, Ankh 2001
*GEORGE COUROUPOS-EUGENIOS TRIVIZAS, THE CHESSBOARD FUGITIVES, Ankh 2001
*MARIA FARANTOURI – A CENTURY OF GREEK SONG (participation), Legend 2001