Ioannidis, Yannis

Ioannidis, Yannis, Greek composer; b. Athens, June 8, 1930. He studied piano at the Athens Cons. (1946-55), then organ, composition, and harpsichord at the Vienna Academy of Music (1955-63). He taught at Pierce Coll. in Athens (1963-68). In 1968 went to Caracas (his family was from Venezuela), where he served as artistic director of the chamber orch. of the National Inst. of Culture and Fine Arts; he was a prof. there from 1969, and at the Caracas Cons. and Univ. from 1971. He returned to Athens in 1976. As a composer, he followed the precepts of the second Vienna School, with a firm foundation of classical forms.

Works

ORCH.: Triptych (1962); Tropic (1968); Metaplassis A and B (1969, 1970); Transiciones (1971); Orbis for Piano and Orch. (1975-76). CHAMBER: Arioso for String Nonet (1960); 2 string quartets (1961, 1971); Duo for Violin and Piano (1962); Peristrophe for String Octet (1964); Versi for Clarinet (1967); Schemata (Figures) for String Ensemble (1968); Projections for Strings, Winds, and Piano (1968); Fragments I for Cello and Piano (1969) and II for Flute (1970); Actinia for Wind Quintet (1969); Estudio I, II, and III for Piano (1971-73); Fancy for 6 for 4 Winds, Cello, and Percussion (1972); Nocturno for Piano Quartet (1972); Dance Vision for Trombone, Clarinet, Cello, and Piano (1980). VOCAL: Transcriptions of Greek folk songs for chorus.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire