home page of the composer Yannis Boufidis

The English version of Yannis Boufidis website is under construction. This is a small presentation of Yannis Boufidis' work.

YANNIS BOUFIDIS
Composer

He was born in Athens. He went to school on the island of Rhodes. Music, both vocal and instrumental has been central for most of his childhood and adult years. He completed his music studies under renowned teachers such as M. Palladios, K. Kidoniatis, J. Margaziotis, Sp. Peristeris, C. Taliadoros, B. Delios, obtaining diplomas in Byzantine Music and Church Chanting, a degree in Music Teaching, diplomas in Harmony and Counterpoint, in Singing, Orchestration, Arrangement and Fugue, passing each with Honours. He also graduated from the University of Salonica with a degree in Agriculture.
As a Professor of Music he founded and directed the Dodecanesian Annex of the Piraeus Conservatory, organised and directed the Music School of Argyroupolis Municipality near Athens and taught in various Music Schools.
As a Maestro he organized and directed the Municipal Philharmonic Orchestra of Kalymnos, various western and Byzantine style orchestras and choirs and gave many concerts in Greece and abroad.As a lead chanter he has taken part in many church services in Athens and its suburbs over a thirty-five year period. As a composer and conductor he took part in the Greek Music Festival of Salonica. He has also composed music for the National Television, for documentary films and TV series (Theatre Spotlights Never Go Out, The angels and I, Literary Identities, Open Courses, Humanity in Greek Literature, The Holy Passion, From Crucifixion to Resurrection, Orthodoxy and Hellenism, I, Alain Delon (with Alain Delon), 365 days–Nativity  (with Catherine Deneuve). He wrote many radio and television signature tunes, movie theme songs, songs of artistic music, and recorded extensively (S. Birbilis The Why of the World, L. Mitilineos’s For the Betrayed, P. Nikolaou’s I Love You, Love Me, P. Gaitanos’s Open Seas, etc).
His expertise in teaching and composing music, coupled with an uneasy spirit, have resulted in the development of a unique and composite musical style. Its main characteristic, after years of extensive research, is the convergence of the western and eastern musical styles combining classical and traditional instruments. During this period he composed:
Crucifixion, a Byzantine opera on the theme of Christ’s Passion and His eventual Resurrection.
Time To Go, text and lyrics by Professor of Law Kostas Beys based on the trial and death of Socrates.
Ode to Constantine Palaeologus, text and lyrics by Irene Galanou, celebrating 550 years since the Fall of Constantinople.
Dionysios Solomos, the freedom poet, excerpts from Solomos’s poetry.
Athens, Olympian City, lyrics by Irene Galanou.
Yannis Boufidis’s works have been performed in oratorio and dramatised forms by well-known Greek and foreign symphonic orchestras and choirs, renowned actors (such as L. Kallergis, A. Valakou, G. Valtinos, M. Sondaki, O. Tournaki) and performers (such as J. Modenos, J. Drivala, H. Lammy, N. Weinberg, S. Kapetanakou, G. Fotinopoulou, K. Konstandaras, Hyan Ok Lee, K. Koullia, G. Fanaras). Furthermore he has directed his works both in Greece and abroad receiving international recognition especially for the performance of excerpts of his Crucifixion that took place in the Capital Rotunda, in Washington D.C, USA, during the Congressional Gold Metal Ceremony, honoring His All Holiness Bartholomew, Archibishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch.
He is a “Member of the International Dance Council (CID), UNESCO”. 

STAVROSI

BYZANTINE OPERA

BYZANTINE MUSIC AND THE OPUS

Among the orthodox peoples who inherited the inexhaustible cultural treasure of the medieval eastern empire, it is the Greeks who have had to carry the overwhelming burden of authority on Language, Art and Music.
Byzantine music, music of Eastern Orthodox Church, is a superb fusion of ancient Greek elements and Eastern influences.
As Music of the Chant, Byzantine Music is a melodic treasure trove of intensity of expression bear witness to a high level of musical culture.
Although monophonic, it boasts of such a variety of scales and modes and is so rich in vocal glides and idioms that it can render to the full the spirit and the sensibility of the passages interpreted though its notes.
Typical for the performance of a Byzantine melody of hymn, is the constant presence of the vocal drone, i.e. one or more voices intoning a steady note whose pitch follows the movements of the melody ensuring the harmonization of the chant.
In CRUCIFIXION the role of the vocal drone is played by instrumental ensembles, only occasionally combined with vocals, thus achieving a chromatically firmer and mellower sound. This type of instrumental drone is an integral part of the instrumental-orchestral accompaniment of the interpretation of the hymns.
In Byzantine music, by the term apechema we mean a short musical phrase preceding the chant and serving as an introduction to the scale or family of scales the chant belongs to.
Therefore, the orchestral overtures to the parts of CRUCIFIXION are compositions on the scale of the chant that is going to follow, that is compositions based on an analysis of the apechema. Besides being introductory to the scale of the chant, these compositions also help introduce the audience to the atmosphere and the spirit of the passage that is going to be heard immediately afterwards.
The various parts of the performance of the opus are punctuated by a number of orchestral or solo musical phrases signaling a scale shift, that serves both as a conclusion of the previous chant, as well as an introduction to the one following.
The development of these phrases uses as stepping stones the successive notes of a tetrachord in order to ease the transition from scale to scale, from scale family to scale family or even from tetrachord to tetrachord of the same scale. It is obvious that this transition is lost in the case of a purely vocal interpretation.
Byzantine music is particularly aware of stress and intonation in natural speech since it is this speech it is called upon to accentuate and serve par excellence. This musical emphasis on grammatically stressed syllables commands the use of percussion and special sounds making these syllables more prominent.
“The use of an orchestra of strings and traditional instruments gave me the opportunity to rely on Byzantine notes and scales in order to express my feelings about the Holy Passion and the Resurrection never for once backtracking from being overshadowed by any orchestral accompaniment, should on the contrary be stressed and exalted”.
The opera CRUCIFIXION is purely Byzantine in style, yet it attempts to innovate the genre by incorporating traditional, symphonic and rock elements. It covers the period from Palm Sunday and consists of 3 parts: Entry (Palm Sunday, Monday through Wednesday), Sacrifice (Wednesday, Thursday, Good Friday), Redemption (Good Friday, Saturday, Easter Sunday).
Orchestral ensembles, choirs, instrumental and vocal solos and dramatic dialogue interpreted by well-known actors and actresses might classify the opus as belonging to the Western musical tradition. The opera, however, is permeated by the spirit of the East; the choice of Greek Orthodox hymns, the chanting, the plaintive lament, the bitterness and the sorrow, the sacrifice for love, exquisitely expressed in the culture of the East, endow it with the unmistakably Byzantine identity of the Greek East.
He opera sets out to explore the common ground between East and West, ceding, however, precedence to the former as it credits it with giving the world love in its most absolute and extreme form: votive love, capable of reaching the point of total sacrifice and triumph.
Christ’s steps towards passion and his eventual resurrection are a story of Love in the Greek sense of the word. This is why CRUCIFIXION is a genuinely Greek opus and it is in this context that Dionysios Solomos, the Greek National Anthem, based on his poem Hymn to Liberty, being the anthem of Greece as a universal entity, independent of physical borders (National is whatever is true, wrote Solomos) is sung in the finale along with the Hymn to the Resurrection (Christos Anesti), a symbol of redemption and of the triumph of Love.

I N D E X

I S O D O S   (E n t r y)

T H Y S I A   (S a c r i f i c e)

L Y T R O S I    (R e d e m p t i o n)

NARRATORS – VOCAL SOLOISTS

TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENTS SOLOISTS

STRING ENSEMBLE
ARMONIA

CHOIR
FONS MUSICALIS
(Dir:  Kostis Konstantaras)

COMPOSITION - ORCHESTRATION - HARMONIZATION - DIRECTION
YANNIS BOUFIDIS
_____________________

I N D E X

PART 1	PART 2
1.   INTRODUCTION Orchestral part	1.  IN THE PANATHENAEON STREET        Orchestral part
2.   SEMI IMPROVISATION with flute Narration: L. Kallergis	2.   WHEN THE COMEDY BECOMES A TRAGEDY semi improvisation with horn Narration: Gr.Valtinos, L.Kallergis Voice: K.Konstantaras, S.Kapetanakou
3.  THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION OF THE DIVINE Semi improvisation with horn Voice: G.Fotinopoulou, K.Konstantaras                S.Kapetanakou, G.Fanaras Narration: L.Kallergis, Gr.Valtinos	3.   HOPING FOR LIFE ETERNAL semi improvisation with lyre Narration: L.Kallergis, Gr.Valtinos, K.Beys Voice: G.Fanaras, G.Fotinopoulou
4.  THE PHILOSOPHER HAS NO FEAR Semi improvisation with kanonaki Narration: L.Kallergis, Gr.Valtinos Voice: G.Fotinopoulou	4.  AND CALMLY HE DRANK THE HEMLOCK semi improvisation with lyre      Narration: Gr.Valtinos Voice: S.Kapetanakou, G.Fanaras
5.  THE INSECURITY OF THE FEARFUL Semi improvisation with kanonaki Voice:  S.Kapetanakou, G.Fanaras Narration: L.Kallergis, G.Valtinos	5.   HE CROSSED OVER TO ETERNITY semi improvisation with lyre
6.  SEMI IMPROVISATION with  clarin-flute-lyre	6.   IT’ S OVER semi improvisation with violin Narration: Gr.Valtinos Voice: Gr.Valtinos
7.  PROFESSIONS ABOUT THE CHARACTER OF THE PHILOSOPHER Semi improvisation with kanonaki Voice: G.Fanaras Narration: L.Kallergis
8.   THE CRIME OF THE INTELLECTUAL Semi improvisation with kanonaki Narration: L.Kallergis, Gr.Valtinos Voice: G.Fotinopoulou
9.   SEMI IMPROVISATION with horns
10. THE CHARACTER OF A FAIR JUDGE Narration: L.Kallergis, Gr.Valtinos Voice: K.Konstantaras

ODE TO  CONSTANTINE PALAEOLOGUS by YANNIS BOUFIDIS Texts-Lyrics: IRENE  GALANOU

MYSTRAS  -    CONSTANTINOPLE …It was through a similar process that Constantine Palaeologus, a symbol in the collective conscience of our nation, sprang up in my score. I followed his footsteps from Mystras to Constantinople until his honorable death in front of St. Romanus’ gate. Along with a whole nation that had to live through the ultimate ordeal. As it had to move through history, legend and tradition, this musical accompaniment of mine did not even attempt to fit into a unified compositional and stylistic mould. Epic poetry coexists with dirges, Byzantine hymns with western scores, and the music accompanying the hymns is of a solemnity appropriate to their liturgical environment. What really mattered throughout this experience was the myrrh of the free soul, the Phoenix that emerges from the ashes. The spirit that transforms a national calamity into an epic. The epic of the Final Fall. The composer

The gradual decline and territorial shrinking of the Byzantine Empire made Constantinople, Capital of the Ecumene for 1100 years, vulnerable to the new danger that threatened its very existence. The Principality (Despotate) of Mystras, important political and cultural center of the Byzantine period, with close links to Constantinople, became a rallying point and a refuge for artists, scholars and philosophers.

On 6 January 1449 the Despot of Mystras, Constantine Dragases Palaeologus, was crowned Emperor of Byzantium at the Mystras Cathedral of St Demetrius. With three Catalan galleys accompanied by a Byzantine chelandion the Emperor and his retinue sailed from Gytheon to Constantinople determined to fight to the end for its salvation. Despite the removal of the dogmatic rift between the churches proclaimed by the Emperor in defiance of all internal reaction and despite promises to the contrary, the City of Cities did not receive any help from the Christian world either of the West or of the East. After 57 days of siege under relentless cannon fire, days of pain and awe, Constantinople fell to the Ottomans on 29 May 1453.

The ethical stature of its tragic defenders, their sacrifice and the honourable death of the last Emperor Constantine 11th Palaeologus became a symbol in the collective conscience of the Nation. A landmark in the recent history of Hellenism.

NARRATORES - VOCAL SOLOISTS

TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENTS SOLOISTS

STRING ENSEMBLE
ARMONIA
(Leader: Pantelis Despotidis)

CHOIR ENSEMBLES
FONS MUSICALIS
(Director: Kostis Konstantaras)
NATIONAL CONSERVATORY CHOIR
(Director: Spyros Klapsis)

COMPOSITION
ORCHESTRATION - HARMONIZATION - DIRECTION
YANNIS BOUFIDIS

ORGANIZATION -  PRODUCTION
OKTOECHOS

________________

I N D E X

Dionysios Solomos, The Freedom Poet
excerpts from Solomos’s poetry.

Athens, Olympian City
lyrics by Irene Galanou.