Giorgos Muzakis ( el, Γιώργος Μουζάκης,

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, 15 August 1922 – 27 August 2005) was a prominent

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

virtuoso

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

er and music composer.

Career

Born in

Metaxourgeio Metaxourgeio or Metaxourgio ( ), meaning "silk mill", is a neighbourhood of Athens, Greece. The neighbourhood is located north of the historical centre of Athens, between Kolonos to the east and Kerameikos to the west, and north of Gazi. Metaxour ...

, Mouzakis performed first as a trumpeter in 1938, recording his first album in 1946. He studied at the Athens Conservatoire (1939–1947) and continued his education in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(1952–1954). Many of his compositions were for the theater. A productive composer with influences from

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

and

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

tunes, Mouzakis' opus consists of some 2,500 tunes and songs for over 200 plays, 20 musical comedies, and about 60 films. His best-known compositions are: "The Slave Woman" (Η Σκλάβα), "My Weakness" (Αδυναμία μου), "A friend from the past" (Ένας φίλος ήρθε από τα παλιά) "I whistle to you" (Σου σφυρίζω), "The

Hymn of Panathinaikos The Hymn of Panathinaikos or Syllogos Megalos (''Great Club'') is the anthem of Panathinaikos A.O. It was written in 1958. The music is by Giorgos Mouzakis, a well-known musician and trumpeter of the era, and the lyrics are by George Oikonomidis. ...

" (ο Ύμνος του Παναθηναϊκού) and many more. He was a member of the Greek Composers' Society and National Music Association and performed widely in Greece and abroad including America, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Poland and Romania. A resident of Athens, Mouzakis received a presidential distinction in 2003.

References

*Who's Who 1979 p. 434 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mouzakis, Giorgos 1922 births 2005 deaths Musicians from Athens Greek musicians Greek songwriters Greek film score composers Male film score composers Greek trumpeters Panathinaikos A.O. Panathinaikos F.C. 20th-century trumpeters 20th-century male musicians