Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
,
progressive,
ambient, and
classical orchestral music. He was best known for his
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning score to ''
Chariots of Fire
''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 British historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a de ...
'' (1981), as well as for composing scores to the films ''
Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
'' (1982), ''
Missing
Missing or The Missing may refer to:
Film
* ''Missing'' (1918 film), an American silent drama directed by James Young
* ''Missing'' (1982 film), an American historical drama directed by Costa-Gavras
* ''Missing'' (2007 film) (''Vermist''), a Bel ...
'' (1982), ''
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
'' (1983), ''
The Bounty'' (1984), ''
1492: Conquest of Paradise'' (1992), and ''
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
'' (2004), and for the use of his music in the 1980
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
documentary series ''
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'' by
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...
.
Born in
Agria and raised in
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 ...
, Vangelis began his career in the 1960s as a member of the rock bands The Forminx and
Aphrodite's Child
Aphrodite's Child was a Greek rock and pop band formed in 1967, by Vangelis Papathanassiou (keyboards, flutes), Demis Roussos (bass, acoustic and electric guitar, vocals), Loukas Sideras (drums and vocals), and Silver Koulouris (guitar). They ...
; the latter's album ''
666
666 may refer to:
* 666 (number)
* 666 BC, a year
* AD 666, a year
* The number of the beast, a reference in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament
Places
* 666 Desdemona, a minor planet in the asteroid belt
* U.S. Route 666, an America ...
'' (1972) is now recognised as a
progressive-
psychedelic
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
rock classic.
Vangelis first settled in Paris, and gained initial recognition for his scores to the
Frédéric Rossif Frédéric Rossif (February 16, 1922 – April 18, 1990) was a French film and television director who specialized primarily in documentaries, frequently using archive footage. Rossif's common themes included wildlife, 20th-century history and conte ...
animal documentaries ', ', and '. He also released his first solo albums during this time, and performed as a solo artist. In 1975, Vangelis relocated to London where he built his home recording facility named
Nemo Studios
Nemo Studios was a recording studio in London, planned, built and used by Greek composer Vangelis between 1975 and 1987.Richard Clews. ''Inside the Synth Lab'', in ''Sound on Sound'', November 1997 issueAvailable online./ref> Numerous highlights ...
and released a series of successful and influential albums for
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
, including: ''
Heaven and Hell'' (1975), ''
Albedo 0.39'' (1976), ''
Spiral
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:[China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...]
'' (1979). From 1979 to 1986, Vangelis performed in a duo with
Yes vocalist
Jon Anderson
John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...
, released several albums as
Jon and Vangelis
Jon and Vangelis was a music collaboration between British rock singer Jon Anderson (lead vocalist of the progressive rock band Yes) and Greek synthesiser musician Vangelis. The duo released four albums between 1980 and 1991.
History
In 1974, V ...
. He also collaborated with
Irene Papas
Irene Papas or Irene Pappas ( el, Ειρήνη Παππά, Eiríni Pappá, ; born Eirini Lelekou ( el, Ειρήνη Λελέκου, Eiríni Lelékou, link=no); 3 September 1929 – 14 September 2022) was a Greek actress and singer who starred ...
on two albums of Greek traditional and religious songs.
Vangelis reached his commercial peak in the 1980s and 1990s. His
score for ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981) won him an
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by t ...
and the film's main theme, "
Chariots of Fire – Titles" went to number one on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, while score for ''1492: Conquest of Paradise'' (1992) was nominated at
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications o ...
and the film's
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
and
main theme topped the European charts selling millions of copies.
His compilation albums ''
Themes'' (1989), ''
Portraits (So Long Ago, So Clear)
''Portraits (So Long Ago, So Clear)'' is a 1996 compilation album of works by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 ...
'' (1996), and studio album ''
Voices'' (1995) also sold well at the time. Vangelis composed
the official anthem of the
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
held in Korea and Japan. In his last twenty years, Vangelis collaborated with
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
and
ESA
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...
on music projects ''
Mythodea
''Mythodea — Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey'' is a choral symphony by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. It premiered as a single concert in Athens, Greece, in 19931993 concert program. but a recording was only releas ...
'' (1993), ''
Rosetta
Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...
'' (2016), and ''
Juno to Jupiter'' (2021), his 23rd and final studio album.
Having had a career in music spanning over 50 years and having composed and performed more than 50 albums, Vangelis is one of the most important figures in the history of
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
,
and modern film music.
He used many electronic instruments in a fashion of a "one-man quasi-classical orchestra" composing and performing on the first take.
Early life
Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou was born on 29 March 1943 in
Agria,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
, a coastal town in
Magnesia,
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...
, and raised in
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 ...
.
His father Odysseus worked in property and was an amateur sprinter; Vangelis described him as "a great lover of music".
[ His mother Foteini Kyriakopoulou was trained as a soprano.] Vangelis had one brother, Nikos. Vangelis developed an interest in music at age four, composing on the family piano and experimenting with sounds by placing nails and kitchen pans inside it and with radio interference. When he was six his parents enrolled him for music lessons, but Vangelis later said that his attempts to study "failed" as he preferred to develop technique on his own.[ He considered himself fortunate to have not attended music school, as he believed that it would have impeded his creativity.] He never learned to read or write music, instead played from memory. "When the teachers asked me to play something, I would pretend that I was reading it and play from memory. I didn't fool them, but I didn't care". One of his piano teachers was Greek composer Aristotelis Koundouroff. In a 2008 interview, Vangelis stated that he had a peaceful and happy childhood and that his parents never interfered in his life, letting him to just be and be involved in his activities, mainly consisting of playing the piano, painting and constructing things with his hands.
Vangelis found traditional Greek music
The music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its History of Greece, history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek folk music, Greek traditional music and Byzantine music. These compositions have existed for millennia: they originat ...
as particularly important in his childhood, but at 12 developed an interest in jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
. At 15, he started to form school bands, not to cover other musicians, but to have fun. Vangelis acquired his first Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
at 18.[ In 1963, Vangelis and three school friends started a five-piece rock band The Forminx (or The Formynx),] playing cover songs and original material largely written by Vangelis with English lyrics by radio DJ and record producer Nico Mastorakis
Nico Mastorakis ( el, Νίκος Μαστοράκης; born 28 April 1941 in Athens, Greece) is a Greek filmmaker and radio producer. He is probably best known for his 1973 live interview of 17 arrested Greek students, which happened without their ...
. After nine singles and one Christmas EP, which found success across Europe, the group disbanded in 1966.
Career
1963–1974: Early solo projects and Aphrodite's Child
Following the split of The Forminx, Vangelis spent the next two years mostly studio-bound, writing and producing for other Greek artists.[Blue Point](_blank)
Retrieved 11 October 2008 He scored music for three Greek films; ''My Brother, the Traffic Policeman'' (1963) directed by Filippos Fylaktos, ''5,000 Lies'' (1966) by Giorgos Konstantinou, and '' To Prosopo tis Medousas'' (1967) by Nikos Koundouros
Nikos Koundouros ( el, Νίκος Κούνδουρος; 15 December 1926 – 22 February 2017) was a Greek film director.
Biography
Koundouros was born in Agios Nikolaos, Crete, in 1926. He studied painting and sculpture at the Athens School of F ...
. During this time, Vangelis worked on the scores to ''Frenzy'' (1966) for director Jan Christian, ''Apollo Goes on Holiday'' (1968) for George Skalenakis and ''Antique Rally'' (1966).
In 1968, the 25-year-old Vangelis wished to further his career and, amidst the political turmoil surrounding the 1967 coup, left Greece for London. He was denied entry into the UK and settled in Paris for the next six years. Later in 1968 he formed the progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
band Aphrodite's Child
Aphrodite's Child was a Greek rock and pop band formed in 1967, by Vangelis Papathanassiou (keyboards, flutes), Demis Roussos (bass, acoustic and electric guitar, vocals), Loukas Sideras (drums and vocals), and Silver Koulouris (guitar). They ...
with Demis Roussos
Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; el, Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in ...
, Loukas Sideras Lucas Sideras ( gr, Λουκάς Σιδεράς; 5 December 1944, Athens) is the former drummer of the Greek progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child.
Biography
Aphrodite's Child
He started playing drums at the age of 13. By the time he was 15 year ...
, and Anargyros "Silver" Koulouris. Their debut single, "Rain and Tears
"Rain and Tears" is a song by the Greek band Aphrodite's Child. The song was included on the band's 1968 debut studio album '' End of the World'', and was released as a single in July 1968 on Mercury. It became a major hit across Europe, reachin ...
", was a commercial success in Europe which was followed by the albums '' End of the World'' (1968) and '' It's Five O'Clock'' (1969). Vangelis conceived the idea of their third, ''666
666 may refer to:
* 666 (number)
* 666 BC, a year
* AD 666, a year
* The number of the beast, a reference in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament
Places
* 666 Desdemona, a minor planet in the asteroid belt
* U.S. Route 666, an America ...
'' (1972), a double concept album based on the Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...
. It is widely recognized as a progressive-psychedelic
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
rock classic. After increasing tensions during the recording of ''666'', the group split in 1971. Vangelis would produce future albums and singles by their singer Demis Roussos
Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; el, Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in ...
.[Elsewhere Oor](_blank)
Retrieved 12 October Vangelis recalled after the split: "I couldn't follow the commercial way anymore, it was very boring. You have to do something like that in the beginning for showbiz, but after you start doing the same thing everyday you can't continue."[
From 1970 to 1974, Vangelis took part in various solo projects in film, television, and theatre. He composed the score for ''Sex Power'' (1970) directed by ]Henry Chapier
Henry Chapier (14 November 1933 – 27 January 2019) was a French journalist, film critic, television presenter and feature film director.
Biography
Henry Chapier was born in Bucharest, Romania, the son of an international lawyer and an actress ...
, followed by ''Salut, Jerusalem'' in 1972 and ''Amore'' in 1974. In 1971, he took part in a series of jam sessions with various musicians in London which resulted in two albums released without Vangelis's permission in 1978: ''Hypothesis
A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obse ...
'' and '' The Dragon''. Vangelis succeeded in taking legal action to have them withdrawn. 1972 saw the release of his debut solo album ''Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit
''Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit'' is an album by Vangelis Papathanassiou only released in France and Greece Recorded in 1971 and released in 1972 with the subtitle Poeme Symphonique, the entire theme of the record focuses on May 1 ...
'', French for ''Make Your Dream Last Longer Than the Night''. It was inspired by the 1968 French student riots, after which Vangelis decided to write a "poème symphonique" to express his solidarity with the students,[ comprising musical with news snippets and ]protest song
A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre.
Among social mov ...
s; some lyrics were based on graffiti daubed on walls during the riots. A soundtrack album of music that Vangelis performed for a 1970 wildlife documentary series by Frédéric Rossif Frédéric Rossif (February 16, 1922 – April 18, 1990) was a French film and television director who specialized primarily in documentaries, frequently using archive footage. Rossif's common themes included wildlife, 20th-century history and conte ...
was released as ''L'Apocalypse des animaux'' (1973). Vangelis also provided music for the Henry Chapier
Henry Chapier (14 November 1933 – 27 January 2019) was a French journalist, film critic, television presenter and feature film director.
Biography
Henry Chapier was born in Bucharest, Romania, the son of an international lawyer and an actress ...
film ''Amore'' (1973).
In 1973, Vangelis released his second solo album ''Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
'', a percussive-orientated album with various additional musicians, including Robert Fitoussi and Aphrodite's Child bandmate Silver Koulouris
Anargyros "Silver" Koulouris (born 26 January 1947) is a Greek musician best known for his membership in the band Aphrodite's Child, in which he played lead guitar. He has also performed session work on a plethora of albums by other artists, inclu ...
. The line-up performed and released a single titled "Who" in 1974 under the name Odyssey, including a concert that Vangelis held at the Paris Olympia
The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra G ...
in February 1974. Several months later Vangelis travelled to England to audition with the progressive rock band Yes, after singer Jon Anderson
John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...
had become a fan of his music and invited Vangelis to replace departing keyboardist Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his solo albums released in the 1970s.
Born and raised ...
. After problems with obtaining a work visa and the Musician's Union, and his reluctance to travel and tour, Vangelis declined. The band hired Patrick Moraz
Patrick Philippe Moraz (born 24 June 1948) is a Swiss musician, film composer and songwriter, best known for his tenures as keyboardist in the rock bands Yes and The Moody Blues.
Born into a musical family, Moraz learned music at a young age a ...
, who used Vangelis's keyboards in his audition. In 1974, Vangelis left Paris for London as he "outgrew France".
1975–1980: Move to London, solo breakthrough, and Jon and Vangelis
In August 1975, after Vangelis had settled in a flat in Marble Arch
The Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash (architect), John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near th ...
, London, where he set up his new 16-track studio, Nemo Studios
Nemo Studios was a recording studio in London, planned, built and used by Greek composer Vangelis between 1975 and 1987.Richard Clews. ''Inside the Synth Lab'', in ''Sound on Sound'', November 1997 issueAvailable online./ref> Numerous highlights ...
, which Vangelis named his "laboratory",[ he secured a recording deal with ]RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
. He would release a series of electronic albums for RCA until 1979. The first of these, '' Heaven and Hell'', features the English Chamber Choir
The English Chamber Choir is a choir based in England.
History
The English Chamber Choir came into existence in 1972; its earliest engagements included Haydn's ''Nelson Mass'', Fauré's ''Requiem'' and Kodály's ''Laudes Organi'' with H ...
and Yes singer Jon Anderson
John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...
.[ Released in December 1975, Vangelis supported it with a sold-out concert at the ]Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
in 1976. ''Heaven and Hell'' was followed by '' Albedo 0.39'' (1976), ''Spiral
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:[Beaubourg
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...]
'' (1978), and ''China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
'' (1979), each having their own thematic inspiration including astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
/physical cosmology
Physical cosmology is a branch of cosmology concerned with the study of cosmological models. A cosmological model, or simply cosmology, provides a description of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and allows study of f ...
, Tao
''Tao'' or ''Dao'' is the natural order of the universe, whose character one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom, as conceived in the context of East Asian philosophy, East Asian religions, or any other phil ...
philosophy, the Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
, and Chinese culture, respectively.
During the same period, Vangelis composed the score for '' Do You Hear the Dogs Barking?'' directed by François Reichenbach
François Reichenbach (3 July 1921 – 2 February 1993) was a French film director, cinematographer producer and screenwriter. He directed 40 films between 1954 and 1993.
Early life
François Reichenbach was born in 1921 in Neuilly-su ...
. This was released in 1975 under the French title ''Entends-tu les chiens aboyer?'' and re-released two years later as ''Ignacio''. In 1976, Vangelis released his second soundtrack for a Rossif animal documentary, ''La Fête sauvage
''La Fête sauvage'' (''The Wild Party'') is an original score album, by Greek composer Vangelis (as Vangelis Papathanassiou in some releases), from the 1975 documentary about animal wildlife ''The Wild Nation, La Fête Sauvage'', by Frédéric R ...
'', which combined African rhythms with Western music. This was followed in 1979 by a third soundtrack for Rossif, ''Opéra sauvage
''Opéra Sauvage'' is a soundtrack album by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in 1979. It is the score for the nature documentary of the same title by French filmmaker Frédéric Rossif. It is considered one of Vangelis' best album ...
''. Almost as well known as ''L'Apocalypse des animaux
''L'Apocalypse des animaux'' is a soundtrack album by Greek composer Vangelis. The album's music accompanied a documentary series about the animal kingdom directed by Frédéric Rossif that was first broadcast on French TV in 1970.
Track list ...
'', this soundtrack brought him to the attention of some of the world's top filmmakers. The music itself would be re-used in other films, including the track "L'Enfant" in '' The Year of Living Dangerously'' (1982) by Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born August 21, 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He's known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ''Gallipoli'' (1981), ''Witness ...
; the melody of the same track (in marching band format) can also be heard at the beginning of the 1924 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies scene in the film ''Chariots of Fire
''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 British historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a de ...
'' while the track "Hymne" was used in Barilla
''Barilla'' refers to several species of salt-tolerant (halophyte) plants that, until the 19th century, were the primary source of soda ash and hence of sodium carbonate. The word "barilla" was also used directly to refer to the soda ash obtained ...
pasta commercials in Italy and Ernest & Julio Gallo wine ads in the United States. Rossif and Vangelis again collaborated for ''Sauvage et Beau'' (1984) and '' De Nuremberg à Nuremberg'' (1989).
In 1979, Vangelis returned to his Greek roots by recording new arrangements of Greek folk songs with actress and singer Irene Papas
Irene Papas or Irene Pappas ( el, Ειρήνη Παππά, Eiríni Pappá, ; born Eirini Lelekou ( el, Ειρήνη Λελέκου, Eiríni Lelékou, link=no); 3 September 1929 – 14 September 2022) was a Greek actress and singer who starred ...
. The first set of songs were released under Papas' name as the album ''Odes
Odes may refer to:
*The plural of ode, a type of poem
* ''Odes'' (Horace), a collection of poems by the Roman author Horace, circa 23 BCE
*Odes of Solomon, a pseudepigraphic book of the Bible
*Book of Odes (Bible), a Deuterocanonical book of the ...
'', which was an instant success in Greece. and would be followed in 1986 by a second album, ''Rapsodies
''Rapsodies'' ( el, Ραψωδίες) is an album of Greek songs by Irene Papas and Vangelis, featuring music and text based on (or inspired by) Greek Orthodox liturgical chant, with two tracks composed by Vangelis. Recorded in Nemo studios, Lond ...
''. In complete contrast, 1980 saw the release of ''See You Later
''See You Later'' is an album by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in 1980. It breaks quite violently with the style he had employed in the late 1970s and later, relying much more on vocals and being more experimental and returni ...
'', a much more experimental and satirical album of concept pieces and unusual pop songs with vocal contributions from Pete Marsh, Cherry Vanilla and Yes singer Jon Anderson
John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...
, as well as a rare example of Vangelis singing himself (deliberately badly).
Vangelis had already begun a more extensive collaboration with Jon Anderson in 1979, as the duo Jon and Vangelis
Jon and Vangelis was a music collaboration between British rock singer Jon Anderson (lead vocalist of the progressive rock band Yes) and Greek synthesiser musician Vangelis. The duo released four albums between 1980 and 1991.
History
In 1974, V ...
. Their debut album, ''Short Stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
'' (1980), reached No. 4 in the UK. They went on to release three more albums; ''The Friends of Mr Cairo
The Friends of Mr Cairo is the second album by Jon and Vangelis, released in 1981. There are two editions of the album, with different sleeves. Both were released in 1981 within a few weeks of each other. The title track, "The Friends of Mr Cai ...
'', ''Private Collection
A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...
'', and ''Page of Life
''Page of Life'' is the fourth and final studio album by Jon and Vangelis. It was recorded in 1986 in Athens and Rome and released in 1991 by Arista Records, and is their last studio collaboration as a duo. It was initially unavailable in t ...
'' released in 1981, 1983, and 1991, respectively. The first two albums produced three hit singles " I Hear You Now", "I'll Find My Way Home
I'll Find My Way Home is a song written by Jon Anderson and Vangelis for the Jon and Vangelis' 1981 album ''The Friends of Mr Cairo''. The song was released late November 1981. It was later covered by numerous artists, including Demis Roussos, Ch ...
" and " State of Independence", with the latter later becoming a hit for the second time when covered by Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...
with production by Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
.
During this time, Vangelis' music was brought to an even wider audience when several of his 1970s pieces were used for the soundtrack of Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...
's 1980 TV series '' Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'' - "Movement 3" from the ''Heaven and Hell'' album (used as the series' opening theme), "Bacchanale" (also from ''Heaven and Hell'') and "Alpha" (from ''Albedo 0.39''). In 1986, Vangelis would be actively involved in the composition of new music for a special edition. Vangelis recalled that Sagan had sent him recordings of some sounds collected by satellites, which were exactly what he heard as a child.
1981–2002: Mainstream success
Film and television
In 1980, Vangelis agreed to record the score for ''Chariots of Fire
''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 British historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a de ...
'' (1981); he accepted because "I liked the people I was working with. It was a very humble, low-budget film." The choice of music was unorthodox as most period films featured orchestral scores, whereas Vangelis's music was modern and synthesiser-oriented. It gained mainstream commercial success which increased Vangelis's profile as a result. The opening instrumental title piece, "Titles
A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...
", later named "Chariots of Fire – Titles", was released as a single which reached No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart for one week after a five-month climb. The soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...
was No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 for four weeks and sold one million copies in the United States. In March 1982, Vangelis won an Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for Best Original Music Score, but refused to attend the awards ceremony, partly due to his fear of flying. He turned down an offer to stay in a stateroom aboard the '' Queen Elizabeth 2'' for a boat crossing. Vangelis commented that the "main inspiration was the story itself. The rest I did instinctively, without thinking about anything else, other than to express my feelings with the technological means available to me at the time". The song was used at the 1984 Winter Olympics
The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...
.
The success of ''Chariots of Fire'' led to further offers for Vangelis to score films, but he avoided becoming "a factory of film music". In 1981, he scored the documentary film ''Pablo Picasso Painter'' by Frédéric Rossif Frédéric Rossif (February 16, 1922 – April 18, 1990) was a French film and television director who specialized primarily in documentaries, frequently using archive footage. Rossif's common themes included wildlife, 20th-century history and conte ...
. It was the third such score by Vangelis as he'd previously scored documentaries about Georges Mathieu
Georges Mathieu (27 January 1921 – 10 June 2012) was a French abstract painter, art theorist, and member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He is considered one of the fathers of European lyrical abstraction, a trend of informalism.
Bi ...
and Georges Braque
Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...
. He composed the score of ''Missing
Missing or The Missing may refer to:
Film
* ''Missing'' (1918 film), an American silent drama directed by James Young
* ''Missing'' (1982 film), an American historical drama directed by Costa-Gavras
* ''Missing'' (2007 film) (''Vermist''), a Bel ...
'' (1982) directed by Costa-Gavras
Costa-Gavras (short for Konstantinos Gavras; el, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political and s ...
, which was awarded the Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
and gained Vangelis a nomination for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music
This is a list of winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, formerly known as the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, which is presented to film composers, given out by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts si ...
. Other Vangelis film soundtracks produced during this time include ''Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
'' (for the film ''Nankyoku Monogatari
is a 1983 Japanese drama film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara and starring Ken Takakura. Its plot centers on the 1958 ill-fated Japanese scientific expedition to the South Pole, its dramatic rescue from the impossible weather conditions on the ...
'' in 1983, one of the highest-grossing movies in Japan's film history), and '' The Bounty'' in 1984. He declined an offer to score '' 2010: The Year We Make Contact'' (1984), the sequel to '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''.
In 1981, Vangelis collaborated with director Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...
to score his science fiction film, ''Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
'' (1982). Critics have written that in capturing the isolation and melancholy of Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...
's character, Rick Deckard, the Vangelis score is as much a part of the dystopian environment as the decaying buildings and ever-present rain. The score was nominated for a BAFTA and Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
award. ''Blade Runner'' has subsequently become one of Vangelis' best-known works, despite problems that prevented its release on album for many years. A disagreement led to Vangelis withholding permission for his recordings to be released, so the studio hired musicians dubbed the New American Orchestra
Irwin Elliott Zucker (August 6, 1927 – August 18, 2001) was an American television and film composer, conductor, music arranger, television producer, and co-founder of the New American Orchestra, later renamed the American Jazz Philharmonic.
...
to release orchestral adaptations of the original score. The problem was eventually resolved twelve years later, when Vangelis's own work was released in 1994. Even then, the release was considered incomplete, since the film contained other Vangelis compositions that were not included on the record. This, in turn, was resolved in 2007 when a box set of the score was released to commemorate the film's 25th anniversary, containing the 1994 album, some previously unreleased music cues, and new original Vangelis material inspired by ''Blade Runner''.
In 1992, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
released the film '' 1492: Conquest of Paradise'', also directed by Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...
, as a 500th anniversary commemoration of Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
' voyage to the New World. Vangelis's score was nominated as "Best Original Score – Motion Picture" at the 1993 Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
awards, but was not nominated for an Academy Award. Due to its success, Vangelis won an Echo Award
Echo Music Prize (stylised as ECHO, ) was an accolade by the , an association of recording companies of Germany to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The first ECHO Awards ceremony was held in 1992, and it was set up to hono ...
as "International Artist Of The Year", and RTL Golden Lion Award for the "Best Title Theme for a TV Film or a Series" in 1996.
Vangelis wrote the score for the film '' Bitter Moon'' (1992) directed by Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...
, and '' The Plague'' directed by Luis Puenzo
Luis Adalberto Puenzo (born 19 February 1946) is an Argentine film director, producer and screenplay writer. He works mainly in the cinema of Argentina, but has also worked in the United States.
Biography
Puenzo was born in Buenos Aires in ...
. In the 90s, Vangelis scored undersea documentaries for French ecologist and filmmaker, Jacques Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful Aqua-Lung, open-circuit SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). T ...
, one of which was shown at the Earth Summit
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992.
Earth Su ...
. The score of the film ''Cavafy'' (1996) directed by Yannis Smaragdis
Yannis Smaragdis ( el, Γιάννης Σμαραγδής) is a Greek film director.
Biography
He was born in Crete in 1946 and studied film in Greece and Paris, France. He appeared in 1972 with his short film ''Two Three Things...'' which receive ...
, gained an award at the Flanders International Film Festival Ghent
Film Fest Ghent, spelt Film Fest Gent in Flemish and also known as International Film Fest Gent, is an annual international film festival in Ghent, Belgium. The festival held its first edition in 1974, under the name Internationaal Filmgebeuren ...
and Valencia International Film Festival.
Theatre and stage productions
In the early 1980s Vangelis began composing for ballet and theatre stage plays. In 1983 he wrote the music for Michael Cacoyannis
Michael Cacoyannis ( el, Μιχάλης Κακογιάννης, ''Michalis Kakogiannis''; 11 June 1922 – 25 July 2011), sometimes credited as Michael Yannis, was a Greek Cypriots, Greek Cypriot theatre and film director, writer, produce ...
' staging of the Greek tragedy
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
'' Elektra'' which was performed with Irene Papas
Irene Papas or Irene Pappas ( el, Ειρήνη Παππά, Eiríni Pappá, ; born Eirini Lelekou ( el, Ειρήνη Λελέκου, Eiríni Lelékou, link=no); 3 September 1929 – 14 September 2022) was a Greek actress and singer who starred ...
at the open-air amphitheater at Epidavros
Epidaurus ( gr, Ἐπίδαυρος) was a small city (''polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: ''Palaia Epidavros'' and ''Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong to the ...
in Greece. The same year Vangelis composed his first ballet score, for a production by Wayne Eagling
Wayne Eagling (born 27 November 1950) is a Canadian ballet dancer, now retired. After more than twenty years as a popular member of The Royal Ballet in London, he became well known as an international choreographer and company director.
Early li ...
. It was originally performed by Lesley Collier
Lesley Faye Collier (born 13 March 1947) is an English ballerina and teacher of dance. In 1972 she became a principal dancer of the Royal Ballet. In 1995 she left the company and began to teach at the Royal Ballet School. She is a rèpetiteur a ...
and Eagling himself at an Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
gala at the Drury Lane theatre
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drur ...
. In 1984 the Royal Ballet School
The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...
presented it again at the Sadler's Wells
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-sea ...
theatre. In 1985 and 1986, Vangelis wrote music for two more ballets: "Frankenstein – Modern Prometheus" and "The Beauty and the Beast". In 1992, Vangelis wrote the music for a restaging of the Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...
play, ''Medea
In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...
'', that featured Irene Papas
Irene Papas or Irene Pappas ( el, Ειρήνη Παππά, Eiríni Pappá, ; born Eirini Lelekou ( el, Ειρήνη Λελέκου, Eiríni Lelékou, link=no); 3 September 1929 – 14 September 2022) was a Greek actress and singer who starred ...
. In 2001 he composed for a third play which starred Papas, and for
a version of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's '' The Tempest'' staged by Hungarian director György Schwajdas.
Solo albums and collaborations
Vangelis collaborated in 1976 with Italian singer Patty Pravo
Patty Pravo (born Nicoletta Strambelli on 9 April 1948) is an Italian singer. She debuted in 1966 and remained most successful commercially for the rest of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Having suffered a decline in popularity in the followin ...
with the album '' Tanto'' and with Italian singer Milva
Maria Ilva Biolcati, (; 17 July 1939 – 23 April 2021), known as Milva (), was an Italian singer, stage and film actress, and television personality. She was also known as ''La Rossa'' (Italian for "The Redhead"), due to the characteristic co ...
achieving success, especially in Germany, with the albums ''Ich hab' keine Angst'' also translated in French as ''Moi, Je N'ai Pas Peur'' (1981) and ''Geheimnisse'' in 1986 (''I have no fear'' and ''Secrets''), also translated in Italian as ''Tra due sogni.''
An Italian language Nana Mouskouri
Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( el, Ιωάννα "Νάνα" Μούσχουρη ) (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, Ger ...
album featured her singing the Vangelis composition "Ti Amerò". Collaborations with lyricist Mikalis Bourboulis, sung by Maria Farantouri, included the tracks "Odi A", "San Elektra", and "Tora Xero".[Intuitive Music – Vangelis biog.](_blank)
Retrieved 25 September 2008
Vangelis released '' Soil Festivities'' in 1984. It was thematically inspired by the interaction between nature and its microscopic living creatures; ''Invisible Connections
''Invisible Connections'' is a 1985 album by Greek electronic composer Vangelis.
Track listing
The track listing of the original 1985 LP and all reissues until 2016 appeared as follows:
# "Invisible Connections" – 18:30
# "Atom Blaster" – 7 ...
'' (1985) took inspiration from the world of elementary particles invisible to the naked eye; ''Mask
A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practic ...
'' (1985) was inspired by the theme of the mask, an obsolete artefact which was used in ancient times for concealment or amusement; and ''Direct
Direct may refer to:
Mathematics
* Directed set, in order theory
* Direct limit of (pre), sheaves
* Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces
Computing
* Direct access (disambiguation), a ...
'' (1988). The last of the aforementioned efforts was the first album to be recorded in Vangelis's post-Nemo Studios era.
Vangelis performed his only concert in the U.S. on 7 November 1986 at Royce Hall
Royce Hall is a building on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Designed by the Los Angeles firm of Allison & Allison (James Edward Allison, 1870–1955, and his brother David Clark Allison, 1881–1962) and completed ...
on the campus of University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
. It featured a special guest appearance by Jon Anderson
John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...
.
There were another five solo albums in the 1990s; '' The City'' (1990) was recorded during a stay in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
in 1989, and reflected a day of bustling city life, from dawn until dusk; '' Voices'' (1995) featured sensual songs filled with nocturnal orchestrations; ''Oceanic
Oceanic may refer to:
*Of or relating to the ocean
*Of or relating to Oceania
**Oceanic climate
**Oceanic languages
**Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)"
Places
* Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...
'' (1996) thematically explored the mystery of underwater worlds and sea sailing; and two classical albums about El Greco
Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...
– ''Foros Timis Ston Greco
''Foros Timis Ston Greco'' (''Φόρος Τιμής Στον Γκρέκο'', lit. ''A Tribute to El Greco'') is a classical album by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis (as Vangelis Papathanassiou/Βαγγέλης Παπαθανασί ...
'' (1995), which had a limited release, and ''El Greco
Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...
'' (1998), which was an expansion of the former.
Sporting events
The Sport Aid
Sport Aid (also known as Sports Aid) was a sport-themed campaign for African famine relief held in May 1986, involving several days of all-star exhibition events in various sports, and culminating in the Race Against Time, a 10 km fun run held sim ...
(1986) TV broadcast was set to music specially composed by Vangelis. He conceived and staged the ceremony of the 1997 World Championships in Athletics which were held in Greece. He also composed the music, and designed and directed the artistic Olympic flag relay portion ("Handover to 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 ...
"), of the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
in Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. While no official recording of this composition exists, the music can be heard accompanying the presentation of the emblem of the 2004 Athens Games
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
. In 2002, Vangelis created the official ''Anthem
An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...
'' for the 2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
. His work from ''Chariots of Fire
''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 British historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a de ...
'' was heard during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on the evening of Friday 27 July 2012 in the Olympic Stadium, London, during which the Games were formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the pr ...
. His work Conquest of Paradise (1992) (from the movie 1492: Conquest of Paradise) is now the theme song of famous Trail Running competition Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc
The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) is a single-stage mountain ultramarathon, first held in 2003, that follows the route of the Tour du Mont Blanc.
Since UTMB Group's partnership with IRONMAN Group in 2021, UTMB World Series will formally launch ...
.
2001–2021: Music projects with NASA and ESA
In 2001, Vangelis performed live, and subsequently released, the choral symphony ''Mythodea
''Mythodea — Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey'' is a choral symphony by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. It premiered as a single concert in Athens, Greece, in 19931993 concert program. but a recording was only releas ...
'', which was used by NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
as the theme for the Mars Odyssey
''2001 Mars Odyssey'' is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectro ...
mission. This is a predominantly orchestral rather than electronic piece that was originally written in 1993. In 2004, Vangelis released the score for Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...
's ''Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
'', continuing his involvement with projects related to Greece.
Vangelis released two albums in 2007; the first was a 3-CD set for the 25th anniversary of ''Blade Runner'', titled '' Blade Runner Trilogy'' and second was the soundtrack for the Greek movie, ''El Greco
Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...
'' directed by Yannis Smaragdis
Yannis Smaragdis ( el, Γιάννης Σμαραγδής) is a Greek film director.
Biography
He was born in Crete in 1946 and studied film in Greece and Paris, France. He appeared in 1972 with his short film ''Two Three Things...'' which receive ...
, titled ''El Greco Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
''El Greco'' is a soundtrack album featuring the music score for the 2007 film ''El Greco (2007 film), El Greco'', by Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in Greece and Cyprus by Universal Music Group, Universal Music Greece. The film, dir ...
''.
On 11 December 2011, Vangelis was invited by Katara's Cultural Village in the state of Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
to conceive, design, direct, and compose music for the opening of its outdoor amphitheater. The event was witnessed by a number of world leaders and dignitaries participating in the 4th Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations held in the city of Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
. British actor Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...
performed in the role of master of ceremonies, and the event featured a light show by German artist Gert Hof. It was filmed for a future video release by Oscar-winning British filmmaker Hugh Hudson
Hugh Hudson (born 25 August 1936) is an English film director. He was among a generation of British directors who would begin their career making documentaries and television commercials before going on to have success in films. He directed the ...
.
In 2012, Vangelis re-tooled and added new pieces to his iconic ''Chariots of Fire'' soundtrack, for use in the same-titled stage adaptation. He composed the soundtrack of the environmental documentary film '' Trashed'' (2012) directed by Candida Brady and starring Jeremy Irons. A documentary film called ''Vangelis And The Journey to Ithaka'' was released in 2013. He also scored the music for the film ''Twilight of Shadows
''Twilight of Shadows'' ( ar, غروب الظلال, ''Ghouroub Edhilal'', french: Crépuscule des ombres) is a 2014 Algerian drama film directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina. The film was selected as the Algerian entry for the Academy Award for B ...
'' (2014) directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina
Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina ( ar, محمد الأخضر حمينة; born in M'sila in 1934) is an Algerian film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1975 film ''Chronicle of the Years of Fire''. He is one of the most prominent figures ...
.
For the 12 November 2014 landing of the Philae
; ar, فيلة; cop, ⲡⲓⲗⲁⲕ
, alternate_name =
, image = File:File, Asuán, Egipto, 2022-04-01, DD 93.jpg
, alt =
, caption = The temple of Isis from Philae at its current location on Agilkia Island in Lake Nasse ...
lander on Comet 67P (part of the European Space Agency
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
's Rosetta
Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...
mission), Vangelis composed three short pieces titled "Arrival", "Rosetta's Waltz", and "Philae's Journey". The pieces were released online as videos accompanied by images and animations from the Rosetta
Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...
mission. He was quoted by ESA as saying, "Mythology, science and space exploration are subjects that have fascinated me since my early childhood. And they were always connected somehow with the music I write". In September 2016, the works were released as part of the new studio album ''Rosetta
Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...
''. In 2018, Vangelis composed an original score for Stephen Hawking's memorial. While Hawking's ashes were interred at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
, the music which backed Hawking's words were beamed by the ESA to the nearest black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...
to Earth. It was a personal tribute by Vangelis, and a limited CD titled "The Stephen Hawking Tribute" was shared with the family and over 1,000 guests.
On 25 January 2019, a new studio album, '' Nocturne: The Piano Album'', was released which includes both new and old compositions played on a grand piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
and were "inspired by night time, and by Vangelis's long-held passion for space". However, Vangelis recalled he was kind-of pressured by the record company to release it and include old compositions. In the same year, Vangelis wrote an electro-orchestral score rooted in ethnic music for '' The Thread'', a modern dance piece created by Russell Maliphant
Russell Maliphant (born 1961 in Canada) is a British choreographer. He grew up in Cheltenham and trained at the Royal Ballet School and graduated into Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet before leaving to pursue a career in independent dance. As a perfo ...
inspired by Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
and Hellenic dances. It received very positive reviews, and its CD & DVD was released in a special limited edition by Andromeda Music. On the Maliphant's project he also collaborated with fashion designer Mary Katrantzou
Mary Katrantzou (born 29 January 1983) is a Greek fashion designer who lives and works in London.
Early life
Mary Katrantzou was born in Athens, Greece to an interior design mother and a father who trained in textile engineering.
Katrantzou m ...
for whom composed new music for her fashion shows.
On 24 September 2021, Vangelis released '' Juno to Jupiter'', his last studio album. It was inspired by NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
's Juno
Juno commonly refers to:
*Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods
*Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007
Juno may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters
*Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno''
*Ju ...
spacecraft, featuring the soprano Angela Gheorghiu
Angela Gheorghiu (; ; born 7 September 1965) is a Romanian soprano, especially known for her performances in the operas of Puccini and Verdi, widely recognised by critics and opera lovers as one of the greatest sopranos of all time.
Embarking h ...
on several tracks.
Personal life and death
For a musician of his stature, very little is known about Vangelis' personal life; and he rarely gave interviews to journalists.
In 2005, he stated that he was "never interested" in the "decadent lifestyle" of his band days, choosing not to use alcohol or other drugs. He also had little interest in the music industry business and achieving stardom, realising "that success and pure creativity are not very compatible. The more successful you become, the more you become a product of something that generates money". Instead, he used it to be as free and independent as possible and often rejected the opportunity to promote or capitalise on his fame.[
Vangelis's place of residence was not publicly known; instead of settling in one place or country, he chose to "travel daround".] He did own a house by the Acropolis of Athens
The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...
which he did not renovate. Vangelis did not have children; in 2005, he was in his third long-term relationship and said: "I couldn't take care of a child in the way I think it should be taken care of." Other interviews mention that Vangelis had been married twice; one of these marriages was to French photographer Veronique Skawinska, who produced work for some of his albums. A 1982 interview with '' Backstage'' suggests that Vangelis was previously married to Greek singer Vana Veroutis, who provided vocals for some of his records.
Although a very private person, according to many accounts he was an "inordinately approachable", "really nice" and "humorous" man, who enjoyed long friendly gatherings, was fascinated by Ancient Greek philosophy, the science and physics of music and sound, and space exploration. His daily activities mainly involved combining and playing his electronic instruments and the piano. He also enjoyed painting. His first exhibition, of 70 paintings, was held in 2003 at Almudin in Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
, Spain. It then toured South America until the end of 2004.
Vangelis died of heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
on 17 May 2022, at the age of 79, at a hospital in Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. He was suffering from several health issues in the last couple of years and, according to some reports, died of COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
complications.
Musical style and sensibility
The musical style of Vangelis is diverse; although he primarily used electronic music instruments, which characterize electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
, his music has been described as a mixture of electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
, classical (his music was often symphonic), progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
, jazz (improvisations), ambient, avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
/experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...
, and world
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
. Vangelis is sometimes categorized as a new-age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
composer, a classification others have disputed. Vangelis himself called New-age music a style which "gave the opportunity for untalented people to make very boring music".
''Synthtopia'', an electronic music review website, stated that Vangelis's music could be referred to as "symphonic electronica" because of his use of synthesizers in an orchestral fashion. The site went on to describe his music as melodic
A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinat ...
: "drawing on the melodies of folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
, especially the Greek music of his homeland". Vangelis's music and compositions have also been described as "a distinctive sound with simple, repetitive yet memorable tunes against evocative rhythms and chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
s."
In an interview with ''Soundtrack'', a music and film website, Vangelis talked about his compositional processes. For films, Vangelis stated that he would begin composing a score for a feature as soon as he had seen a rough cut of the footage. In addition to working with synthesizers and other electronic instruments, Vangelis also worked with and conducted orchestras. For example, in the Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...
film ''Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
'', Vangelis conducted an orchestra that consisted of various classical instruments including sitar
The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...
s, percussion, finger cymbals
Zills or zils (from Turkish 'cymbals'), also called finger cymbals, are small metallic cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances. They are called () in Egypt. They are similar to Tibetan tingsha bells. In Western music, several pa ...
, harps, and duduk
The duduk ( ; hy, դուդուկ ) or tsiranapogh ( hy, ծիրանափող, meaning “apricot-made wind instrument”), is an ancient Armenian double reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood. It is indigenous to Armenia. Variations of th ...
s.
While acknowledging that computers are "extremely helpful and amazing for a multitude of scientific areas", he described them as "insufficient and slow" for the immediate and spontaneous creation and, in terms of communication, "the worst thing that has happened for the performing musician". He considered that contemporary civilization is living in a cultural "dark age" of "musical pollution". He considered musical composing a science rather than an art, similar to Pythagoreanism
Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek col ...
. He had a mystical viewpoint on music as "one of the greatest forces in the universe", that the "music exists before we exist". His experience of music is a kind of synaesthesia.
Instruments and equipment
As a musician who always composed and played primarily on keyboards, Vangelis relied heavily on synthesizers
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
and other electronic approaches to music, although his first instrument was the piano. He also played and used many acoustic and folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
instruments when required ) and was a keen percussionist (in additional to a standard drum kit, he performed on vibraphone, timpani, symphonic gongs and snare drums, various gamelan instruments, a tubular bell, a wind gong, a bell tree and crotales). On several of his albums, he employed a live choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
and classical soprano (usually Vana Veroutis).
Vangelis' first electric keyboard was a Hammond B3 organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...
, while his first synthesizer was a Korg
, founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners. Under the Vox brand name, they ...
700 monophonic. By his own admission, he never got rid of keyboards during the first two decades of his career, but accumulated new ones and simply stopped actively using the old ones once he had effective replacements or had exhausted their possibilities. By the mid-1970s, when based at his Nemo Studio in London, he was also using Elka Tornado IV Reed and Farfisa Syntorchestra organs, a Selmer Clavioline
The clavioline is an electronic keyboard instrument, a forerunner to the analog synthesizer. It was invented by French engineer Constant Martin in 1947 in Versailles.
The instrument consists of a keyboard and a separate amplifier and speaker ...
, a Hohner Clavinet
The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...
D6, a Fender Rhodes 88 electric piano, a GR International Bandmaster Powerhouse 8-track drum machine, a Moog Satellite
The Satellite is a lesser known monophonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1973 to 1979 in response to the ARP Pro Soloist. It had one VCO. It was designed for use with any organ or sound system. The American company T ...
and various synthesizers by Roland ( SH-1000, SH-2000 and SH-3A) and Korg (MaxiKorg 800DV, MiniKorg 700 and 700s). From the mid-1970s onward he employed two grand pianos - an Imperial Bösendorfer
The Bösendorfer Model 290 Imperial, or Imperial Bösendorfer (also colloquially known as the 290) is the largest model and flagship piano manufactured by Bösendorfer, at around long, wide, and weighing . It has an eight-octave range from C0 to ...
and a Steinway & Sons
Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Henry E. Steinway, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to ...
Concert model.
Both grand pianos, the Roland SH-3A and the Rhodes 88 were retained for Vangelis' active late 1970s and early 1980s setup, which also featured newer synthesizers by Yamaha (CS-40M and GS-1), ARP Instruments
ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman
in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the 1970s before de ...
( Pro Soloist, 2500
5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...
, Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...
), Oberheim Electronics
Oberheim is an American synthesizer manufacturer founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim.
History and products
Tom Oberheim founded the company in 1969, originally as a designer and contract manufacturer of electronic effects devices for Maestro (most ...
( TVS-1A, four and eight-voice Polyphonic Synthesizer
Polyphony is a property of musical instruments that means that they can play multiple independent melody lines simultaneously. Instruments featuring polyphony are said to be polyphonic. Instruments that are not capable of polyphony are monophoni ...
s), Sequential Circuits
Sequential is an American synthesizer company founded in 1974 as Sequential Circuits by Dave Smith. In 1978, Sequential released the Prophet-5, the first programmable polyphonic synthesizer; it became a market leader and industry standard, use ...
( Prophet-5 and Prophet-10), Roland (Jupiter-4
The Roland Jupiter-4 (JP-4) was an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1978 and 1981. It was notable as the company's first self-contained polyphonic synthesizer, and for employing digital control of analog cir ...
, ProMars Compuphonic and the modular Systems 101, 102, and 104), a Korg Polyphonic Ensemble, an RSF Kobol Black Box and a MiniMoog
The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...
. Other studio equipment during this period included the Solina String Ensemble
The Solina String Ensemble, also marketed as the ARP String Ensemble, is a fully polyphonic multi-orchestral synthesizer with a 49-key keyboard, produced by Eminent BV (known for their ''Solina'' brand). It was distributed in the United States ...
and EKO Stradivarius string synthesizers; sequencers by ARP, Roland (CSQ-100 and CSQ-600) and Oberheim (DS-20); drum machines by Simmons (SDS-V), Korg (KR-55, Mini Pops 120), Roland (CR-5000 Compurhythm) and Linn Linn may refer to:
People
* Linn (surname)
* Linn (given name)
* Linn da Quebrada, stage name of Brazilian singer, actress, screenwriter and television personality Lina Pereira dos Santos (born 1990)
Places Germany
* Linn (Gangkofen), a part ...
( LM-1); vocoders by EMS (Vocoder 1000) and Roland ( VP-330 VocoderPlus Mk. I); and the Dubrecq Stylophone 350S. Vangelis also added a Crumar
Crumar was an Italian manufacturer of electronic musical instruments. It was established by Mario Crucianelli in the late 1960s, and manufactured synthesizers and keyboards during the '70s and '80s. Its name is a portmanteau of "Cruci ...
Compac-piano and a Yamaha CP-80 to his piano set-up.
For the mid-1980s, Vangelis retained his Roland modular systems and ProMars Compuphonic synthesizers, but added the SH-101 and JX8-P models and the MKS-80 Super Jupiter rack mount module, as well as a Yamaha GS-1 Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
. Other holdovers from previous active setups were the Fender Rhodes 88 and Yamaha CP-80, the MiniMoog, the Prophet-10 and the grand pianos. For drum machines, he retained the Linn LM-1 but added an LM-2 LinnDrum
The LinnDrum, also referred to as the LM-2, is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics between 1982 and 1985. About 5,000 units were sold.
Its high-quality samples, flexibility and affordability made the LinnDrum popular; it sold far mo ...
and an E-mu SP-12
E-mu SP-12 12 also known as the “sampling drum computer” was designed in 1985 and widely released in 1986 by E-mu Systems. Although the SP-12 was quickly superseded by the more powerful SP-1200, the SP-12 is often regarded as the first commerci ...
; his chosen sequencers for this period were the Roland CSQ-600 and the ARP; and he upgraded to the Mk. II version of the Roland VP-330 VocoderPlus. Vangelis disliked programming-oriented sampling devices like the Fairlight CMI
The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight.
— with links to some Fairlight history and photos
It was based on a commercial lic ...
(considering them to be too far removed from being relatable instruments) and remained unimpressed by many of the later commercial 1980s polysynths such as the Yamaha DX7
The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units.
In the early 1980 ...
; however, he did use the E-mu Emulator
The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy disk storage, manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Though not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was among the first to find wide use among ordinary m ...
sampler, in particular the Emulator II model.
Vangelis' favourite keyboard was the Yamaha CS-80
The Yamaha CS-80 is an analog synthesizer released in 1977. It supports true 8-voice polyphony, with two independent synthesizer layers per voice each with its own set of front panel controls, in addition to a number of hardwired preset voice set ...
polyphonic synthesizer, which he began using from 1977 and which allowed him to employ a distinctive and expressive vibrato
Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...
technique by varying the pressure exerted on the key. He would use this instrument throughout the 1970s and 1980s to the point that its timbres, abilities and idiosyncrasies became closely associated with his musical signature. In a 1984 interview, Vangelis described the CS-80 as "the most important synthesizer in my career – and for me the best analogue synthesizer design there has ever been... It needs a lot of practice if you want to be able to play it properly, but that's because it's the only synthesizer I could describe as being a real instrument, mainly because of the keyboard — the way it's built and what you can do with it."
For his final period at Nemo in the late 1980s, Vangelis also retained the Emulator II; the Prophet 10 (enhanced by the VS module); the GS-1, his grand pianos and the CP-80 in active service along with the Roland ProMars Compuphonic, JX8-P and VP-330 VocoderPlus (while mostly retiring the Fender Rhodes). He would also continue to use the SP-12 and LinnDrum as drum machines, adding the Sequential Circuits TOM. By this point, the Roland modular systems had also been retired, although he would retain the MKS-80 Super Jupiter and augment it with further MKS-20 and MKS-70 rack mount models as well as two further Roland keyboard synthesizers (the Jupiter-6 and the Juno-106). During this time, Vangelis also made a return to Korg keyboards (acquiring a DW-8000 and a Poly-800) as well as adding the Ensoniq Mirage
The Ensoniq Mirage is one of the earliest affordable sampler-synths, introduced in 1984 as Ensoniq's first product. Introduced at a list price of $1,695 with features previously only found on more expensive samplers like the Fairlight CMI, the M ...
to his sampler armoury. Sequencing was now handled by a Roland MSQ-700. Despite his stated disappointment with the Yamaha DX7, he still used it alongside the related modular TX7 version.
In 1988, Vangelis closed Nemo Studio and embarked on the more nomadic lifestyle he would continue for the rest of his life, moving between homes and hotels in different countries according to whim and circumstance. For this, he made a drastic switch to a portable, all-digital instrumental setup based around the Zyklus MIDI Performance System, which was first heard on his 1988 album ''Direct''.["Spotted Instruments"](_blank)
page on "Elsewhere: The Independent Vangelis Website"
For the last part of his career, Vangelis used a custom keyboard set-up with built-in volume and mixing pedal controls, enabling him to improvise, play, arrange and orchestrate his music live without overdubbing or needing to move from one sitting position. This ensemble, and the set-up he used for his irregular concert performances, appeared to be based around various Korg and Roland machines as well as the E-mu Proteus
The E-mu Proteus was a range of digital sound modules and keyboards manufactured by E-mu Systems in the late twentieth century.
History
E-mu Systems came to prominence in the early 1980s with their relatively affordable Emulator sampler, and s ...
rack module.["Communing with the Gods"](_blank)
- ''Pulse!'' magazine (Tower Records, USA), September, 2001 (reproduced on ''Elsewhere'' website)
''KLEMblad'' #107, October 2001 (reproduced on ''Elsewhere'' website)
Honours and legacy
In 1989 Vangelis received the Max Steiner
Maximilian Raoul Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers.
Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted ...
Award. France made him a Knight of the Order of the Arts and Letters in 1992 and promoted him to Commander in 2017, as well as Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
in 2001. In 1993 he received the music award Apollo by Friends of the Athens National Opera Society. In 1995, Vangelis had a minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
named after him ('' 6354 Vangelis'') by the International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...
's Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; the name was proposed by the MPC's co-director, Gareth V. Williams, rather than by the object's original discoverer, Eugène Joseph Delporte
Eugène Joseph Delporte (10 January 1882 – 19 October 1955) was a Belgian astronomer born in Genappe.
He discovered a total of sixty-six asteroids. Notable discoveries include 1221 Amor (which lent its name to the Amor asteroids) and th ...
, who died in 1955, long before the 1934 discovery could be confirmed by observations made in 1990. In 1996 and 1997, Vangelis received awards at the World Music Awards
The World Music Awards is an international award show founded in 1989 under the patronage of Albert II, Prince of Monaco and co-founder/executive producer John Martinotti. The event is based in Monte Carlo. Awards are presented to the world's ...
.
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
conferred their Public Service Medal to Vangelis in 2003. The award is the highest honour the space agency presents to an individual not involved with the American government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...
. Five years later, in 2008, the board of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
voted to award Vangelis an honorary doctoral degree
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
, making him a professor emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
at their Faculty of Primary Education. In June 2008, the American Hellenic Institute honoured Vangelis with an AHI Hellenic Heritage Achievement Award for his "exceptional artistic achievements" as a pioneer in electronic music and for his lifelong dedication to the promotion of Hellenism through the arts. On 16 September 2013, he received the honour of appearing on the Greek 80 cent postage stamp, as part of a series of six distinguished living personalities of the Greek Diaspora
The Greek diaspora, also known as Omogenia ( el, Ομογένεια, Omogéneia), are the communities of Greeks living outside of Greece and Cyprus (excluding Northern Cyprus). Such places historically include Albania, North Macedonia, parts of ...
. In May 2018 the University of Thessaly
The University of Thessaly (UTH; Greek: ) is a public university in Thessaly, Greece, founded in 1984. The university includes the main campus in the city of Volos and regional campuses located in Karditsa, Larissa, Trikala, and the city of Lamia. ...
in Vangelis's hometown of Volos
Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...
awarded him an honorary doctorate degree in electrical and computer engineering.
The American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
nominated Vangelis's scores for ''Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
'' and ''Chariots of Fire
''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 British historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a de ...
'' for their list of the 25 greatest film scores.
Discography
* Sources:
Soundtracks
*''L'Apocalypse des animaux
''L'Apocalypse des animaux'' is a soundtrack album by Greek composer Vangelis. The album's music accompanied a documentary series about the animal kingdom directed by Frédéric Rossif that was first broadcast on French TV in 1970.
Track list ...
''
*'' Ignacio (aka Do You hear the Dogs Barking?)''
*''La Fête sauvage
''La Fête sauvage'' (''The Wild Party'') is an original score album, by Greek composer Vangelis (as Vangelis Papathanassiou in some releases), from the 1975 documentary about animal wildlife ''The Wild Nation, La Fête Sauvage'', by Frédéric R ...
''
*''Opéra sauvage
''Opéra Sauvage'' is a soundtrack album by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in 1979. It is the score for the nature documentary of the same title by French filmmaker Frédéric Rossif. It is considered one of Vangelis' best album ...
''
*''Chariots of Fire
''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 British historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a de ...
''
*''Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
''
*''Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
''
*'' 1492: Conquest of Paradise''
*'' Bitter Moon''
*''Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
''
*'' Blade Runner Trilogy: 25th Anniversary''
*'' El Greco: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack''
*'' Chariots of Fire – The Play: Music from the Stage Show''
Studio albums
*''Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit
''Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit'' is an album by Vangelis Papathanassiou only released in France and Greece Recorded in 1971 and released in 1972 with the subtitle Poeme Symphonique, the entire theme of the record focuses on May 1 ...
'' (1972)
*''Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
'' (1973)
*'' Heaven and Hell'' (1975)
*'' Albedo 0.39'' (1976)
*''Spiral
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:[Beaubourg
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...]
'' (1978)
*''Hypothesis
A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obse ...
'' (1978; unofficial)
*'' The Dragon'' (1978; unofficial)
*''China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
'' (1979)
*''See You Later
''See You Later'' is an album by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in 1980. It breaks quite violently with the style he had employed in the late 1970s and later, relying much more on vocals and being more experimental and returni ...
'' (1980)
*'' Soil Festivities'' (1984)
*''Mask
A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practic ...
'' (1985)
*''Invisible Connections
''Invisible Connections'' is a 1985 album by Greek electronic composer Vangelis.
Track listing
The track listing of the original 1985 LP and all reissues until 2016 appeared as follows:
# "Invisible Connections" – 18:30
# "Atom Blaster" – 7 ...
'' (1985)
*''Direct
Direct may refer to:
Mathematics
* Directed set, in order theory
* Direct limit of (pre), sheaves
* Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces
Computing
* Direct access (disambiguation), a ...
'' (1988)
*'' The City'' (1990)
*''Foros Timis Ston Greco
''Foros Timis Ston Greco'' (''Φόρος Τιμής Στον Γκρέκο'', lit. ''A Tribute to El Greco'') is a classical album by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis (as Vangelis Papathanassiou/Βαγγέλης Παπαθανασί ...
'' (1995)
*'' Voices'' (1995)
*''Oceanic
Oceanic may refer to:
*Of or relating to the ocean
*Of or relating to Oceania
**Oceanic climate
**Oceanic languages
**Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)"
Places
* Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...
'' (1996)
*''El Greco
Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...
'' (1998)
*'' Mythodea – Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey'' (2001)
*''Rosetta
Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...
'' (2016)
*'' Nocturne: The Piano Album'' (2019)
*'' Juno to Jupiter'' (2021)
References
External links
*
*
Independent Vangelis Site
Vangelis's Movements
Vangelis Collector
Vangelis's Nemo Studios
Vangelis History
from Den of Geek
Interview with Vangelis
on composing ''Chariots of Fire'' from BBC Four's Sound of Cinema
{{Authority control
1943 births
2022 deaths
20th-century classical composers
20th-century Greek musicians
21st-century classical composers
21st-century Greek musicians
Ambient musicians
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in France
Atlantic Records artists
Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners
Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Deutsche Grammophon artists
Electronic composers
Georges Delerue Award winners
Greek classical composers
Greek electronic musicians
Greek film score composers
Greek keyboardists
Greek record producers
Male classical composers
Male film score composers
New-age composers
New-age synthesizer players
People from Agria
Polydor Records artists
Windham Hill Records artists