Solon Michaelides (12 November 190510 September 1979) was a Cypriot composer, teacher and musicologist. He taught himself the

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

as a schoolkid. He was appointed guitar teacher in the Cypriot Conservatory, where he learned

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

. He studied in the UK and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. After his studies he spend the next two decades in

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

. He created a

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

that survives today as Aris choir, with which he presented opera (Dido and Aeneas) and oratorio classics as well as choral works. He was a music teacher at Laniteio Lyceum. He moved to

Salonika Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

in the 1950s, where he continued teaching and created a

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

that was

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with ...

in the 1960s and is still active today. He wrote extensively, including books on the harmony of modern music, Cypriot music, modern Greek music and his Encyclopaedia of Ancient Greek Music. He composed several works for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

and solo such as the archaic suite, Eleftheria etc. His archive was left to the municipality of Limassol where he spent his most creative years. There is a dedicated museum-archive building housing the archive next to the municipal conservatoire. Works by Michaelides have been recorded by Greek symphony orchestras. There is also a dedicated cd which is a live recording his works in concert with a combined choir of members of Aris and Foni tis Kerynias choirs, and the Cyprus symphony orchestra. Solon's book, ''the Music of Ancient Greece: An Encyclopaedia'', which was released in 1988, is cited and extracted in many scholarly works and books.

References

External links

*http://www.limassolmunicipal.com.cy/archives/index_en.html *http://www.kyreniachoir.com.cy/ 1905 births 1979 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Greek people 20th-century classical pianists Cypriot classical pianists Cypriot composers Cypriot male composers Greek classical composers Greek classical guitarists Greek classical pianists Male classical composers 20th-century guitarists Male classical pianists 20th-century male musicians {{classical-pianist-stub