Savvas Karantzias - Composer

Savvas Karantzias (1981 - ) Composer

He received his musical education at the A. Corelli conservatory (Rhodes), where he is currently a professor and director of the conservatory. At the same time, he deals with the synthetic study of the phenomenon of sound and the imprinting of the image in sound.

Co-founder of the "European Polyphony/Polyphonie Europeenne" festival and founder of the company Ars Artis.

He appeared for the first time in the discography in 2015 on the record "Echomonologues" in collaboration with the company "Subways Music".

He has written diverse compositions for orchestra, choir, theater performances, chamber music and pieces for solo instruments.

In 2016 he composed the musical theater work entitled "The circle of 10" which was presented at the Michalis Kakogiannis Foundation and has collaborated with very important actors, directors and choreographers.

In 2017 he composed the oratorio "Theophanes the Greek" founder of Russian iconography. For the first time it was presented to the public in the Holy Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin in Rhodes, then in Constantinople. It was then presented at the Collège Notre Dame de France in Paris (France) and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (Russia). Later, in the emblematic library of Alexandria (Egypt) under the auspices of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and at the invitation of the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Theodore II, where he was awarded the honor of  Grand Commander of Our Lion Battalion of Alexandria.

Savvas Karantzias' compositions have traveled all over the world and his works have been performed by important Greek and foreign artists as well as musical ensembles. In 2018, he started a long-term collaboration with the Synod Choir, where every year he receives an order to compose new works with the aim of presenting them to the Russian audience for the first time.

In 2020 he composed the oratorio "Andrei Rubliov" which was presented in Moscow (Russia) at the Zaryadye Concert Hall.

His work "The sound of the saints" was presented in 2021 at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior with the Moscow Synodal Choir, the Voce Anima orchestra and the Youth Synodal choir under the direction of Mikhail Kotelnikov.

In 2022 the work for solo violin "The circle of 9" was presented in Amsterdam (Netherlands) in the Volderkerk with Jacob Plooij as performer and the musical journey continued in New York (America) where the work "The sound of the saints" was presented in Symphony Space Hall with the choir of the archdiocesan cathedral, the youth choir & orchestra under the direction of maestro Kostas Tsourakis, as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Archdiocese of America.

His new work entitled "Katharsis" for mixed choir, percussion and violin was completed in 2023 and in the same year the fourth part of the work "Katharsis" entitled "Blessings" will be premiered at the European Polyphony Festival with the Mikrokosmos Choir , Chrysanthos Antoniou on the violin and Marcel Peres on the church organ.

Since 2020, the composer is represented worldwide by Musicentry company. His works are published by the Dutch Music house Donemus.

In recent years he has been inspired by the Estonian composer Arvo Part.

4/3/2021 Letter to Savvas Karantzias by Marina Tarkovskaya (daughter of the Russian poet Arseni Tarkovsky)

The Oratorio 'Theofanis the Greek' by the composer Savvas Karantzias, written by the poet Arseni Tarkovsky, is a powerful music embodiment of the passions of Man, as well as of the Faith and Hope, with which humanity has lived for many centuries. Medieval hagiographer, authority of religious painting on frescoes, originating from Byzantium, the Theophanes the Greek, the poet Arseni Tarkovsky, the director Andrei Tarkovsky, who spoke about the great Theophanes in "Andrei Rublyov", the composer Savvas Karantzias, author of the Oratorio, are connected with their selfless devotion, freedom and depth of expression, the biblical power of the works.
Marina Tarkovskaya

ВОПЛОЩЕННОЕ МНОГОГОЛОСИЕ

Оратория  «Феофан Грек» композитора  Савваса Карандзиса на слова  поэта Арсения Тарковского — это  мощное музыкальное воплощение страданий Человека, а также Веры, и Надежды, с которыми  жило человечество на протяжении многих веков. Средневековый иконописец, мастер фресковой религиозной живописи, выходец из Византии Феофан Грек, поэт Арсений Тарковский, кинорежиссер Андрей Тарковский, рассказавший в своем фильме «Андрей Рублев» о  великом Феофане, композитор Саввас Карандзис, автор Оратории, связаны  воедино их подвижничеством, свободой и глубиной высказывания, библейской силой произведений.

Марина Тарковская