Kafantaris Violin Concerto No. 3

Stelios Karantaris, violinist, was my colleague in the early years of my career, after graduating from the Greek Conservatory in Athens during the late 1950's. We were good friends, and, as I was violinist and composer and he a violinist and conductor, we worked together frequently. He was a very quiet, warm, and easygoing person, even before he became a famous violin teacher credited with bringing up internationally known violinists, such as Georgios Demertzis and Leonidas Kavakos. Even though I had left Greece, I was already aware of his excellent violin class.

In our youth, Stelios and I and a few other good friends were meeting frequently to have serious discussions on all topics, but usually on musical matters. We took great pleasure in our discussions--those were good years with wonderful friends. Stelios has been very greatly missed.

Years have passed but images of my friendship with Stelios remain always vivid. In addition, any time I visit Greece and hear a new good violinist, I see the influence of Stelios. This Violin Concerto No. 3 is a homage to Stelios, for all the good things he did for his students, friends, and music in general.

In this work, I used many techniques and materials connected to Stelios in earlier works of mine associated with the Little Orchestra of Athens, and its main conductors, Kafantaris, Hatzidakis, and Theodorakis. I also used a 16th century technique, "soggetto cavato" (derived by carving out certain vowels in a phrase or sentence), employing parts of the names of Stelios, Dermertzis, and Kavakos, as well as quotations from works of mine that Stelios conducted or influenced in their composition.

Violin virtuoso Georgios Demertzis suggested that I write a violin concerto in memory of my good friend and his teacher, Stelios, and I am grateful for his idea. The composition was written for him to premiere on May 2, 2010.