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PARIS PARASCHOPOULOS
Born in Serres in 1957, the guitarist and music composer Paris Paraschopoulos gained his first
musical experience playing in rock bands in Thessaloniki, Greece. In 1975 he registered with the
Schola Cantorum in Paris, where he spent the next eleven creative years of his life. Even in his
first works, one can easily detect an interest in the special rapport between music and poetry, as
in “Nausica”, music composed for the poems of Michel Le Bosse, and between music and theatre,
as in the music he composed for the play “Question d’Identité” by Sükrü Munoglu from Turkey,
which represented France at the International University Theatre Forum in Cannes in 1983. A
multinational quality is evident in his work “Mediterranée”, a series of ethnic compositions he
presented to the French public in collaboration with the poet and singer Ahmed Ben Dhiab from
Tunisia in 1985, as well as in his initiative to form the “Mille Monde Quartet” in 1986 with Dimitris
Gountaroulis from Greece (cello), Aly Wague from Africa (kora, vocals) and the Berber Hamid
Bouzzine (percussion). Τhe same year he returned to Thessaloniki and, along with soprano Olga
Athanassiadou, performed “The Origin of Night”, music composed for the poems of Christos
Bravos. He inaugurated, thus, a series of performances for the audience of Thessaloniki, including
“Two pieces for harp” in 1987, music composed for harp and guitar, “Three pieces for Cello” in
1988, “Holy Week Hymns” in 1989. Constantly intrigued by theatre, he has composed music for –
among others – the performance “Oresteia-Hamlet” in 1991 with Greg Hiecs, the performance
“The Window”, based on a text by Yiannis Ritsos and he works closely with N. Sakkalidis, director
of the National Theatre of Northern Greece. Paris Paraschopoulos is an active member of the
artistic community in Thessaloniki, having organised a series of events under the auspices of
“Cultural Capital of Europe: Thessaloniki 1997” οrganisation, as well as composing music for
numerous television broadcasts for the Greek TV channel ET3, hosting TV and radio shows and
writing articles, whose topics always revolve around music.
A SELECTION OF W ORKS OF PARIS PARASCHOPOU LOS
MUSIC
 “Nausica”, text Michel Le Bosse
 “Free under Siege”, text by Dionysios Solomos
 “Holy Week Hymns”
 “Greek Dances”
 “Two Pieces for Harp”
 “Three Pieces for Cello”
 Pieces for the “Mille Monde Quartet”
THEATRE
 “Exile” by Pavlos Matesis
 “You don’t play with love” by Alfred de Musset
 “Question d’Identité” του Sükrü Munoglu
 “The Window” by Yiannis Ritsos
 “The Island of the Slaves” by Marivaux
 “Oresteia-Hamlet”, performance by Graig Hiecs
MUSIC FOR TELEVISION BROADCASTS
 “Cultural Capital of Europe: Thessaloniki 1997”, documentary, directed by N. Vezirianis
 “Fairy Tales from the Region of Macedonia”, directed by Ap. Krionas (ΕΤ3)
 “Balkan Trader”, directed by Ap. Krionas (NET)
RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTS
 “Tabula rasa”, a ΕΤ3 production
 “Da capo”, a EΤ3 production
 “Opera”, a ET3 production
RECORDINGS
 “The Origin of Night” (Cactus Records)
 “Fairy Tales with Multicoloured Notes” (Polygram)
 “Mediterranée” (3A France)