CAMERATA OF THE FRIENDS OF MUSIC
MEGARON RESIDENCE ORCHESTRA
In 1991 The Friends of Music Society, acknowledging the fact that Greece needed to have a Chamber Orchestra of international standards, founded Camerata of the Friends of Music, Megaron Resident Orchestra in collaboration with the violinist Dimitris Semsis, who until then had been the leading spirit of the Greek Camerata.
The artistic direction of the new chamber orchestra was given to conductor Alexandros Myrat. Together with the twenty-four permanent musicians making up the orchestra and passionately supporting its cause, they soon began to establish its reputation as a music ensemble of the highest standards, encompassing a wide repertory from baroque to the 20th century and from chamber music to opera.
For the artistic period 2000-2001, the artistic direction of Camerata was taken over by Sir Neville Marriner, who contributed further to the Orchestra’s growing reputation within Europe. Since 2001 Sir Neville Marriner has acted as the Honorary Chairman of Camerata.
Alexandros Myrat and Christopher Warren-Green are the principal conductors of the orchestra. Christopher Warren-Green took up the post in September 2004.
Camerata’s home is the internationally acclaimed Megaron - The Athens Concert Hall, which by 2004 had more than doubled its size making it one of the largest art centers in the world. Camerata gives about 30 concerts a year there but this is only a part of their busy schedule. A dedicated educational program has seen the Orchestra give concerts in every corner of Greece, often allowing people to see and hear a classical orchestra for the first time. Abroad, the Orchestra has performed in most of Western and much of Eastern Europe as well as in Asia. During the season 2003-2004, the orchestra performed at the acclaimed Naantali Festival of Finland and also at the Haydn Festival in Austria. Camerata appeared in Germany, in the context of the musical events organized by Academy BACH of Stuttgart, Germany
Many of the world’s greatest soloists, such as Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Salvatore Accardo, Leonidas Kavakos, Radu Lupu, John Williams and Dimitris Sgouros have performed with the Orchestra.
Since its foundation Camerata has shown a strong commitment to contemporary music. The Orchestra premiers and records works by many modern Greek composers such as Antoniou, Mikroutsikos, Kouroupos, Sissilianos, Koumentakis, etc. Often works are specially commissioned by the Orchestra itself. Camerata also has a special relationship with the British composer John Taverner. The world premiere of his piece Agraphon was given by the orchestra and The South Bank Show in 1998 broadcasted a special film featuring the composer and the orchestra. From 2003 Camerata started a program of specialized workshops for aspiring composers.
Camerata’s long recording list includes records for the companies BMG, EMI Classics, Universal, ECM Records, Agora and Artion records. The Orchestra has also recorded several film scores. Worth mentioning is Eleni Karaindrou’s score for the film “Eternity and a Day” by Theodoros Angelopoulos, which won the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Festival.
In 1996 Camerata earned the Music Prize of the Greek Critics Union, for its artistic and educational work.
The Greek Ministry of Culture and the Friends of Music Society subsidize Camerata’s activities, while Megaron - The Athens Concert Hall Organization actively supports the Orchestra.
The generous exclusive sponsor of the Orchestra is EFG Eurobank Ergasias.
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