when i meet him Dionysius Grammenoone of the most international Greeks symphonic music (and, at the same time, one of the youngest conductors), I don’t know what to do with him: as a Greek who makes a career abroad (for the whole of 2022-2023 there is no Greece in his program at all) or as an international Greek the main musician who suffers if he does not maintain a close connection with his homeland? Here, in addition, two of his own “children” were born and are developing under his leadership: Hellenic Symphony Orchestra youth (ELSON, since 2017) and the newly created Corfu International Festival, which took its first steps last year. “Yes, there are long periods of the year when I am abroad, depending on the schedule and obligations. But I always want to come back here when I don’t have to be away. This is important to me and my life. For my soul. I also see it as a kind of luxury to be able to get the best I can from every place.”

However, his career in recent years has been built outside of Greece. “It couldn’t be otherwise,” the 33-year-old soloist tells me, who won first prize at the EBU Pan-European Competition for Young Soloists in Vienna at the age of 19, playing his clarinet. Today, as director of the orchestra, he has built a strong network of connections and contacts with major musical organizations and countries in Europe and North America. The United Kingdom, where he toured in 2022 as Principal Musician in Puccini’s La bohème at the English Touring Opera and where he will return in June to conduct Rossini’s Cinderella at Neville Holt’s London Opera, is one of the main “stations” of this networks. What a distance between little Dionysius, fascinated by the passage of the Philharmonic in the cantons of his city, and today’s young man, who looks with calm confidence at what he has achieved so far, but also at what opens before him. . “I started making music when I was eight years old in Corfu, through this wonderful educational system founded in the 19th century in our country by Nikolaos Halikiopoulos-Mantzaros.

The training was free, and most importantly, the band taught us from an early age to get along with other musicians, to work in a team. I remember asking my parents to start with myself, as the passage and sounds of the Philharmonic through the city were an impressive sight for my children’s eyes. You know, when you make the decision to become a musician, you’re not just going to make a living with music, that decision determines everything, how it fits into your life, your daily life. Music marks you forever.

I don’t believe that music is created through compliance, I believe that it is discovered. Great works of art were not created by rules.

– I really liked mathematics, as well as the tasks that they created for me, but on the highest pedestal I had physics. She fascinated me even more because she used mathematics to capture big ideas and explain the laws of nature to us. Imagination, I believe, is a common trait that is required in both mathematics and music. Everything is before our eyes, both numbers and notes, but in order for them to acquire some kind of relationship or meaning, we need to activate our imagination and a deeper instinct. I have always felt mathematics as a unique tool that allows a person to capture phenomena, interpret them based on their own perception, and study them. And music is one of those things. You know, I don’t believe that music is created through compliance, I believe that music is discovered. Different minds found different ways and ways to compose music. Great works of art were not created by rules, but rules flowed from them.

Bach is not exclusively for “riddles” but neither pop

– At Christmas I went back to Bach and listened to several of his works. It is unimaginable, I thought, what he managed to create in his life and what a magical way he found to bring these records together. A feeling between the earthly and the metaphysical, with such simplicity, but with such depth at the same time. So by no means do I think that this music was written exclusively for “mystics”, but it’s definitely not easy fun pop music either. But in order to feel its greatness, as well as to realize the great value of art in our life, I think it is enough to be open, curious and passionate about this game of discovering the new. Allowing this music to penetrate you, you feel that there are other levels in the world, other dimensions, much higher than those that you recognize or experience in everyday life.

– I think that a great love for the music itself, admiration for composers, a sense of collaboration, as well as a more global perception of art encourage you to look for a “different level” of participation in creativity. At least that’s how it was for me. I felt the need to learn and eventually leave my personal imprint in the music that speaks to my heart and is the reason for being, through this constant exploration. As a conductor, I strive to help an ensemble achieve uniformity, a shared imagination for the work, and a sensitivity to the qualities of sound.

We are still far from being compared with other European countries, even if there are important exceptions.

– I decided to do something with my life that gives me a sense of satisfaction, and not based on whether it is popular or not. The caveat that exists comes from the low leverage I see in some cases, both in terms of artistic programming and in terms of project execution quality. We are still far from being compared with other European countries and that our art product will become “competitive” at the international level, even if there are important exceptions. We have not been able to structure our own identity in this area, and in my opinion, it is clear that with such logic, the genre will not become more attractive.

“The pandemic has shown me how fragile life is and how much of what we take for granted in our daily lives can be turned upside down in an instant. Personally, it taught me how to manage my time better. We know how easily professional commitments outweigh other, more personal needs. I mean simple things like sleep, exercise, finding time to meet loved ones, reading. My own experience is that commitment never ends. It is difficult to put an end to it and tell myself that this time I will devote myself to myself, go for a walk or cook something useful. These are very important things that we have learned to neglect.