George Hadjinikos
Encyclopedia
George Hadjinikos. Distinguished piano
soloist
, conductor, teacher and author with an international career (placed by many amongst the most exceptional "philosophers of Music"), having been given kudos from some of the greatest musical personalities in 20th-century music such as Dimitris Mitropoulos
, Edwin Fischer
, Carl Orff
, Jean Françaix
, Heinrich Neuhaus
, Sir John Barbirolli, Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt
and many others. Among his teachers were Edwin Fischer
, Johann Nepomuk David
, Carl Orff
, Alice Pashkus
, Eduard Erdmann
, George Chavchavadze, in a quite exceptional way Heinrich Neuhaus
, and others.
Since 1961 he is a UK resident and following that a British citizen. He shares, since 1990, his time between England and Greece.
, graduating in 1943 with a piano diploma and a degree in harmony. During this period he decided to abandon his studies at the Faculty of Law at the University of Athens (where he had passed as 5th in 1940) and devote himself exclusively to music.
After the war, he continued his studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg
from where he graduated with piano and conducting diplomas in 1948–49, while being awarded the Lilly Lehmann Medal of the Mozarteum International Foundation. While studying in Salzburg he met great musicians, such as Johann Nepomuk David
who introduced him to the spirit of Johann Sebastian Bach
, of polyphony
and of choral music. In 1950 he attended a composition seminar given by Paul Hindemith
(whose 2nd version of his magnificent work 'Marienleben', he had given the European premiere a few months earlier in Salzburg with tremendous success). He also had the opportunity to play to the composer his Piano Sonata No.3 during this period, making the composer say to him "I have heard it many times in the past by American and German pianists, but for the first time I heard the structure of the Fugue
." When Hadjinikos had performed this Sonata with the cycle Marienleben, due to the success he was accused that he had beautified the Sonata in a sort of 'Mediterranean-Ravel
like' way and didn't capture the Hindemith-style. When he told this to Hindemith, the otherwise extremely severe composer smiled gently and answered "If we suppose that there is such a thing as a 'Hindemith-style', then this is exactly what I just heard."
He began giving public recitals and performing as a soloist with orchestras playing Johannes Brahms
's both Concertos, Robert Schumann
's, Aram Khachaturian
's, Ludwig van Beethoven
's 4th and 5th, Sergei Rachmaninoff
's 2nd and his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
. He was called to give 80 recitals in Germany (in co-operation with the American Information Center) due to his European premiere of Aaron Copland
's Piano Sonata.
In 1951 he moved from Salzburg to Munich
where he studied with Carl Orff and with whom he had a great friendship until the end of the composer's life. In 1952, he came across one of Nikos Skalkottas's works for the first time, becoming an authority on the works of this great Greek composer, of whom he has been an energetic and committed exponent since.
From 1952 till 1957 he lived in Hamburg
, where he took lessons on contemporary interpretation with Eduard Erdmann at the Hochschule für Musik
. In October 1953 he gave the world premiere of Skalkottas's Piano Concerto No.2 with the NWDR (today NDR) Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Hermann Scherchen
. For this performance, Hadjinikos was sent a microfilm with the extremely illegible full score and had to copy the piano part with a magnifying glass in order to learn his part. This was the performance which caused the BBC to take an interest in the work, leading to its subsequent broadcast and the publication of Hans Keller
's historic article in The Listener entitled 'Nikos Skalkottas: An Original Genius'. In December 1954, he discovered several lost Skalkottas manuscripts in a second-hand bookshop in Berlin: the works unearthed were the Octet, two String Quartets, and the Piano Concerto No.1.
He continued to give recitals and appear as a soloist with orchestras performing Béla Bartók
's Piano Concerto No.2 in Hamburg, Salzburg and Prague
, Skalkottas's Piano Concerto No.2 in Stockholm
and Vienna
, Arnold Schoenberg
's Piano Concerto in Stockholm (Swedish premiere). The performance of Bartók's Piano Concerto No.2 with the NWDR Symphony Orchestra under Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
on the occasion of the 10 years since Bartók's death, established him as the "ideal interpreter" of the great Hungarian composer.
In 1957 he moved to France where he stayed until 1960. There, he met and studied with Prince and Princess Chavchavadze at Châtel-Censoir
being initiated to Russian and French music. In 1959, while on a tour in the Soviet Union, when he reached Moscow he received an invitation by Heinrich Neuhaus
whom he met and had been given by him the first "seeds" of teaching. During the same year, Hadjinikos moved to Paris.
Circumstances led him to Switzerland, where he settled for less than a year. In 1961, after a tour in South Africa, he accepted to join the piano faculty of the Royal Manchester College of Music (today Royal Northern College of Music
), thus moving to Manchester
. Besides his Piano classes at the College, he branched out into Conducting
, History of music
, Chamber music
, Harmonization of Praxis and Theory, Relation between Art and Science a.o., realizing that the problems of musical education are infinitely deeper than he first believed. This made him stay at the College 27 years instead of 3 as he had planned, retiring in 1988. During these years, he had been discovering answers which concern music in the whole and thus established a personal foundational approach to music, which he named Logic and Foundations (today Essence and Origins) of Musical Interpretation and has presented it in various articles and essays, while also applies it to all of his musical activities.
Parallelly, he multiplied his appearances as a soloist and a conductor. With the College's Choir he premiered the there unknown Carmina Burana
by Orff and established the "New Manchester Ensemble", premiering in North England Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire
and Ode to Napoleon (conducting both from the piano). First performances of Arnold Schoenberg
's Serenade, op.24, Wind Quintet and complete Piano Pieces, Anton Webern
's 5 Pieces for orchestra, op.10 and Concerto, op.24, Igor Stravinsky
's Octet, Les Noces
and Histoire du Soldat
, Nikos Skalkottas' Andante sostenuto, Octet and Classic Symphony followed, as well as works by Robert Gerhard, Tōru Takemitsu
, György Ligeti
, Jani Christou
, Iannis Xenakis
a.o. In cooperation with the UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) he established the North Campus Choir with which he presented Brahms's A German Requiem, Bach's Mass in B Minor, Stravinsky's Mass and Elizabethan madrigal
s. He founded special classes in "initiating" in the deeper meaning of music (not only for musicians).
Always appearing in recitals and concerts, he performed Bartók's Piano Concerto No.1 in Germany and his Piano Concerto No.3 in England and Greece, Schoenberg's Piano Concerto in Paris with the Orchestre National de France
under Dimitris Chorafas and in Geneva
with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
under Samuel Baud-Bovy, Ravel's Concerto in G major with The Hallé
Orchestra under Jussi Jalas
and the Concerto for left hand with the same orchestra (conducting himself from the piano), Skalkottas's Piano Concerto No.2 in Zürich
, London with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
under Antal Doráti
and Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
under Ernest Bour
).
In 1968 he gave his first recital and lecture at New Delhi
in India and had the opportunity at their Music Academy to experience ancient and unprecedented dimensions of musical perception, which he worked out during his next two visits to India and built into his following musical activities. In 1969 he conducted the world premiere of Skalkottas's Piano Concerto No.3, played the world premiere of the 'Five Works for Winds and Piano' and the London premiere of the Bassoon Sonata, while also preparing and editing the orchestral parts.
The next year he attended the 'Bach Conference' in New York
, and visited Tanglewood
and the 'Vermont Festival' where he met great musicians, such as Rosalyn Tureck
and Rudolf Serkin
.
After conducting for a few years the Orchestras of Hoylake
and South Manchester, he took over the Bury Symphony Orchestra, with which he presented 40 different programs of the main symphonic repertoire, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
's 5 greatest opera
s and Beethoven's Fidelio
. For years he conducted the 'Cleveland Easter Orchestral Courses' and the 'Canford Choral Weekends'.
In 1978 he gave the World Premiere of Skalkottas's Piano Concerto No.1 under Michel Tabachnik
in Greece and the next year he conducted Skalkottas's Overture 'Ulysses's Return' in Copenhagen
at the E.B.U. (European Broadcasting Union
) and gave the World Premier of the Double Bass Concerto. In 1984, he was invited at the instigation of Prof. Josef Rufer
, formerly Schoenberg's assistant in Berlin, to present Skalkottas in a special recital at the University of Southern California
in Los Angeles (at that time the location of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute). During the same year, he takes over the annual summer seminars and festival organized by the Cultural Foundation "G. Angelinis-Pia Hadjinikos" at Horto, a beautiful village in Pelion
, Greece. During these seminars orchestras are being made up by Greek and foreign musicians, having presented works by Beethoven, Brahms, Jean Sibelius
, Carl Orff
, Christou, Charles Ives
, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Bartók, Dmitri Shostakovich
and many others.
In 1990, the University of Pavia
awarded him the 'Ugo Foscolo
' Medal for his offerings in European Music. During the years 1993 and 1995 he conducted 7 classic programs with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra (now Konzerthausorchester Berlin).
During his multifarious career he never stopped visiting Greece, collaborating (either as a pianist or conductor) with Greek and foreign orchestras. He has appeared at the Athens Festival both as a soloist and conductor, having performed Skalkottas with Miltiadis Karydis and having conducted works by Jani Christou with the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Milan and by Skalkottas with the Košice State Philharmonic Orchestra.
He never stops his manifold musical activities, as well as travelling and teaching extensively, always aiming to awaken each student's subconscious. He teaches every summer at Horto, Greece. He is often invited to give seminars abroad under the title 'Essence and Origins of Musical Interpretation', which allow any instrumentalist, singer, ensemble, orchestra and even the audience to take part since they aim in discovering Music itself rather than simply giving advice concerning technique. He is president of the jury at the Ibiza International Piano Competition which takes place every two years.
Among his more prominent former pupils are Gilbert Biberian
, Paul Galbraith
, Richard Ward-Roden, Teodor Currentzis
, Trefor Smith, Smaro Gregoriadou and Yiorgo Moutsiaras
.
He is an author of two books. One about Skalkottas accompanied with two CDs, and one about Mozart's recitatives in his Operas. Currently he is preparing his third book which is about 'Essence and Origins of Musical Interpretation'.
Only with such an approach can an interpretation be achieved which makes the music genuinely accessible to the layman, bestowing upon the performer the most satisfying rewards and upon music the fulfilment of its true goal. After all, Beethoven himself wrote at the beginning of his greatest work, his Missa Solemnis, "from the heart… may it to hearts go again"; while Haydn in his old age, despite being exhausted by a life of unceasing labour was, as he himself states, "forcing himself to continue composing, in order to bring joy to some unhappy and desperate soul".
It is imperative for this purpose to confront immediately and in depth each error in order to discover its roots and thus be able to eliminate it. At the same time, the participants are encouraged to bring forward free and unhampered any query whatever, so that through a process of clarification, one might arrive at essential questions and clear answers. In this way one circumvents the curse of present day education, which, because of perceived lack of time for such ‘luxuries’, promotes hasty and unchecked copying of prefabricated answers. Given the basis on which grades and degrees are currently awarded, such attitudes may help students to achieve them more easily, but they also admit mechanical performances and soulless music making.
The knowledge that results from such a process withers like cut flowers, whilst knowledge that is sown by an alert mind in an awakened instinct fertilizes and enriches, bearing blossoms and fruits like living plants and trees. Education that neglects the awakening and cultivation of the instinct leads to superficial and sterile knowledge. Genuine and fertile learning emerges only from an education in which the probing mind awakens and cultivates the instinct, replacing the self-indulgent inertia of incomplete knowledge with humility, understanding and constantly developing through growing assimilation of nature's perennial wisdom.
George Hadjinikos, Oct. 1997
Michael Bochmann (Organiser of the London Seminars)
"George Hadjinikos belongs absolutely to the first rank of his generation. Thanks to a quite exceptional talent and a most thorough musical knowledge, he excels equally as a pianist, an educator, and in particular both an orchestral and choral conductor."
Carl Orff
"For many years I have known and held in esteem George Hadjinikos, an outstanding musician, who has an intimate knowledge not only of established repertoire but also of all branches of modern music especially the work of Arnold Schoenberg and his Viennese School. To this must be added his theoretical knowledge and a remarkable flair for education. In this way he is predisposed to follow an extraordinary path in music."
Prof. Josef Rufer (Schoenberg's Assistant in Berlin)
"We, the Maggini Quartet, have been coached by Professor George Hadjinikos over a period of many years in quartets ranging from Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven through to Ravel, Prokofiev and Schoenberg and his help has always been inspirational. He approaches music from its roots, his knowledge of which is enormous and ever-growing and often achieves results by 'taking away', allowing the music to be revealed, as opposed to adding musicality on the top, which is so common today. His workshops should not be missed.
David Angel (2nd violin, Maggini Quartet)
"Dear George, I am sure that what I told you about my joy at your Carmina Burana last night was quite inadequate, but even as I write I know I cannot express in words the experience you and all your talented company gave me. This is what art is about – joy which cannot be defined but is felt in one's bones and substance. And clearly this was in all your singers and players last night as well as in the audience. In life we know that vibrations radiate from everything, but so often we are not aware of them; last night the vibrations were audible and visible, and they added up to meaning and therefore affirmation and therefore joy in life. The faces of those children is something I shall never forget. You made us feel what a mockery most "music" is, with as much life as a bowler hat; Orff's music grows from the roots. What pleasure!!
Idris Parry (Professor of German Literature, University of Manchester)
"Dear Mr. Hadjinikos, Everyone concerned with the Cleveland Easter Orchestral Courses has been full of praise for the splendid music, which has been created during those very pleasant and interesting weeks. The course members in particular have been full of admiration for the enthusiasm and the brilliance of your teaching. In keeping with your own expressed philosophy of Music and Music-making, great things were achieved in the lives of the people fortunate enough to attend these courses. New friendships and the happiness that these created have all been part of this great project. Truly it has been for everyone a great personal experience.
L. Robinson, Principal Cleveland Technical College
"My dear friend, I honestly have no way of telling you the extent of our gratitude for your Canford Choral Weekends. They have been the most worthwhile and successful ventures in the musical life of the school since I came 10 years ago."
B. Manning (Director of Music, Canford School)
"How delighted we are to express today our affection and gratitude after 13 years of making music together. None of this would have been possible without your guiding hand which moulded and developed our musical sensibilities and abilities giving us the confidence to play music of unsurpassed beauty. Who will ever forget your mastery of each subject and your ability to make the philosophy behind the music comprehensible to us?"
Arthur Price (Chairman of the Bury Symphony Orchestra)
"The concert with works by Skalkottas that was given in the Herodes Atticus Theatre proved a surprise. For the first time the 'composer of the intellectuals' reached and captured the whole audience who, astounded, realized the richness of sonorities in his orchestration, as well as the endless colourful variety of his harmonies. Above all however, they realized how Skalkottas captures and expresses the soul of Hellenism. His outrageously difficult scores found ideal interpreters in George Hadjinikos with the Košice Orchestra. The continuous vitality together with the unfailing observation to each detail kept us spellbound and surprised to the end."
Kathimerini (leading Athens newspaper)
"Dear George, Thank you for a quite exceptionally impressive concert, which included outstanding stretches in what is, texturally, one of the two most difficult works to play in our entire literature (the other is Schoenberg's 3rd Quartet). The Mozart, likewise, evinced deeply understanding tempo characters and phrasings—though here, there are also one or two things that could be further developed not contradicting your marvellous, highly characteristic tempo definition. But let these tiny points not overshadow my enthusiastic reaction to one of the few musical concerts one has been allowed to hear!! Yours, Hans"
Hans Keller (the outstanding musicologist and musician, concerning the London performance of Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No.1 and Mozart's Gran Partita for 13 Winds)
"Dear Sir, I listened to your rendering of my "Six Preludes for Strings" with the most total delight. With your marvellous comprehension of my Preludes you know how to change the atmosphere with the most perfect authenticity six times, passing with subtlety from a common joke to poetry. (With Ulysses among your ancestors, this goes without saying, but it goes even better by pointing it out). Believe me your grateful admirer, Jean Françaix
Jean Françaix (the eminent French composer)
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
soloist
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
, conductor, teacher and author with an international career (placed by many amongst the most exceptional "philosophers of Music"), having been given kudos from some of the greatest musical personalities in 20th-century music such as Dimitris Mitropoulos
Dimitris Mitropoulos
Dimitri Mitropoulos , was a Greek conductor, pianist, and composer. Also known as Dimitris Mitropoulos.-Life and career:Mitropoulos was born in Athens, the son of Yannis and Angeliki Mitropoulos. His father owned a leather goods shop at No. 15, St Marks Street. He was musically precocious,...
, Edwin Fischer
Edwin Fischer
Edwin Fischer was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, particularly in the traditional Germanic repertoire of such composers as J. S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert...
, Carl Orff
Carl Orff
Carl Orff was a 20th-century German composer, best known for his cantata Carmina Burana . In addition to his career as a composer, Orff developed an influential method of music education for children.-Early life:...
, Jean Françaix
Jean Françaix
Jean René Désiré Françaix was a French neoclassical composer, pianist, and orchestrator, known for his prolific output and vibrant style.-Life:...
, Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Gustavovich Neuhaus was a Soviet pianist and pedagogue of German extraction. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1922 to 1964. He was made a People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1956...
, Sir John Barbirolli, Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt
Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt
Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt was a German composer, musicologist, and historian and critic of music.- Life :...
and many others. Among his teachers were Edwin Fischer
Edwin Fischer
Edwin Fischer was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, particularly in the traditional Germanic repertoire of such composers as J. S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert...
, Johann Nepomuk David
Johann Nepomuk David
Johann Nepomuk David was an Austrian composer.He began his musical career in the monastery of Sankt Florian, and was a composition student of Joseph Marx....
, Carl Orff
Carl Orff
Carl Orff was a 20th-century German composer, best known for his cantata Carmina Burana . In addition to his career as a composer, Orff developed an influential method of music education for children.-Early life:...
, Alice Pashkus
Alice Pashkus
Alice Pashkus was a famous violinist of the early and middle twentieth century who became renowned as a pedagogue. Her most influential work was carried out in collaboration with her husband, Theodore; for many years the couple were considered two of the world's most outstanding violin teachers....
, Eduard Erdmann
Eduard Erdmann
Eduard Erdmann was a Baltic German pianist and composer.Erdmann was born in Wenden in Livonia. He was the great-nephew of the philosopher Johann Eduard Erdmann. His first musical studies were in Riga, where his teachers were Bror Möllersten and Jean du Chastain and Harald Creutzburg...
, George Chavchavadze, in a quite exceptional way Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Gustavovich Neuhaus was a Soviet pianist and pedagogue of German extraction. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1922 to 1964. He was made a People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1956...
, and others.
Since 1961 he is a UK resident and following that a British citizen. He shares, since 1990, his time between England and Greece.
Biography
He began his musical education as a child at the Volos Conservatoire in Greece. After moving to Athens in 1934, he continued at the Athens ConservatoireAthens Conservatoire
The Athens Conservatoire is the oldest conservatoire in modern Greece. It was founded in 1871 by the Athens Music and Drama Society. Initially, the musical instruments that were taught there were limited to the violin and the flute, representative of the ancient Greek Apollonian and Dionysian...
, graduating in 1943 with a piano diploma and a degree in harmony. During this period he decided to abandon his studies at the Faculty of Law at the University of Athens (where he had passed as 5th in 1940) and devote himself exclusively to music.
After the war, he continued his studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
from where he graduated with piano and conducting diplomas in 1948–49, while being awarded the Lilly Lehmann Medal of the Mozarteum International Foundation. While studying in Salzburg he met great musicians, such as Johann Nepomuk David
Johann Nepomuk David
Johann Nepomuk David was an Austrian composer.He began his musical career in the monastery of Sankt Florian, and was a composition student of Joseph Marx....
who introduced him to the spirit of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, of polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
and of choral music. In 1950 he attended a composition seminar given by Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
(whose 2nd version of his magnificent work 'Marienleben', he had given the European premiere a few months earlier in Salzburg with tremendous success). He also had the opportunity to play to the composer his Piano Sonata No.3 during this period, making the composer say to him "I have heard it many times in the past by American and German pianists, but for the first time I heard the structure of the Fugue
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
." When Hadjinikos had performed this Sonata with the cycle Marienleben, due to the success he was accused that he had beautified the Sonata in a sort of 'Mediterranean-Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
like' way and didn't capture the Hindemith-style. When he told this to Hindemith, the otherwise extremely severe composer smiled gently and answered "If we suppose that there is such a thing as a 'Hindemith-style', then this is exactly what I just heard."
He began giving public recitals and performing as a soloist with orchestras playing Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
's both Concertos, Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
's, Aram Khachaturian
Aram Khachaturian
Aram Ilyich Khachaturian was a prominent Soviet composer. Khachaturian's works were often influenced by classical Russian music and Armenian folk music...
's, Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's 4th and 5th, Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
's 2nd and his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in A minor, Op. 43 is a concertante work written by Sergei Rachmaninoff. It is written for solo piano and symphony orchestra, closely resembling a piano concerto. The work was written at Villa Senar, according to the score, from July 3 to August 18, 1934...
. He was called to give 80 recitals in Germany (in co-operation with the American Information Center) due to his European premiere of Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
's Piano Sonata.
In 1951 he moved from Salzburg to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
where he studied with Carl Orff and with whom he had a great friendship until the end of the composer's life. In 1952, he came across one of Nikos Skalkottas's works for the first time, becoming an authority on the works of this great Greek composer, of whom he has been an energetic and committed exponent since.
From 1952 till 1957 he lived in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, where he took lessons on contemporary interpretation with Eduard Erdmann at the Hochschule für Musik
Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg
The Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg is one of the larger universities of music in Germany.It was founded 1950 as Staatliche Hochschule für Musik on the base of the former private acting school of Annemarie Marks-Rocke and Eduard Marks.Studies include various music types from church music...
. In October 1953 he gave the world premiere of Skalkottas's Piano Concerto No.2 with the NWDR (today NDR) Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Hermann Scherchen
Hermann Scherchen
Hermann Scherchen was a German conductor.-Life:Scherchen was originally a violist and played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens...
. For this performance, Hadjinikos was sent a microfilm with the extremely illegible full score and had to copy the piano part with a magnifying glass in order to learn his part. This was the performance which caused the BBC to take an interest in the work, leading to its subsequent broadcast and the publication of Hans Keller
Hans Keller
Hans Keller was an influential Austrian-born British musician and writer who made significant contributions to musicology and music criticism, as well as being an insightful commentator on such disparate fields as psychoanalysis and football...
's historic article in The Listener entitled 'Nikos Skalkottas: An Original Genius'. In December 1954, he discovered several lost Skalkottas manuscripts in a second-hand bookshop in Berlin: the works unearthed were the Octet, two String Quartets, and the Piano Concerto No.1.
He continued to give recitals and appear as a soloist with orchestras performing Béla Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
's Piano Concerto No.2 in Hamburg, Salzburg and Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Skalkottas's Piano Concerto No.2 in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
's Piano Concerto in Stockholm (Swedish premiere). The performance of Bartók's Piano Concerto No.2 with the NWDR Symphony Orchestra under Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt was a German conductor and composer.-Early life:Born in Berlin, he studied music in Heidelberg and Münster. He was also a composition student with Franz Schreker at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, and received a doctorate in 1923.-Career:He was a repetiteur at the...
on the occasion of the 10 years since Bartók's death, established him as the "ideal interpreter" of the great Hungarian composer.
In 1957 he moved to France where he stayed until 1960. There, he met and studied with Prince and Princess Chavchavadze at Châtel-Censoir
Châtel-Censoir
Châtel-Censoir is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France.-References:*...
being initiated to Russian and French music. In 1959, while on a tour in the Soviet Union, when he reached Moscow he received an invitation by Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Gustavovich Neuhaus was a Soviet pianist and pedagogue of German extraction. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1922 to 1964. He was made a People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1956...
whom he met and had been given by him the first "seeds" of teaching. During the same year, Hadjinikos moved to Paris.
Circumstances led him to Switzerland, where he settled for less than a year. In 1961, after a tour in South Africa, he accepted to join the piano faculty of the Royal Manchester College of Music (today Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...
), thus moving to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. Besides his Piano classes at the College, he branched out into Conducting
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
, History of music
History of music
Music is found in every known culture, past and present, varying wildly between times and places. Around 50,000 years ago, early modern humans began to disperse from Africa, reaching all the habitable continents...
, Chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, Harmonization of Praxis and Theory, Relation between Art and Science a.o., realizing that the problems of musical education are infinitely deeper than he first believed. This made him stay at the College 27 years instead of 3 as he had planned, retiring in 1988. During these years, he had been discovering answers which concern music in the whole and thus established a personal foundational approach to music, which he named Logic and Foundations (today Essence and Origins) of Musical Interpretation and has presented it in various articles and essays, while also applies it to all of his musical activities.
Parallelly, he multiplied his appearances as a soloist and a conductor. With the College's Choir he premiered the there unknown Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana , Latin for "Songs from Beuern" , is the name given to a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces were written principally in Medieval Latin; a few in Middle High German, and some with traces...
by Orff and established the "New Manchester Ensemble", premiering in North England Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire
Pierrot Lunaire
Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds 'Pierrot lunaire' , commonly known simply as Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 , is a melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg...
and Ode to Napoleon (conducting both from the piano). First performances of Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
's Serenade, op.24, Wind Quintet and complete Piano Pieces, Anton Webern
Anton Webern
Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
's 5 Pieces for orchestra, op.10 and Concerto, op.24, Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's Octet, Les Noces
Les Noces
Les noces by Igor Stravinsky, is a dance cantata, or ballet with vocalists.-History:The ballet was premiered on June 13, 1923 at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, by the Ballets Russes with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska...
and Histoire du Soldat
Histoire du soldat
Histoire du soldat , composed by Igor Stravinsky, is a 1918 theatrical work "to be read, played, and danced" . The libretto, which is based on a Russian folk tale, was written in French by the Swiss universalist writer C.F. Ramuz...
, Nikos Skalkottas' Andante sostenuto, Octet and Classic Symphony followed, as well as works by Robert Gerhard, Tōru Takemitsu
Toru Takemitsu
was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre...
, György Ligeti
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
, Jani Christou
Jani Christou
Jani Christou was a Greek composer.He was born in Heliopolis, Egypt, of Greek parents. He was educated at the English School in Alexandria and he took his first piano lessons from various teachers and from the important Greek pianist Gina Bachauer...
, Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
a.o. In cooperation with the UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) he established the North Campus Choir with which he presented Brahms's A German Requiem, Bach's Mass in B Minor, Stravinsky's Mass and Elizabethan madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
s. He founded special classes in "initiating" in the deeper meaning of music (not only for musicians).
Always appearing in recitals and concerts, he performed Bartók's Piano Concerto No.1 in Germany and his Piano Concerto No.3 in England and Greece, Schoenberg's Piano Concerto in Paris with the Orchestre National de France
Orchestre National de France
The Orchestre national de France is a symphony orchestra run by Radio France. It has also been known as the Orchestre national de la Radiodiffusion française and Orchestre national de l'Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française .Since 1944, the orchestra has been based in the Théâtre...
under Dimitris Chorafas and in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall...
under Samuel Baud-Bovy, Ravel's Concerto in G major with The Hallé
The Hallé
The Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir, youth choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI...
Orchestra under Jussi Jalas
Jussi Jalas
Jussi Jalas was a Finnish conductor and composer.-Biography:Jussi Jalas was born as Armas Jussi Veikko Blomstedt in Jyväskylä in 1908. His father was the architect Yrjö Blomstedt. He studied at the Helsingfors Conservatory 1923-30 , and then in Paris 1933-34, under Wladimir Pohl, Pierre Monteux...
and the Concerto for left hand with the same orchestra (conducting himself from the piano), Skalkottas's Piano Concerto No.2 in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, London with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
under Antal Doráti
Antal Doráti
Antal Doráti, KBE was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1947.-Biography:...
and Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
The Berlin Philharmonic, German: , formerly Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the...
under Ernest Bour
Ernest Bour
Ernest Bour was a French conductor. Born in Thionville, Moselle, Bour studied at both the University and the Conservatoire of Strasbourg...
).
In 1968 he gave his first recital and lecture at New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
in India and had the opportunity at their Music Academy to experience ancient and unprecedented dimensions of musical perception, which he worked out during his next two visits to India and built into his following musical activities. In 1969 he conducted the world premiere of Skalkottas's Piano Concerto No.3, played the world premiere of the 'Five Works for Winds and Piano' and the London premiere of the Bassoon Sonata, while also preparing and editing the orchestral parts.
The next year he attended the 'Bach Conference' in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and visited Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
and the 'Vermont Festival' where he met great musicians, such as Rosalyn Tureck
Rosalyn Tureck
Rosalyn Tureck was an American pianist and harpsichordist who was particularly associated with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach...
and Rudolf Serkin
Rudolf Serkin
Rudolf Serkin , was a Bohemian-born pianist.-Life and early career:Serkin was born in Eger, Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire to a Russian-Jewish family....
.
After conducting for a few years the Orchestras of Hoylake
Hoylake
Hoylake is a seaside town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, on Merseyside, England. It is located at the north western corner of the Wirral Peninsula, near to the town of West Kirby and where the River Dee estuary meets the Irish Sea...
and South Manchester, he took over the Bury Symphony Orchestra, with which he presented 40 different programs of the main symphonic repertoire, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's 5 greatest opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s and Beethoven's Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
. For years he conducted the 'Cleveland Easter Orchestral Courses' and the 'Canford Choral Weekends'.
In 1978 he gave the World Premiere of Skalkottas's Piano Concerto No.1 under Michel Tabachnik
Michel Tabachnik
Michel Tabachnik is a Swiss conductor and composer.-Early years:Michel Tabachnik was born in Geneva, where he studied piano, composition and conducting. As a young conductor he was a protégé of Igor Markevitch, Herbert von Karajan and Pierre Boulez, acting as the latter's assistant for four years,...
in Greece and the next year he conducted Skalkottas's Overture 'Ulysses's Return' in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
at the E.B.U. (European Broadcasting Union
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 74 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 49 associate broadcasters from a further 25...
) and gave the World Premier of the Double Bass Concerto. In 1984, he was invited at the instigation of Prof. Josef Rufer
Josef Rufer
Josef Rufer was an Austrian-born musicologist. He is regarded as a significant figure mainly on account of his association with and writings on Arnold Schoenberg....
, formerly Schoenberg's assistant in Berlin, to present Skalkottas in a special recital at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
in Los Angeles (at that time the location of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute). During the same year, he takes over the annual summer seminars and festival organized by the Cultural Foundation "G. Angelinis-Pia Hadjinikos" at Horto, a beautiful village in Pelion
Pelion
Pelion or Pelium is a mountain at the southeastern part of Thessaly in central Greece, forming a hook-like peninsula between the Pagasetic Gulf and the Aegean Sea...
, Greece. During these seminars orchestras are being made up by Greek and foreign musicians, having presented works by Beethoven, Brahms, Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
, Carl Orff
Carl Orff
Carl Orff was a 20th-century German composer, best known for his cantata Carmina Burana . In addition to his career as a composer, Orff developed an influential method of music education for children.-Early life:...
, Christou, Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Bartók, Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
and many others.
In 1990, the University of Pavia
University of Pavia
The University of Pavia is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. It was founded in 1361 and is organized in 9 Faculties.-History:...
awarded him the 'Ugo Foscolo
Ugo Foscolo
Ugo Foscolo , born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and poet.-Biography:Foscolo was born on the Ionian island of Zakynthos...
' Medal for his offerings in European Music. During the years 1993 and 1995 he conducted 7 classic programs with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra (now Konzerthausorchester Berlin).
During his multifarious career he never stopped visiting Greece, collaborating (either as a pianist or conductor) with Greek and foreign orchestras. He has appeared at the Athens Festival both as a soloist and conductor, having performed Skalkottas with Miltiadis Karydis and having conducted works by Jani Christou with the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Milan and by Skalkottas with the Košice State Philharmonic Orchestra.
He never stops his manifold musical activities, as well as travelling and teaching extensively, always aiming to awaken each student's subconscious. He teaches every summer at Horto, Greece. He is often invited to give seminars abroad under the title 'Essence and Origins of Musical Interpretation', which allow any instrumentalist, singer, ensemble, orchestra and even the audience to take part since they aim in discovering Music itself rather than simply giving advice concerning technique. He is president of the jury at the Ibiza International Piano Competition which takes place every two years.
Among his more prominent former pupils are Gilbert Biberian
Gilbert Biberian
Gilbert Biberian is a British guitarist and composer.Born in Istanbul of Greek/Armenian descent, Mr Biberian's ethnic roots are integral to his compositions. He studied at Trinity College of Music, graduating in 1968. In 1965 a French Government grant took him to France to study with Ida Presti...
, Paul Galbraith
Paul Galbraith
Paul Galbraith is a Scottish-born classical guitarist known for his unique style of playing.-Biography:Paul Galbraith had his first guitar lessons with Graham Wade, continuing his studies with Gordon Crosskey at the Chethams School for Young Musicians.At the age of 17, Galbraith won the Silver...
, Richard Ward-Roden, Teodor Currentzis
Teodor Currentzis
Teodor Currentzis is a Greek conductor, musician and actor, who works in Russia.-Biography:Currentzis was born in Athens, and at the age of 4 began to take piano lessons, after which, at the age 7, he began violin lessons. He entered the National Conservatory, Athens at the age of 12, in the...
, Trefor Smith, Smaro Gregoriadou and Yiorgo Moutsiaras
Yiorgo Moutsiaras
Yiorgo Moutsiaras is a Greek orchestral conductor living in Delft since October 2005. He is conducting the Filharmonisch Orkest ’s-Hertogenbosch -an orchestra in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.- Life :...
.
He is an author of two books. One about Skalkottas accompanied with two CDs, and one about Mozart's recitatives in his Operas. Currently he is preparing his third book which is about 'Essence and Origins of Musical Interpretation'.
Essence and Origins of Musical Interpretation
The "Essence and Origins" workshops differ radically from conventional master classes that usually offer advice and directives within the framework of a particular instrument or voice. These workshops aim at a wider, more general approach, departing from the principle that music is formally learned from ‘without’, e.g. via technical and theoretical notions. Instead, the aim is to recover the instinctual and deeper foundations of both musical theory and practical techniques in order to capture the essence of music from within. In place of mere technical advice, the musical elements and meanings are explored from within, and the performer is guided and encouraged first to discover for himself so as to acquire gradually the ability to identify with the ideas that sparked the composers’ creative impulses.Only with such an approach can an interpretation be achieved which makes the music genuinely accessible to the layman, bestowing upon the performer the most satisfying rewards and upon music the fulfilment of its true goal. After all, Beethoven himself wrote at the beginning of his greatest work, his Missa Solemnis, "from the heart… may it to hearts go again"; while Haydn in his old age, despite being exhausted by a life of unceasing labour was, as he himself states, "forcing himself to continue composing, in order to bring joy to some unhappy and desperate soul".
It is imperative for this purpose to confront immediately and in depth each error in order to discover its roots and thus be able to eliminate it. At the same time, the participants are encouraged to bring forward free and unhampered any query whatever, so that through a process of clarification, one might arrive at essential questions and clear answers. In this way one circumvents the curse of present day education, which, because of perceived lack of time for such ‘luxuries’, promotes hasty and unchecked copying of prefabricated answers. Given the basis on which grades and degrees are currently awarded, such attitudes may help students to achieve them more easily, but they also admit mechanical performances and soulless music making.
The knowledge that results from such a process withers like cut flowers, whilst knowledge that is sown by an alert mind in an awakened instinct fertilizes and enriches, bearing blossoms and fruits like living plants and trees. Education that neglects the awakening and cultivation of the instinct leads to superficial and sterile knowledge. Genuine and fertile learning emerges only from an education in which the probing mind awakens and cultivates the instinct, replacing the self-indulgent inertia of incomplete knowledge with humility, understanding and constantly developing through growing assimilation of nature's perennial wisdom.
George Hadjinikos, Oct. 1997
As seen by others
"George Hadjinikos has a unique ability, arrived at through a deep understanding coupled with a natural intuition, to identify the true character of musical works. My own experience of this has been in the London series of workshops "Logic and Foundations of Interpretation" in which Professor Hadjinikos looks into the roots of understanding of a work in such a way that the performance is a logical extension of these and so a natural communication. The transformation achieved during the sessions is astonishing. His communicative ability extends equally to his description of the works in which he transforms the gamut of specialist knowledge into a form understood by everyone without the condition of previous knowledge. In my opinion, George Hadjinikos is one of the very finest musicians and teachers we have today."Michael Bochmann (Organiser of the London Seminars)
"George Hadjinikos belongs absolutely to the first rank of his generation. Thanks to a quite exceptional talent and a most thorough musical knowledge, he excels equally as a pianist, an educator, and in particular both an orchestral and choral conductor."
Carl Orff
"For many years I have known and held in esteem George Hadjinikos, an outstanding musician, who has an intimate knowledge not only of established repertoire but also of all branches of modern music especially the work of Arnold Schoenberg and his Viennese School. To this must be added his theoretical knowledge and a remarkable flair for education. In this way he is predisposed to follow an extraordinary path in music."
Prof. Josef Rufer (Schoenberg's Assistant in Berlin)
"We, the Maggini Quartet, have been coached by Professor George Hadjinikos over a period of many years in quartets ranging from Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven through to Ravel, Prokofiev and Schoenberg and his help has always been inspirational. He approaches music from its roots, his knowledge of which is enormous and ever-growing and often achieves results by 'taking away', allowing the music to be revealed, as opposed to adding musicality on the top, which is so common today. His workshops should not be missed.
David Angel (2nd violin, Maggini Quartet)
"Dear George, I am sure that what I told you about my joy at your Carmina Burana last night was quite inadequate, but even as I write I know I cannot express in words the experience you and all your talented company gave me. This is what art is about – joy which cannot be defined but is felt in one's bones and substance. And clearly this was in all your singers and players last night as well as in the audience. In life we know that vibrations radiate from everything, but so often we are not aware of them; last night the vibrations were audible and visible, and they added up to meaning and therefore affirmation and therefore joy in life. The faces of those children is something I shall never forget. You made us feel what a mockery most "music" is, with as much life as a bowler hat; Orff's music grows from the roots. What pleasure!!
Idris Parry (Professor of German Literature, University of Manchester)
"Dear Mr. Hadjinikos, Everyone concerned with the Cleveland Easter Orchestral Courses has been full of praise for the splendid music, which has been created during those very pleasant and interesting weeks. The course members in particular have been full of admiration for the enthusiasm and the brilliance of your teaching. In keeping with your own expressed philosophy of Music and Music-making, great things were achieved in the lives of the people fortunate enough to attend these courses. New friendships and the happiness that these created have all been part of this great project. Truly it has been for everyone a great personal experience.
L. Robinson, Principal Cleveland Technical College
"My dear friend, I honestly have no way of telling you the extent of our gratitude for your Canford Choral Weekends. They have been the most worthwhile and successful ventures in the musical life of the school since I came 10 years ago."
B. Manning (Director of Music, Canford School)
"How delighted we are to express today our affection and gratitude after 13 years of making music together. None of this would have been possible without your guiding hand which moulded and developed our musical sensibilities and abilities giving us the confidence to play music of unsurpassed beauty. Who will ever forget your mastery of each subject and your ability to make the philosophy behind the music comprehensible to us?"
Arthur Price (Chairman of the Bury Symphony Orchestra)
"The concert with works by Skalkottas that was given in the Herodes Atticus Theatre proved a surprise. For the first time the 'composer of the intellectuals' reached and captured the whole audience who, astounded, realized the richness of sonorities in his orchestration, as well as the endless colourful variety of his harmonies. Above all however, they realized how Skalkottas captures and expresses the soul of Hellenism. His outrageously difficult scores found ideal interpreters in George Hadjinikos with the Košice Orchestra. The continuous vitality together with the unfailing observation to each detail kept us spellbound and surprised to the end."
Kathimerini (leading Athens newspaper)
"Dear George, Thank you for a quite exceptionally impressive concert, which included outstanding stretches in what is, texturally, one of the two most difficult works to play in our entire literature (the other is Schoenberg's 3rd Quartet). The Mozart, likewise, evinced deeply understanding tempo characters and phrasings—though here, there are also one or two things that could be further developed not contradicting your marvellous, highly characteristic tempo definition. But let these tiny points not overshadow my enthusiastic reaction to one of the few musical concerts one has been allowed to hear!! Yours, Hans"
Hans Keller (the outstanding musicologist and musician, concerning the London performance of Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No.1 and Mozart's Gran Partita for 13 Winds)
"Dear Sir, I listened to your rendering of my "Six Preludes for Strings" with the most total delight. With your marvellous comprehension of my Preludes you know how to change the atmosphere with the most perfect authenticity six times, passing with subtlety from a common joke to poetry. (With Ulysses among your ancestors, this goes without saying, but it goes even better by pointing it out). Believe me your grateful admirer, Jean Françaix
Jean Françaix (the eminent French composer)
Recordings
- Skalkottas, Nikos: Concerto No.2 for Piano and Orchestra; George Hadjinikos (piano), Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra cond. Hermann Scherchen (1953). Arkadia CDGI 768.1 (CD 1993)
Editions
- N. Skalkottas: Concertino for 2 Pianos and Orchestra, Universal Edition, Dec. 1968
- N. Skalkottas: 10 Piano Pieces from '32 Piano Pieces', Universal Edition
Books
- Hadjinikos, George: 'W. A. Mozart - European Musician', published by the Cultural Foundation "G. Angelinis - Pia Hadjinikos", 1991 (in Greek Language)
- Hadjinikos, George: 'Nikos Skalkottas - A renewed approach to musical thought and interpretation', Nefeli Publishing, 2006 (in Greek language, contains two gratis CDs with own interpretations conducting or playing)
- Hadjinikos, George: 'The Recitativo in Mozart's Operas', Nefeli Publishing, 2007 (in Greek language)
Articles
- Hadjinikos, George: 'Nikos Skalkottas, Hellas and Dodecaphony' [Ellas kai Dodekaphonia], contribution to 'A Little Dedication to Nikos Skalkottas's [Mikro Aphieroma ston Niko Skalkota], in Bulletin of Critical Discography [Deltio Kritikis Discographias], 10/13, Athens, 1974, p. 212.
External links
- Cultural Foundation "G. Angelinis - Pia Hadjinikos"
- A conversation with George Hadjinikos with Graham Wade at egtaguitarforum.org
- Biography
- http://www.classicalmusic.gr/interviews/article.php?id=1055 (in Greek)