6TH INTERNATIONAL PHAROS CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL

Sunday 5 October 2014
LECTURE “Film music: from the silent era to the coming of sound”
ALEXANDROS MOUZAS / ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE ERGON ENSEMBLE
The Shoe Factory, Nicosia / 7:30pm
Free Admission

Alexandros Mouzas, Artistic Director of the Ergon Ensemble will track the history of film music – from its early beginnings to recent days, the methods and practices of producing film music, as well as the secrets in shaping a language that directly communicates with the viewer. The lecture, which will also feature rare cinematic and photographic footage, will be given in Greek and will last approximately two hours.

ALEXANDROS MOUZAS

Alexandros Mouzas studied composition with Theodore Antoniou, advanced theory with Haris Xanthoudakis and electronic music with Dimitris Kamarotos. He has composed for various ensembles and has received many commissions from organisations and orchestras, including: The education program S-[cool]-life (2014), film scores for Len Lye’s Tusalava (2012) and Alan Schneider’s Film (2012), Asma Asmaton (2008), Struwwelpeter (2004), Trisha Never Left Home (1999) by the Athens Megaron; Cam-Media (2009) by the Athens Camerata (the Friends of Music Orchestra); film score for Luis Buñuel’s Un chien Andalou (2013) by the Ergon Ensemble; Stones of Destiny (2010), Giant with the Red Boots (2010), Trisevgeni (2008) by the Orchestra of Colors; Monologue (2001) by Alea III, Boston; Prima Materia (1996) by the Greek National Radio.

Many of his works have also been performed by the Athens State Orchestra, the Orchestra of Patras, the Kyiv Classic Orchestra, amongst others. Alexandros Mouzas has collaborated with the choreographer Konstantinos Michos and the 'Lathos Kinissi' dance group in many productions, among them Trisha Never Left Home, Days of Vironas, Papageno and Calamity till the Dawn, as well as the Airesis Dance Company.

His professional activities include image-related music. He has written original music for short films, television series, documentaries and commercials for the majority of the Greek television channels. In 2003, he was the artistic director of the Greek Section of the European program “New Media Edge Project”, and in 2004, he was commissioned by the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee, to compose original music for the Athens Olympic Games corporate videos. His recent professional activities include production management of various important CD releases of Greek orchestral music. He is the manager and founding member of the Ergon Ensemble, he runs his own production company, Anax – Cultural Projects and he teaches music technology and Film music at top schools in Athens.

Alexandros Mouzas has conceived and coordinated the educational programmes Cam-media and S-[cool]-life for high school students, and he has been coordinating the Festival of Sacred Music of Patmos, since 2009, and productions such as Tribute to Iannis Xenakis (Athens Festival), Peter Maxwell Davies: Icones (Megaron-The Athens Concert Hall) and Silent Films and Music (Michalis Cacoyannis Foundation and Megaron-The Athens Concert Hall). His latest music-theatre piece, City Lives, was presented at the Athens Megaron in May 2014.

Mouzas is a member of the Greek Composers’ Union, and had been the Treasurer of its Board of Directors during the period 1998-2012. His CD Music for an imaginary film, with orchestral works performed by the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, was released by NAXOS.