One of Greece's most prominent music composers of the last decades, Thanos Mikroutsikos, has died on Saturday at the age of 72 after a brave battle with cancer.
He was born on the 13 April 1947 in Patra. He studied piano at the Philharmonic Society of Patras and in the Hellenic Conservatory. He also studied Mathematics at the University of Athens.
He began his music career in 1975, with the release of the album Politika Tragoudia (‘Political Songs’). He continued on this compositional path, setting to music the poems of Yiannis Ritsos, Nazim Hikmet, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Manos Eleftheriou, Bertolt Brecht and others.
Mikroutsikos' album "Stavros tou Notou" (Southern Cross), base on poems written by Nikos Kavvadias, opened up further musical avenues for him, combining theatre, electronic music and atonality (a second album, Grammes ton orizondon, set to the poetry of Kavvadias was released in 1991).
He has worked with many renowned singers such as Haris Alexiou, Manolis Mitsias, Dimitris Mitropanos, Maria Dimitriadi and Vasilis Papakonstantinou, among others.
After the elections of October 1993, he was appointed as Deputy Minister of Culture by the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) government, serving alongside the late Melina Mercouri who was Minister of Culture. He was appointed to Mercouri’s position when she died in 1994, a position he kept until 1996.
Despite his participation in the PASOK government, Mikroutsikos never broke his ties with the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), being a frequent contributor and participant in the Party's cultural events including the KNE-Odigitis festival.
Thanos Mikroutsikos's last performance was at the 45th KNE-Odigitis Festival on September in Athens. During the July 7th general elections he was the 12th- honorary- candidate in the nationwide list of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).
In a statement published on 902 portal, the Press Bureau of the Central Committee of the KKE expresses its deep sorrow for the death of the composer.
