Eleni Karaindrou (; born 25 November 1941) is a Greek

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. She is best known for scoring the films of the Greek director

Theo Angelopoulos Theodoros "Theo" Angelopoulos (; (27 April 1935 – 24 January 2012) was a Greek filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. He dominated the Greek art film industry from 1975 on, and Angelopoulos was one of the most influential and widely respect ...

Biography

Karaindrou moved with her family to

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

when she was eight years old, and she studied piano and theory at the Hellenikon Odeion ( Hellenic Conservatory). She also attended history and archaeology classes at the university. During the time of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 she lived in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where she studied

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...

and

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

, and improvised with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musicians. Then she began to compose popular songs. In 1974 she returned to Athens where she established a laboratory for traditional instruments and broadcast a series on ethnomusicology on Radio 3 of the Greek national broadcasting company. In 1976 she started collaborating with ECM Records. This was a period of high productivity for her, during which she worked extensively on music for the theater and the cinema. Karaindrou has stated that her style emerged in working on soundtracks and that the relationship between images and movements created a new space for her to express emotions. Her first

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

was released in 1979 for the movie ''Periplanissi'' by Christoforos Christofis. In 1982 she won an award at the

Thessaloniki International Film Festival The Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF) is a film festival held every November in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is organized by the Thessaloniki Film Festival under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture. It features internationa ...

and was noticed by

, who was serving as president of the jury. Karaindrou collaborated with the Greek director on his last eight films, from 1984 to 2008. Karaindrou is very prolific. By 2008 she had composed music for 18 full-length movies, 35 theatrical productions and 11 TV series and television movies. Among the screen directors she has worked with are Chris Marker, Jules Dassin, and Margarethe von Trotta. In 1992 she received the Premio Fellini award. Recently, her compositions "Elegy for Rosa" and "Refugee's Theme" were featured prominently in the 2015 blockbuster film Mad Max: Fury Road. On November 9, 2012, her compositions were part of the concert “Music and songs for the films of Theo Angelopoulos”, co-organized by the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra in the context of the tribute hosted by the Festival to the Greek filmmaker. In 2021 she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Ghent Festival's World Soundtrack Awards.

Discography

* ''Tous des Oiseaux'' - ECM 2019 * ''David'' - ECM 2016 * '' pothoi kato apo tis leukes; gliko pouli tis niotis'' - mikri arktos 2016-2017 * ''Music for the Small Screen - Original Recordings 976-1989' - Mikri Arktos 2014 * ''Medea'' - ECM 2014 * ''Concert in Athens'' (live) - ECM 2013 * '' Dust of Time'' - ECM 2009 * The 10 (Greek TV: "το 10") - Mikri Arktos/ECM 2008 * '' Elegy of the Uprooting'' (live) - ECM 2005; Also released as DVD * ''The Weeping Meadow'' - ECM 2004 * ''Trojan Women'' (album) - ECM 2001 * '' Eternity and a Day'' - ECM 1998 * ''Rosa, Wandering'' - Lyra 1996 * '' Ulysses' Gaze'' - ECM 1995 * ''The Suspended Step of the Stork'' - ECM 1992 * ''Music for Films'' - ECM 1991 * ''The Suspended Step of the Stork'' - Minos 1991 * ''Unreleased Recordings'' - Minos 1991 * ''L'Africana'' - Minos 1990 * ''Herod Atticus Odeon'' (live) - Minos 1988 * ''Landscape in the Mist'' - Milan 1988 * ''The Beekeeper'' - Minos 1986 * ''Happy Homecoming, Comrade'' - ECM 1986 * ''Voyage to Cythera'' - Minos 1984 * ''The Price of Love'' - Minos 1983 * ''Music and songs for the theater'', mikri arktos, 1983 -1993 * ''The Great Vigil'' - Minos 1975

References

External links

* Eleni Karaindrou i
IMDB
* Eleni Karaindrou i
musicolog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karaindrou, Eleni 1941 births Living people Greek composers Greek women composers Greek film score composers Theatre in Greece People from Phocis 21st-century Greek women pianists 21st-century Greek pianists