OTHON, a.k.a. Othon Mataragas, is a London-based 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 ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, producer, DJ and club promoter. He is mostly known for combining classically infused composition with electronic productions and experimental songwriting. Apart from his solo work, he has collaborated with notable artists such as

Wolfgang Tillmans Wolfgang Tillmans (born 16 August 1968) is a German Fine-art photography, photographer. His diverse body of work is distinguished by observation of his surroundings and an ongoing investigation of the photographic medium’s foundations. Tillman ...

Marc Almond Peter Mark Almond (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop/ new wave duo Soft Cell. He has a distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He has had a diverse career as a ...

David Tibet David Tibet (born David Michael Bunting; 5 March 1960) is an English poet, artist and musician. He is best known for the musical group Current 93, which he founded and is the only consistent member of, along with his contributions to the b ...

(of

Current 93 Current 93 are an English experimental music group, founded in 1982 by David Tibet. Much of Current 93's early work was similar to late 1970s and early 1980s industrial music: abrasive tape loops, droning synthesizer noises and Tibet's distorte ...

Peter Christopherson Peter Martin Christopherson (also known as Sleazy; 27 February 1955 – 25 November 2010) was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, who was at one time a member of design agency Hipgnosis. He also ...

(of

Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, later joined by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of in ...

, Coil &

Psychic TV Psychic TV (aka PTV or Psychick TV or several other aliases) were an English experimental music, experimental video art and music collective, formed by performance artist Genesis P-Orridge and Scottish musician Alex Fergusson (musician), Alex ...

Ron Athey Ron Athey (born December 16, 1961) is an American performance artist associated with body art and with extreme performance art. He has performed in the U.S. and internationally (especially in the UK and Europe). Athey's work explores challenging ...

, Ernesto Tomasini an
Dan Hillier

Early life

Othon Mataragas started to play the piano at the age of four and the following year he gave his first recital. At seven he entered in the

National Conservatoire (Greece) The Greek National Conservatoire () was founded in Athens in 1926 by the composer Manolis Kalomiris and notable artists like Charikleia Kalomoiri, Marika Kotopouli, Dionysios Lavrangas, and Sophia Spanoudi. For some time the conservatoire was the ...

and graduated at sixteen with Distinction after winning the Prize of Exceptional Interpretation and the Xanthopoulidis Prize. While in Greece, Othon gave numerous recitals including a concert in the memory of

Gina Bachauer Gina Bachauer (Greek: Τζίνα Μπαχάουερ; May 21, 1913, AthensAugust 22, 1976, Athens) was a Greek classical pianist who toured extensively in the United States and Europe. Interested in piano at a young age, Bachauer graduated from th ...

. organised by the Cultural Center of the City of

Halandri Chalandri (, Ancient Greek: Φλύα, ''Phlya'', also ''Halandri'', ''Khalandri'') is a town and a suburb in the northern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is a municipality of the Attica region. Geography Chalandri is a suburb in No ...

. He appeared on Greek television both national ( ERT) and private (

ANT1 Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a free-to-air television network airing in Greece. The alternate spelling is wordplay in Greek; ''ena'' (ένα) is the Greek number ''1'' (one), thus ''ANT1'' is pronounced the same as ''Antenna'' (Αντένν ...

, Blue Sky) and won several competitions and awards such as the National X.O.N. prize. At the end of the '90s he moves to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in the UK where he studies piano and composition at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

with British pianist

Peter Katin Peter Roy Katin ( ) (14 November 193019 March 2015) was a British classical pianist and teacher. Biography Katin was born in London; his father was sign-painter Jerrold Katin (who was born in Lithuania) and mother Gertrude. Katin was educated ...

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

and at

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

with composers Andrew Poppy and

Stephen Montague Stephen Rowley Montague (born March 10, 1943, in Syracuse, New York) is an American composer, pianist and conductor who grew up in Idaho, New Mexico, West Virginia and Florida. Musical statement ''"I write music to engage an audience, to seduc ...

. As a Leverhulme Scholar at Trinity he wins the John Halford Prize. During this time he writes his first pieces but it is after leaving college that he begins his professional career as a composer and songwriter.

Pre 2012 Projects & Collaborations

In the early days, Almond was among the first artists to spot his talent, others include

and

, and Othon collaborated with them on various projects. In 2007, he performed a number of concerts with

. Other collaborations of note include those with composer

(''Sonic Swamp'', commissioned by Eye Music for the Colourscape Music Festival 2006), fashion designer

Nasir Mazhar Nasir Mazhar is a British fashion designer. He is best recognised for his inventive approaches to sports caps and headwear. Lady Gaga has worn a few of Nasir Mazhar's hats. Biography Mazhar was born in East London and brought up in Leytonstone, Lo ...

(

London Fashion Week London Fashion Week (LFW) is a clothing trade show that takes place in London, England, twice a year, in June and September. Showcasing over 250 designers to a global audience of influential media and retailers, it is one of the 'Big Four' fash ...

), photographer Hector de Gregorio and performance artist

with whom he performed in 2009 at the

Napoli Teatro Festival Italia The Napoli Teatro Festival Italia is an international festival which takes place every year during the month of June in Naples, Italy. The Festival's organization selects, produces and commissions plays, exhibitions and artistic performances, inv ...

. He composed music for the soundtracks of films by

Bruce LaBruce Bruce LaBruce (born January 3, 1964) is a Canadian artist, writer, filmmaker, photographer, and underground director based in Toronto. Life and career LaBruce was born in Tiverton, Ontario. He has claimed both Justin Stewart and Bryan Bruce a ...

('' Otto; or, Up With Dead People''),

Derek Jarman Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, poet, gardener, and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing ...

(a new music setting for '' The Angelic Conversation'', played live at the GLBT Film Festival in Turin) and

Jörg Buttgereit Jörg Buttgereit (born 20 December 1963) is a German writer/director known for his controversial films. He was born in Berlin and has lived there his entire life. He is best known for his horror films '' Nekromantik'' (1987), '' Der Todesking' ...

(new soundtrack of ''

Nekromantik ''Nekromantik'' (stylized as ''NEKRomantik'') is a 1987 West German erotic exploitation horror film co-written and directed by Jörg Buttgereit. It is known to be frequently controversial, banned in a number of countries, and has become a cult f ...

'', played live at the Pre Final Fest in Rom

In 2005 and during his time at Trinity College, he met Ernesto Tomasini with whom he started an ongoing collaboration. As Othon & Tomasini they performed Othon's music in concert halls, theatres, museums and churches all across Europe. In UK they performed in venues such as the Roundhouse (venue), Roundhouse,

Leicester Square Theatre The Leicester Square Theatre is a 400-seat theatre in Leicester Place, immediately north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It was previously known as Notre Dame Hall, Cavern in the Town and The Venue. The theatre hosts st ...

Royal Exchange Theatre The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal Exc ...

and

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

. Othon's debut album, ''Digital Angel'', which features the voices of Almond, Tibet, and Tomasini, was released at the end of 2008 on the Durtro Jnana label.GOTTERT Michael, LOBSTEDT Daniela, 'Othon', in ''Black'', No. 50, 2009 In October 2009 Othon gave the world premiere of ''Boxer Coaster'', the first piece ever composed for a pianist wearing boxing gloves, at the Pre Final Fest in Rome. Othon's second album entitled ''Impermanence'', which includes vocal performances by Ernesto Tomasini,

Camille O'Sullivan Camille O'Sullivan is an Irish singer, musician, and actress. She is known for her unique, dramatic musical style and Cover version, covers of artists such as Radiohead, Tom Waits, David Bowie, Nick Cave, Sinéad O'Connor, and Shane MacGowan, S ...

and Othon, with Justin Jones (from

And Also the Trees And Also the Trees are an English rock band, formed in 1979 in Inkberrow, Worcestershire. They are characterised by their poetic lyrics and evocative music which are strongly influenced by the native English countryside. History And Also th ...

) on the guitar, was released by

Cherry Red Records Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything but the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as w ...

/SFE in November 2011. ''Impermanence'' was voted by leading Greek music website Postwave.gr the best Greek album of 2011

Othon collaborated again with

in 2011 for his large scale performance 'Gifts of the Spirit: Automatic Writing' in which he played under hypnosis while wearing boxing gloves and composed the soundtrack to performance artist

Franko B Franko B (born 1960 in Milan) is an Italian performance artist based in London, where he has lived since 1979. He studied fine art at Camberwell College of Arts (1986–87), Chelsea College of Art (1987–90) and the Byam Shaw School of Art (199 ...

's latest work entitled 'Because of Love' (2012). Othon composed the soundtrack for the awarded graphic novel The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone, written by Ravi Thornton and published by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

in 2012.

Post 2012 Projects & Collaborations

In 2012, Othon experienced a deep spiritual epiphany, after attending his first series of psychoactive plant-medicine ceremonies in Brazil, including

Ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' (Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' descen ...

. This was to change both his perception on life and his understanding on music. Though he had composed and performed music previously, Othon has wished to highlight the distinction from the work he created prior and after 2012, the year which he now considers as his true starting poi

In 2014, Othon released his third album (or what he now considers as his first album) ''Pineal'' via Cherry Red Records/Strike Force Entertainment, after he raised money from a successful fundraising campaign
Indiegogo
. Swinging from cinematic pop and fierce shamanic techno to jungle evoking downtempo and violin driven electronica
Music News
, Pineal forms both a link to the past (Part 1), and a fresh post-2012 beginning (Part 2) It features performances by past collaborators

and Ernesto Tomasini together with amazonian shamans Don Javier Shahuano & Jessica Ramirez Seopa and multiinstrumentalist Bird Rad

Pineal, which includes original artwork and photography by Predrag Pajdic received numerous positive reviews, including a full page preview a
The Guardian Guide
Othon composed & produced the soundtrack for ''Against Nature'', based on the book

À Rebours (; translated ''Against Nature'' or ''Against the Grain'') is an 1884 novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans. The narrative centers on a single character: Jean des Esseintes, an eccentric, reclusive, ailing aesthete. The last scion o ...

Joris-Karl Huysmans Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel (1884, pub ...

, after creating an overwhelmingly successful fundraising campaign with project collaborators

and British writer

Jeremy Reed Jeremy Thomas Reed (born June 15, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays and Milwaukee Brewers. He was the hitt ...

, in 2015 * .In the same year, SFE released his ''Cobra Coral EP'' featuring a remix of the eponymous track by German duo Boss Axi

In March 2017, his collaboration with photographer

resulted in a concert at

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

, London. Othon performed a continuous set of dream-like semi-improvisations at the piano while Tillmans provided sonic interventions throughout the duration of the pie

Later in the year, Othon did another successful crowd-funding campaig

offering exclusively to his fans his new and unreleased album ''Kodama'', to finance the creation of yet another album ''The God Within''. British artist Dan Hillier is providing the artwork for both albums.

DJing & Papa Loko

In September 2014, Othon gave his debut as a DJ for the World Ayahuasca Conference closing party in Ibiza

Othon felt very inspired by this new form of artistic expression and soon started playing at parties such as Kaos (

Electrowerkz Electrowerkz is a four-floor music venue in Islington, London. In addition to mainstream club nights, it hosts the regular goth night club Slimelight and many other club, live music and events. Layout Electrowerkz has three above-ground floor ...

) and Sabajaq
Egg London
. Othon’s DJ sets are creative and bold and have defined musically his own party night Papa Loko, created in 2015 with the aim to bring progressive spiritual concepts and high frequency dance music to the underground club scene of Londo

Discography pre 2012

Albums *''Digital Angel'' (Durtro Jnana, 2008) *''Impermanence'' (Cherry Red Records/SFE, 2011) Singles *''Last Night I Paid To Close My Eyes'' (Cherry Red Records/SFE, 2011) *''Impermanence'' (Cherry Red Records/SFE, 2011) Others *''Otto; or, Up With Dead People'' (Crippled Dick Hot Wax Records, 2008) *''Silky Hands of a Rough Piano Boy'' (Tapeworm, 2011)

Discography post 2012

Albums *''Pineal'' (Cherry Red Records/SFE, 2014) EPs *''Cobra Coral'' (Cherry Red Records/SFE, 2014) Singles *''Dawn Yet To Come'' (Cherry Red Records/SFE, 2014) *''Japan Suite'' (Black Hole Recordings/Magic Island Deep, 2015)

References

Interviews & reviews

Cobra Coral EP review at Louder Than War (Jul 2015)

Pineal review at The Quietus (Jul 2014)

Interview for Neon Nettle (Jun 2014)

Pineal review
on

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

(May 2014)
Interview for The Pandorian (Dec 2011)

Review by Daniel McKernan for Brainwashed (Nov 2011)

Review by M.G. for African Paper (Dec 2011)

Interview for Postwave.gr, Greece (May 2011)

Review by Agustin G. Cascales for Shangay (Spain Dec 2011)

Othon & Tomasini interview and live performance in the program Carne Cruda for Radio 3, Spain (Nov 2010)Othon & Tomasini performance in the program Fluido Rosa for Radio 3, Spain (Jul 2009)

External links

Othon official website

Othon on Facebook

Othon on Twitter

Othon on SoundcloudOthon on Resident Advisor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mataragas, Othon 1979 births Living people Alumni of Trinity College of Music Greek musicians Musicians from Athens