NIKOLAOS HALIKIOPOULOS MANTZAROS  

Nikolaos Mantzaros, born in Corfu, was the major representative of the so-called Ionian Islands school of music. Mantzaros composed the music for the first concert aria in Greek in 1827, as well as for the poem of Dionysios Solomos’s Hymn to Liberty of 1828–1829, the initial verse of which was adopted in 1865 as the Greek national anthem. Amongst his other compositions is this setting of The Troparion of Kassiani written for four-part men’s voices.

© Guy Protheroe