Vangelis Trigas
Vangelis Trigas is a soloist, bouzouki teacher, composer and scholar of Greek folk music. Distinguished in his field, he represents the classical school of expression, while at the same time his academic approach to the bouzouki has been a springboard for many of his different, related activities. In his long career he has made numerous collaborations as a soloist, while as a professor and scholar he has written and published fifty-eight music books, gives masterclasses and organizes seminars on the bouzouki in Greece and abroad. He has recorded five personal albums and has participated in albums of very great well-known singers of art song. At the same time, with his orchestra he gives performances in cultural venues in Greece and abroad.
Co-operations
As a soloist, he has collaborated with renowned Greek and foreign musicians such as the conductor Loukas Karytinos at the Greek National Opera, at the “Stavros Niarchos” hall in 2017 and 2020 in M. Hadjidakis’ play “The Age of Mslissanthi”. In 2023 with Swiss conductor Stefan Schmid, Les Marmottes Solothurn & Project Choir Olten, soprano Araceli Fernandez Gonzalez and baritone Alvaro Etcheverry for the oratorio CANTO GENERAL with music by Mikis Theodorakis and poetry by PABLO NERUDA in the cities of Olten and Solothurn, Switzerland. In 2016 with the conductor – conductor Sasha Nikolovski for the concert written by the composer Theodoros Brutzakis for two bouzouki and orchestra, which was performed in the city of Nis, Serbia in the Dom Vojske Hall with the Nis Symphony Orchestra. In 2015 with the German conductor Hermann Kruse, the Neue Philharmonie Wesfalen symphony orchestra, the Universitatschor choir, the baritone Gerhard Pauli for the Popular Oratorio “Axion Esti” with music by Mikis Theodorakis and poetry by Odysseas Elytis. In 2013 with the composer Alexis Nathanael, with whom they presented in Lisbon the new album of the composer Onde Sonho and the well-known Portuguese singer Joana Amendoeira.
One of his closest and longest collaborations with singers was the one with Maria Farantouri with whom he appeared on major stages in several European cities and with Giorgos Dalaras, with whom he appeared on the biggest Greek stages. He also worked closely, in the early years of his professional career, with Mary Linda, much later with Gerasimos Andreatos and Vassilis Lekkas. He occasionally collaborated with Sotiria Belou, Poly Panou, Haris Alexiou, Eleni Vitali, Dimitris Mitropanos, Manolis Mitsias, Manolis Lidakis, and many others. He has played in distinguished music stages and concert halls in Greece, such as the Greek National Opera, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the Athens and Thessaloniki Concert Halls, as well as abroad at the Munich Philharmonic, Wiener Konzerthaus etc.
Teaching- Bibliography
Vangelis Trigas has a long tenure as a teacher in the teaching of the bouzouki. He has carried out long-term research and study so that the bouzouki acquires documented technique and thorough study, comparable to classical instruments. Since 1990 he has been applying this modern way of teaching the bouzouki and gives lessons in Greece and abroad, while in 2005 he was the first in Greece to apply the online lessons. The results of his study have been recorded and are included in the two five-volume Methods “Vangelis Trigas Method for three-string bouzouki” and “Method for four-string bouzouki” that he has published. He has also recorded in notes faithfully from the first authentic recordings most of the classic folk songs and instrumental pieces. These songs are included in forty-eight different books and fall under the series “Folk Composers”, “Rebetika and Folk Songs”, “Artistic and Folk Songs” and “The Instrumentals of the Bouzouki”. It is the first time that all these songs are recorded specifically for the bouzouki and are at the same time part of its curriculum.
Discography
Vangelis Trigas has so far released three personal collections of his instrumental compositions, “12 instrumentals for three-string bouzouki” (2004), “In three strings” (2008), “Optima” (2016) as well as a collection with reinterpretations of old folk songs entitled “Virtuosos and Interpretations” (2006). In 2022, he released the collection “With my own words” which includes his first – in lyrics and music – songs. He also has a large number of participations in albums by other artists.
Vangelis Trigas Ensemble
Vangelis Trigas, in 2012 formed his music ensemble and gives concerts in cultural establishments and festivals in Greece and abroad. In these concerts significant songs and instrumentals from Greece and the Mediterranean are presented together with compositions of Vangelis Trigas in an effort to further promote bouzouki in Greek folk music. The refined sound of bouzouki is combined harmonically with the sound of the other classical instruments and with the special expression of vocals. The above suggest a new version of Greek and Mediterranean music material, they form a new proposal.