Watch Michael's interview with the Greek Canadian composer who gives us an inside look into the process of writing music for the RWB original production Going Home Star: Truth & Reconcilitation. The ballet tells the story of residential schools in Canada.

 

 

Christos Hatzis  is a Greek Canadian composer currently a professor at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto.

Hatzis was born in Volos, Greece and received his early music instruction at the Volos branch of the Hellenic Conservatory. He continued his musical studies in the United States, first at the Eastman School of Music (B.M 1976 and M.M 1977) and later at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo (Ph.D. 1982). He immigrated to Canada in 1982 and became a Canadian citizen in 1985. Hailed as "one of the most important composers in Canada" (International Musician), he is now an internationally renowned composer, being the recipient of awards such as Jean A. Chalmers National Music Award (1998), (Governor General) Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music (1996) and two Juno Awards in 2006 and 2008.

His work Constantinople was critically acclaimed and has been performed internationally. It combined music and visual media and is musically eclectic, featuring jazz, classical, and eastern elements. Performed at sold-out halls at Banff and Toronto during the summer and fall of 2004, it has been described as "A multimedia feast of the imagination...a work unlike any other in the Canadian musical literature" (Toronto Star) and "a stunning theatrical triumph" (Calgary Harold).

Hatzis' music is inspired by early Christian spirituality, Pythagorean and Hermetic ideas, his own Byzantine music heritage, world cultures and various non-classical music genres such as jazz, pop and world musics. He is an advocate of borderless culture and many of his most recent works bridge the gap between classical music and today’s popular music idioms. His compositions are structurally complex while sonically accessible. He has created several works inspired by the music of the Inuit, Canada's arctic inhabitants, and his Inuit-inspired works, particularly the award winning radio documentary Footprints in New Snow, have promoted Inuit culture around the globe.

His strongest inspiration is his own religious faith, and his religious works have been hailed by critics and audiences alike as contemporary masterpieces. In addition to composing and teaching, Hatzis has written extensively about composition and contemporary music. His writings have been published on Interface, Organized Sound and Harmony, and are increasingly translated into other languages.

Watch this video about Christos Hatzis produced when he was given the HHF Liftime Achievement Award.