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Biography
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Nikos Ropaitis was born in Athens. He is a composer for concert (solo, chamber, orchestral, vocal music) and film music. At the age of five he expressed his interest in music and had his first contact with the music of the great classical composers (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven), after which, at the age of eight he began to take piano lessons and music theory; while in parallel time, began playing classical guitar and various woodwind instruments.
"I remember to listen to tunes, or reading notes, and transfer them from instrument to instrument. To me, this was a game; it was fun. "
He graduated from the Music High School of Ilion. There, he had the opportunity to develop his relationship with Classical Music, Byzantine music, Jazz and Improvisation through participation in choirs, orchestras and ensembles. At this time he started to play professionally as a session guitarist with Jazz, Latin and Rock groups as a chorister and on the other hand, he participated in International and European Festivals.
Furthermore, he studied Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue on "Central Conservatory of Athens" with composer, great arranger and conductor, Costas Clavvas. He graduated with excellent performance and continued studying instrumentation and orchestration courses. In 2004, aged 22, he commenced composition studies under maestro Clavvas, where he had an honorable order to write a piano concerto.
As a musicologist, he entered the Music Department of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens and studied Musicology, where he graduated with Honours, specializing in ''Music Theory'' and the ''Philosophy of Music'', especially in 20th century and in the music and of Iannis Xenakis ("Greek Music Laboratory").
Afterwards he began his postgraduate studies in the University of Athens towards the Philosophy and Aesthetics of Music and in particular by making a systematic Phenomenological Analysis of "major" works of Iannis Xenakis (Metastasis, Pythoprakta, Terretektor).
In 2011 he took an ''Honorable – Prestigious Distinction in Composition'' for his vocal work in Odysseas Elytis’ s poem "Lakonikon" (for mixed choir) | Hellenic Choirs Association | Member of International Federation of Choral Music & European Choral Association - EUROPA CANTAT . At this time he started to take private composition lessons with Theodore Antoniou and Giorgos Zervos. He has written works for solo, duo, trio, string quartets, choir and orchestra in various styles.
As a guitarist, he finished the course on "Electric Guitar Playing" from the University of West London (Registry of Guitar Tutors) with "Honours". Furthermore, he has done courses with Scott Henderson and seminars with many guitarists of the worldwide scene. Today, as multi-instrumentalist, he is a founding member of the "InterPlay Trio".
He has taken lessons in Orchestral Conducting under maestro Michalis Economou in "Conservatory Musical Horizons"; artistic direction of Alexandros Kalogeras. As a conductor he had a distinction in the 3rd National Greek Conducting Master Class, under the teaching of conductor Michalis Economou, where he conducted Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Finally, in the summer of 2014, he wrote a cycle of works that are recorded in the Athens Concert Hall : works for solo (oboe, piano), a piano trio (Oboe, Cor Anglais and Piano) and a quintet (for violin, cello, oboe, piano and percussion); work for five musicians “La Métamorphose”. In March 2015 he has an order to write a work for the “Aeolos Quintet” and a new collaboration writing a Film Score.