Famous film music – composer Vangelis died at the age of 79 – News

  • Greek composer and musician Vangelis has died at the age of 79.
  • This was reported by Greek news agencies, citing his lawyer.
  • Among other things, he composed the song for the film “Chariots of Fire” (The Hour of the Victor), for which he was awarded an Oscar in 1982.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also tweeted the death of the “Chariots of Fire” composer. Vangelis, real name Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, was considered one of the pioneers of electronic music. He became world famous with catchy compositions for films such as “The Hour of the Victor”, “Blade Runner” or “1492 – The Conquest of Paradise”.

Vangelis was considered one of the pioneers of electronic music. Vangelis actually wanted to be a painter and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Athens. He taught himself music. In 1968 he moved to Paris and had his first international success there together with the Greek musicians Demis Roussos and Loukas Sideras – together they formed the group Aphrodite’s Child. Vangelis composed the music for the LP “666”, which is considered a classic of progressive rock.

Experiments with orchestral music

In 1973 Vangelis started his solo career and experimented with electronic music. After the Oscar for «Chariots of Fire» came success after success. At the beginning of the new millennium, Vangelis also began experimenting with orchestral music. In 2002 he composed the music for the soccer World Cup in Korea and Japan. In Athens he founded the institution Evangelos Papathanassiou, which wants to help young musicians and contribute to the promotion of music.

source site-72