Odysseas Dimitriadis

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ

Odysseas Dimitriadis (July 7, 1908 – April 28, 2005) was a Greek, of Pontic descent, born in the Soviet Union (later Georgia) classical music conductor.

During his 70-year career, Odysseas conducted many of the world’s top orchestras and served as the chief conductor of Georgia, the Soviet State Orchestra, and the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. In 1980, he conducted at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Moscow Olympic Games. He received numerous distinctions and titles, such as Ambassador of Hellenism, National Artist of the Soviet Union, and the Gold Medal of Athens.

Dimitriadis was born in Batumi into a family of Pontic Greeks. His father was Achilleas (who came from Trabzon to Batumi in 1886), and his mother was Kalliopi Efremidou.

His passion for music began before he turned five years old when he attempted to play his favorite melodies on the piano without any knowledge of musical notation. His formal music study began in 1918, when the young Odysseas became a student of the great violinist Tizengauzen. Unfortunately, Tizengauzen had to emigrate, and his new teacher was another prominent violinist and composer, Leger.

A major challenge in his youth was that his father was a “lissents,” a person with private property (which was strictly prohibited in the early years of the Soviet Union). For this reason, his father advised Odysseas to move to Sukhumi, where his older brother Nikolaos lived and worked in the public sector, shortly after his graduation from high school in 1925.

After a year in Sukhumi, Odysseas moved to Tbilisi, where he entered the Conservatory.

From 1926 to 1930, Odysseas Dimitriadis studied at the Tbilisi Conservatory, focusing on music theory and composition. His musical journey continued to develop when, in 1930, he became the director of the music college in Sukhumi, where he remained until 1933. He then continued his studies at the Leningrad Conservatory (1933-1936), where he studied conducting under two renowned teachers, Alexander Gauk and Ilya Musin.

One of the most important moments in his career was meeting Dimitri Mitropoulos, whom Shostakovich had called "one of the greatest conductors in the world." Odysseas Dimitriadis had the unique opportunity to watch and be inspired by Mitropoulos's performances during his tour in Leningrad in 1936.

From 1937 to 1965, Odysseas served as the principal conductor at the Zakaria Paliashvili Opera and Ballet Theatre in Tbilisi while also teaching at the Tbilisi Conservatory. This work established his name as one of the greatest musicians in the Soviet Union.

In 1958, he was honored with the title of People's Artist of the Soviet Union and in 1959 visited Greece as the head of the Soviet Union-Greece cultural relations organization, meeting his siblings who had emigrated to the country 30 years earlier.

From 1965 to 1973, Dimitriadis served as principal conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre, where his fame soared, with the Soviet State Orchestra touring internationally under his direction. At the same time, he taught at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1973, he returned to Georgia and, until his retirement in 1991, served as the principal conductor of Georgia and a professor at the Tbilisi Conservatory.

One of the final honors of his career was the opportunity to conduct at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, confirming his global recognition and contribution to the music scene.

International Activity After the 1974 revolution in Greece, Odysseas Dimitriadis visited his historic homeland annually. In Greece, he conducted various orchestras, established international relations, and played a significant role in promoting Greek composers such as Manolis Kalomiris, Spyridon Samaras, Antiochos Evanghelatos, and Mikis Theodorakis on the international stage.

On April 9, 1989, the Mayor of Athens, Miltiadis Evert, honored Odysseas with the Gold Medal of Athens. In 1998, he was awarded the honorary distinction of "Ambassador of Hellenism."

List of Orchestras Conducted Throughout his 70-year career, Odysseas conducted over a hundred orchestras from different continents. Among them were:

Soviet Union State Symphony Orchestra

Greece State Symphony Orchestra

Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra

Vienna Symphony Orchestra

Tbilisi Opera Orchestra

Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra

Athens Symphony Orchestra

Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra

Berlin Symphony Orchestra

Prague Symphony Orchestra

National Philharmonic Orchestra of Hungary

St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra

Bucharest Symphony Orchestra

Estable Orchestra of the Colon Theatre, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Final Years Conductor Dimitriadis spent his final years in both Athens and Tbilisi. He made rare public appearances (mainly in Tbilisi, with Jansug Kakhidze).

On April 28, 2005, at the age of 97, Dimitriadis passed away in his home in Tbilisi. He was buried with honors near the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, on the main avenue of the city. Prime Minister and Minister of Culture Kostas Karamanlis stated in a statement that Odysseas Dimitriadis "had the unique privilege in his long life to speak the intercultural language of music to the hearts of the peoples of the former Soviet Union, Greece, and Georgia."

Awards and Titles

People's Artist of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (1954)

People's Artist of the Soviet Union (1958)

State Prize of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (1989)

Order of Honour (1996)

Order of Honour (1993)

Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1950)

Order of "Badge of Honour"

Medal for Labour Valour (November 14, 1980) — for his significant work in the preparation and execution of the XXII Olympic Games

Gold Medal of Athens (1989)

Medal of the Athens City Council, awarded by Athens Mayor Miltiadis Evert

Honorary Citizen of Tbilisi (1986)

Honorary Citizen of Athens (1988)

Honorary Citizen of Batumi (1988)

Conductor-Director Operas:

1937 — "The Queen of Spades" by P. I. Tchaikovsky

1938 — "The Tsar's Bride" by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov

1940 — "The Bandit Kako" by A. K. Andriashvili

1953 — "Abesalom and Eteri" by Z. P. Paliashvili

1954 — "Bogdan Khmelnitsky" by K.F. Dankevich

1956 — "Berucha" ("Bashi-Achuki") by A. P. Kereselidze

1957 — "The Maid of Orleans" by P. I. Tchaikovsky

1958 — "The Bride of the North" by D. A. Toradze

1959 — "Kruvtnyava" by E. Sukhoni

1961 — "The Right Hand of the Great Master" by Sh. M. Mshvelidze

1961 — "Mindia" by O. V. Takhtakishvili

1964 — "Semion Kotko" by S. S. Prokofiev

1966 — "Mazeppa" by P. I. Tchaikovsky

"La Bohème" by G. Puccini

"Madama Butterfly" by G. Puccini

"Tosca" by G. Puccini

Ballets:

1938 — "Maltakva" by O. V. Takhtakishvili

1940 — "Heart of the Mountain" by A. M. Balanchivadze

1958 — "Othello" by A. D. Machavariani

Memory In Batumi, one of the streets is named after the maestro.

In Tbilisi, the Greek Cultural Center is named after Odysseas Dimitriadis, and the first director of the center was his daughter, Nana Dimitriadis (honorary president of the center).