Dimitris Papadimitriou

Dimitris Papadimitriou was born in 1959 to Alexandrian parents, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. When he was still an infant, his family relocated to Alexandria, where they lived for seven years.

In 1967, he entered the Law School, University of Athens, and participated as a composer to the productions of the Theater Department, including “Oedipus Rex”, “Fausta”, “Time and the Conways” and “Veggera”.

His first compositions as a professional musician were works for piano, for violin, for violin and piano, a symphonic ballet suite, a “Theatrical Trio” for piano, cello and violin, studies for classical guitar, an overture for the 40th anniversary of the post-war BBC and an electric post-symphonic suite.

At Easter 1980, Manos Hadjidakis presented him among the six composers of the Cultural Program of the Greek State Radio (ERA) at the Municipal Theater of Piraeus.

In 1981, he released his first album under the title “Landscapes”, a disc of progressive music. Since then, he yearly releases albums with songs, soundtracks, theatrical and TV scores, as well as symphonies.

In 1982, he composed the music for Dimos Avdeliodis’ short film “Unfair Competition”, and in 1983 the music for Nikos Vergitsis’ motion picture “Revanche”, for which he won the Quality Film Award of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture for Best Music. This initiated the composer’s special relationship with cinema, as well as a series of very important collaborations.

In the period 2003-2010, he served as Director of the Cultural Program of the Greek State Radio (ERA), and in 2010 as its Governor General, until the closure of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) in 2013.

In 2009, he founded the non-profit civil partnership “Hellenic Project”, which aims at the support and promotion of young Greek artists.

His works have been performed all over Greece and in all the major theaters and music venues of Athens, including the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, in Rome, New York, and the Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood Music Center, and they have been included in the official program of Musikverein’s Vienna Spring Festival.

He has won six music awards at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and state music prices awarded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

Since 1995, he was selected by the Tanglewood Music Center of Boston Symphony Orchestra to participate as a composer in its events and lessons (TMC Fellow in Compositions). Since November 2018, he is on the board of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT).