Medieval Knievel
Dimitrios Theodoridis prefers Bach to Beyonce.
He calls himself a Greek Kiwi – his grandparents all emigrated here from Southeastern Europe (Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece) – but Dimitri was born and raised in Wellington. Music has always been part of his life.
“I started piano lessons with Irene Katsougiannis at a young age and was already composing piano pieces on a daily basis at age six or seven… by the time I got to secondary school, I was very musically focused - to the dismay of my [non-music] teachers,” he says.
At St Patrick’s College, head of music Roger Powdrell cultivated Dimitri’s passion. He joined the college choir and barbershop quartet, and his desire to sing ‘early music’ saw a chamber choir formed – which later competed in Sydney and placed first in the category. He attended the Victoria Academy of Music (now the NZSM Young Musicians Programme) during his final years of high school.
Where did his passion for early music start?
”My first exposure to it was through Microsoft’s Encarta ‘96, a digital encyclopaedia which I used to drown myself in after school every day... A medieval dungeon themed quiz game called Mindmaze had background music which was Medieval and Renaissance-esque; I would sit at the computer, not answering the questions, just so I could hear the music loop over and over again,” he says.
“There was also a 30-second clip from Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor… A few years later I was listening to an organ CD my brother had bought when I recognised the work, expecting it to stop after the normal 30 seconds, but this time it continued on and on, a fugue unveiling itself voice-by-voice on such a grand instrument (the organ); one of the most glorious moments in my life, there was no way I could ignore this, I had to find out and hear more... and I haven’t stopped since.”
Dimitri studied at the New Zealand School of Music under Jack Body, John Psathas and Michael Norris, musicologists Greer Garden, Inge van Rij and Keith Chapin, and early keyboard specialist Douglas Mews. During that time he joined Robert Oliver’s choir at St Mary of the Angels, and sang with early music vocal ensembles Baroque Voices and the Tudor Consort.
“I became more fascinated by the world of early music, particularly New Zealand’s history of education and performance in this area. By my third year, I had carried out research and identified a gap in support and opportunities - I wanted to do something about that.”
In 2010 THAT was established and Dimitri made executive director.
THAT has toured renaissance music workshops in high schools, hosted top Kiwi early music performers for their La Musica concert series, following in the footsteps of Robert Oliver’s Musica Sacra, and last month for Grandeur & Frivolity: Music and Fashion from the Courts of Louis XIV & XV, combined the talents of emerging artists on baroque instruments with the skills of textile historian Leimomi Oakes.
“It’s historical music performed in today, by today’s performers, in venues of our time and interpreted by the minds of our time. The stuff we’re performing is incredibly exciting and engaging and there’s so much of it to explore and share. One might even go so far as to say that, in fact, it is ‘new music’, simply because it’s new to the ears of many of today’s audiences.”
“Celebrating historical arts is a way of exploring our cultural heritage and social history. It puts historical events into context and for students; it’s a new way of learning the same things in music. Why not just leave the past as the past? Well, all I’ll say is poos makes fertiliser.”
Have Your Say
2 Comments
Tankgirl at 10:57 a.m. on 9 August said
This article blatantly contradicts itself. Apparently Mr Theodoridis benefitted from the tutorship of local early-music specialists and gained experience in early-music performance from his involvement with Baroque Voices and The Tudor Consort, both of which are active on the Wellington music scene. But suddenly no one else is performing early music, so his organisation had to jump in and open everyone’s ears and minds?
muso at 9:24 a.m. on 12 May said
Tankgirl, I think the point here is that there could be more "support and opportunities".
I think it's a great initiative but haven't seen much happening lately.