Mario Frangoulis () (born 1966) is a
Greek tenor and is best known for his song, "
Vincerò, Perderò." He sings in Italian, Spanish, English, French and Greek; he is fluent in all 5 languages.
Biography
Early life
Frangoulis was born on December 18, 1966 in
Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe) of Greek parents. At the age of four, he was sent to
Athens,
Greece to live with his maternal aunt Loula and her husband. The couple adored him and he came to consider them his real parents. Frangoulis began singing in choirs at the age of eight, and at the age of eleven he played the part of
Issachar in a school production of
Andrew Lloyd Webber's
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Musical and theatre studies
Frangoulis studied the
violin for twelve years, getting a first prize at the age of 14., musical
Orlando,, where he was spotted by
Cameron Mackintosh who, after an audition, offered him the part of Marius in the
West End production of
Les Misérables at the
Palace Theatre (1988–1989) under the direction of
Trevor Nunn. Also in 1989, Frangoulis —who had never studied classical singing— received the Maria Callas Scholarship for Opera. The same year, he appeared alongside
Montserrat Caballé,
Samuel Ramey and the British Youth Opera in the charity gala 'Serenade to a Princess' at the
Whitehall Palace, celebrating the birthday of
Diana, Princess of Wales. an oratorio that was broadcast on Greek television. This marked the start of his collaboration with Greek composer Yannis Markopoulos – here misspelled as
Giannis Markopoulos. He reprised the role of Lun-Tha in a concert version of the musical with the
BBC Symphony Orchestraconducted by
Wally Harper, with
Barbara Cook.
1996 also saw Frangoulis return to the London cast of Les Misérables.
1997–1998
In February 1997, due to his mother's serious illness, Frangoulis returned to Greece. There he joined Athens' theatrical scene, notably through his playing Billy Kracker in
Kurt Weill's
Happy End with the
Karolos Koun Art Theatre, directed by George Lazanis, the Lead Bird in
Aristophanes' comedy
The Birds, directed once more by Lazanis and performed in almost every major ancient amphitheatre of Greece, such as
Epidaurus, Sparta, Filippoi and many more. In September 1997 he was offered the lead role of Danny Zouko in the musical
Grease, directed by
David Gilmore.
2000
In July 2000, Frangoulis was the first Greek tenor to perform at
La Scala, Milan, as Tony in
West Side Story Around 85,000 people attended.
2001
At the beginning of 2001, Frangoulis took part in a charity opera gala at the Athens Concert Hall, alongside stars of the Greek National Opera. That May, he was one of the leading artists in an evening called
Viva Verdi, This performance was recorded and released on DVD. In October, Frangoulis began a grand tour around Europe, the USA and Asia in order to promote 'Sometimes I Dream'. In November, the Thessaloniki concert was broadcast on
PBS. At the end of the year, Frangoulis appeared with singer
Maria Farantouri representing Greece in the Millennium Festivities held on New Year's Eve under the Acropolis.
2003
On January 30, Frangoulis was invited by the Athens 2004 Olympic Games committee to give a concert at the Athens Olympic Stadium. In July and August, his second foray into Greek tragedy: the lead role of
Achilles in the lost Aeschylus trilogy
Achilleis, recently reconstructed from fragments of
Aeschylus verses, completed with verses from Homer's "
Iliad", in a translation of Ilias Malandris, directed by Nikos Haralambous, with the Cyprus Theatre Organization, with prestigious co-stars such as Despina Bebedelli, Dim. Kafkaridis and Jenny Gaitanopoulou. The performance, after touring in Cyprus, was presented in Epidaurus on August 6 and 7.
In August, Frangoulis also took part in the final concert of the
Torch Relay at the
Athens Olympic Games. It was here that he first performed the song 'Here's to the Heroes', which was shown as part of the UK's BBC Songs of Praise Olympics Special. In September he took part at the inauguration of the Paralympics, to an audience of 90,000 people. On October 1, he deepened his relationship with jazz with an appearance at the Herod Atticus Stadium, shared with soprano Barbara Hendrics, singing songs such as "
Mack the Knife", "Unforgettable", "When I fall in love", "My baby just don't care for me" and "Feuilles mortes", "
I Get a Kick out of You",
Cole Porter's "You're the top" and "So in love", finishing with "
Every Time We Say Goodbye". He then flew to Japan where, on 11 October, he gave a concert at the
Bunkamura Orchard Hall with the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Shuya Okatu and soprano Maki Mori. He sang songs from "Sometimes I Dream", as well as "O Sole Mio", "Granada", excerpts from Theodorakis'
Canto General and the "Brindisi" from
La traviata. In November, he was in the U.K. for eight concerts with soprano
Hayley Westenra. November 2004 also saw the release of Frangoulis' second international album
Follow your Heart.
2005
During February and March he was in the U.S. for his first American tour of 28 cities with pianist Jim Brickman and Ann Cochran, to promote his album. In April he took a break to give concerts in South Africa (Sun City), with Vicky Sampson. Then he continued his tour visiting Canada, Los Angeles, San Francisco. On May 20, he gave his first solo concert in the U.S., at the New York City Center, with guest artist soprano Liza Vroman. This was followed by two others, one at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Baltimore, Maryland and another one at the Sheldon Hall in St. Louis, Missouri
In June he performed at a
black-tie event at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Arts Center in
Wisconsin. In July, Frangoulis performed his first concert in
Istanbul, a sold-out open-air concert under the auspices of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
The rest of the summer he spent in Greece for his usual concert tour around the country, culminating with the "Music of the Night" concert held in October at the Herodes Atticus accompanied by the New Opera of Moscow Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Later that month, he took part to Plácido Domingo's concert in Cyprus, featuring Kallen Esperian, accompanied by the Cyprus State Symphony and the Moscow New Opera Symphony Orchestra.
2006
His second U.S. tour saw a number of solo concerts:
January 7 – Solo concert in honor of
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in
Tampa,
Florida at the Sun Dome, with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra,., and the Archdiocesan Metropolitan Youth Choir.
April 6 & 7 – Horatio Alger Award Ceremony Washington, DC
June 10 – Fundraising Gala Event – Sharon Wilson Center, Brookefield, Wisconsin
April 9 – Cincinnati, Ohio – Yellow Ribbon Scholarship Fundraising Event
May 6 – Solo concert at the Detroit Opera House in Detroit, Michigan
June 16 – Solo Concert – Sanders Theater – sponsored by the Greek Institute at Harvard in Cambridge, MA.
And then, for the rest of the summer, in the Mediterranean:
June 24–28 Greek Concert tour (Piraeus, Athens, Thessaloniki etc.)
June 30 – Private Gala Event – Baalbek, Lebanon International Music Festival's 50 years anniversary
July 2, his second concert in Turkey, at the Harbiye Open Air Theater in Istanbul
October: at the Herod Atticus theatre, "Tribute to Mario Lanza" concert.
October: debut Concert in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony at Orchestra Hall and at the Landmark Theatre in Richmond with the Richmond Symphony.
2007
Frangoulis completed his new album
Amor Oscuro (Skotinos Erotas), dedicated to the Spanish poet and dramatist
Federico Garcia Lorca. In April he performed with
Elena Kelessidi and the
Baltimore Opera Company orchestra at the
Lyric Opera House,
Baltimore
and in October, he returned to the US for a concert in
Boston. In December, Frangoulis released another album:
Passione, a collection of songs that
Mario Lanza used to sing
2008
Frangoulis toured in the
United States leg of
Sarah Brightman's "
Symphony Tour".
Mario Frangoulis resides in Athens, Greece.
April 2005: Concert for the Horatio Alger Association at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C..
26 January 2005, following the Tsunami devastation in Southern Asia, Mario Frangoulis participated in a fundraising concert, held by the National Television of Greece, in support of the children which lost their families in the disaster
October 2006: concert in
Chicago with the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the benefit of Chicago's Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center
November 2007: 'Give Us Your Poor', a benefit concert for the homeless in Boston at The Strand theatre He also appears on a compilation album of the
same name.
Discography
Personal Discography:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! Title
! Release Date
! Company
! Imprint
|-
|
Fengari Erotevmeno
| Summer 1999
|
Sony Music Greece
|
Sony Classical
|-
|
Acropolis concert (Mikres istories)
| December 2000
|
Sony Music Greece
|
Sony Classical
|-
|
Sometimes I Dream (International Release)
| September 17, 2002
|
Sony Classical
|
Odyssey
|-
|
Sometimes I Dream (Greek Release)
| December 2002
|
Sony Music Greece
|
Odyssey
|-
|
Enas Hartinos Ilios (CD single)
| 2003
|
Sony Music Greece
|
Sony Classical
|-
| Follow Your Heart
| August 16, 2004 (Europe)January 2005 (North America)
|
Sony Classical
|
-
|-
|
O Kipos Ton Efchon
| May 2005
|
Sony BMG Greece
|
Sony Classical
|-
|
Music of the Night
| December 2006
|
Sony BMG Greece
|
Sony Classical
|-
|
Amore Oscuro
| June 2007
|
Sony BMG Greece
|
Sony Classical
|-
|
Passione- A Tribute to Mario Lanza
| December 2007
|
Sony BMG Greece
|
Sony Classical
|-
| Mario and Friends
| December 8, 2008
|
Sony BMG Greece
|
Sony Classical
|}
Live DVD:
Sometimes I dream live in concert DVD
Music of the night live CD/DVD in PAL format (12/2006)
Appearances in other Albums:
Apple/Full WS Sub Apple (1980) A DVD of the movie. Two idealistic folk singers take up residence at a decadent artists' colony run by a sleazy svengali, only to revolt against his bourgeois values. Campy cult fare, with "futuristic" production values that wear the indelible stamp of the 1980s' New Wave.
Paul Taylor: Nosferatu the vampire (Jonathan)
Giannis Markopoulos: Ana-ghennisi: apo tin Venetia stin Poli (sings two songs)
"Con te partiro" Single with George Dalaras
George Dalaras: Dalaras in Iera Odos (duets with Dalaras)
Cole Porter: De Lovely (18 October 2004) (Soundtrack of the film; sings the duet "So in love" with Lara Fabian)
Jim Brickman: Grace (2005) ("Ave Maria" with Jim Brickman)
Various Artists: Bravo Act II (2006); features artists such as Luciano Pavarotti, Kiri Te Kanawa, Hayley Westenra, Sarah Brightman, Il Divo and Amici Forever (Frangoulis sings track 3, "Adagio")
Various Artists: Give Us Your Poor (2007) (sings "Feels Like Home")
Carpe Diem duet with Sarah Brightman (2008); A Winter Symphony CD Album
References
http://www.bernardjtaylor.com/Nosferatu/nos.html
Larkin, Colin; John Martland (1999). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Stage and Film Musicals. London: Virgin in association with Muze UK Ltd. ISBN 0-7535-0375-1.
Rosita Sokou (2006) "O Marios kai go" Athens:Kastaniotis. ISBN 960-03-4126-5
External links
Frangoulis Myspace Page
Official International Website
Mario Frangoulis' Yahoo International Website
Mario Frangoulis' Yahoo Spanish Website
Music Videos and Live Shows
Turkish Fansite
Category:1966 births
Category:Living people
Category:Greek male singers
Category:Operatic tenors
Category:Greek opera singers
Category:Greek tenors
Category:Modern Greek-language singers
Category:Opera crossover singers
Category:Juilliard School of Music alumni
Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
