Nikos Christodoulou (b.1959) is music director of the City of Athens Symphony Orchestra and Choir. He studied composition (under J.A. Papaioannou) and the piano in Athens. He continued his composition studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, and studied conducting at the Royal College of Music in London. In the period 1977-81 he was an associate composer and adviser at Greek National Radio. He has composed orchestral, chamber and choral works, songs and incidental music, and has received commissions from several institutions and festivals. He has taught composition at the Hellenic Conservatory.
Nikos Christodoulou has been musical director of the Athens New Symphony Orchestra and the all-European Euro Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. He regularly appears with the major Greek orchestras and with the Greek National Opera. He led the first Helios Festival – a Carl Nielsen Celebration in Athens – and the Nikos Skalkottas Tage at the Berlin Konzerthaus. He has given the world première performances of several new works including the First Symphony by Lars Graugaard at the Music Harvest Festival in Odense, and the opera The Possessed by Haris Vrontos at the Greek National Opera.
He has worked with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Bach Centre Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Serenade Chamber Orchestra, Yerevan Symphony Orchestra and the Bolshoi Opera. His series of world première recordings of symphonic music by Skalkottas for BIS has met with international critical acclaim.
