The “Yannis Mantakas” choir of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is the first university choir in Greece. It was founded in 1953 by Yannis Mantakas, then a student at the School of Law of the Aristotle University, as the main activity of the Music Department of the University Student Club. Its primary purpose was to cultivate music among students and, more broadly, among the youth of Thessaloniki. However, it went beyond the university framework, developed multifaceted activities, and made a significant contribution to the musical life of Thessaloniki and all of Greece, while also maintaining a steady presence abroad, thanks mainly to the strong personality and activity of its founder, whose name it bears today as a tribute to his memory. After Yannis Mantakas retired, the choir was taken over by his student, conductor Petros Bekiaridis, who was succeeded in 2016 by Erifili Damianou.
The choir contributed to the development of choral music in Greece. It renewed the repertoire, organized seminars and publications of choral works, and introduced for the first time to the Greek audience hundreds of choral compositions from all eras, primarily from the Renaissance and Baroque, but also contemporary works, both Greek and foreign. This remains a constant pursuit for the choir today. Special emphasis is placed on performing choral music by young Greek composers, with the aim of highlighting the country’s creative potential.
In Greece, it has collaborated with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra (TSSO), the Athens State Orchestra (ASO), the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the Symphony Orchestra of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Thessaloniki Youth Chamber Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, the Orchestra of the Municipality of Kalamaria, and with conductors such as Karolos Trikolidis, Alkis Baltas, Myron Michailidis, Dimitris Dimopoulos, Antonis Kontogeorgiou, Kostis Papazoglou, Angelos Filippou, Vladimiros Symeonidis, Haris Iliadis, Zoe Tsokanou, among others. It has participated in the Athens Festival, the “Dimitria” Festival and the Week of Worship of the Municipality of Thessaloniki and has performed in many cities across Greece. It has organized numerous Greek and International Meetings of Choirs and Orchestras in Thessaloniki and has produced many recordings and video productions of choral music programs for radio and television.
It appears regularly at international festivals and participates in choral workshops, collaborating with other European choirs and orchestras, studying and presenting major works of the international repertoire, such as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mozart’s “Coronation Mass”, Schubert’s “Mass in E flat major”, Orff’s “Carmina Burana”, Verdi’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony a. o., with conductors such as Lazlo Heltay, Pierre Cao, Andras Farcas, Erik van Nevel, Edmont Colomer, Johann Duyck, Tillai Aurél, Pierre Calmelet, Martin Lebel, Sergi Gili Solé, Heinz Ferlesch, among others. For many years, it participated regularly in the festivals of the European Choral Association – Europa Cantat, with performances in France, Belgium, England, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, and Hungary. In recent years, it began collaborating with the international organization CHORALSPACE – International Academy for Choral Arts, which enabled the choir to sing together with other choirs at the Berlin Philharmonie (2024) and in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna (2025).
Following an uninterrupted seventy-year course, with the support of the Rectoral Authorities of the university and the assistance of worthy collaborators, the Choir today consistently offers a large number of members of the university community, as well as music lovers of our city, the opportunity to cultivate their musical talent, to engage with important works of the choral repertoire, and to develop strong and lasting bonds of friendship and cooperation through a creative collective effort.
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The purpose of the association “Friends of the Yannis Mantakas Choir of AUTH” is to support and promote the choir.