John Psathas

NZ-Greek composer John Psathas shot to worldwide attention when his music was heard by an audience of more than a billion during the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and during the intervening years his music has been continually  commissioned and performed by top musicians around the globe. The NZ Arts Foundation Laureate has achieved a level of international success unprecedented for a NZ composer, his music having moved concert audiences in more than 50 countries on all 7 continents, even Antarctica. He is now also considered one of the three most important living composers of the Greek Diaspora. Psathas was a sought-after faculty member at the New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University Wellington for 25 years, before closing the door on that chapter in 2019 to devote all his time to composing, and embark on a return to performing onstage. When glancing over Psathas’ career, one element impossible to overlook is the scope and sheer variety of his collaborations. He has collaborated on a Billboard classical chart-topping album with System of a Down front man Serj Tankian...