Virtuoso guitarist Dimitris Soukaras will be the soloist in the world premiere performance of the Concerto of Corinth for guitar and orchestra by the legendary Cuban composer and guitarist Leo Brouwer. The work was commissioned by the Athens State Orchestra and the Municipality of Corinth and will be presented this Friday, at the orchestra’s last regular concert for the winter season. The program, under the artistic direction and musical conducting of the ASO’s conductor and violinist Nikos Haliassas, is themed around inspiration from the ancient world, featuring a plethora of works by contemporary and older Greek composers.

On the occasion of the upcoming world premiere, we spoke with Dimitris Soukaras about his musical journey and the new work he will be presenting.

I find it symbolic that I first heard you in Ancient Corinth, together with soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou. As you will be giving the world premiere of Leo Brouwer’s Concerto of Corinth, the question naturally arises: what is your special connection to the city?

I grew up in the city of Corinth, and when I was fourteen, my family and I moved to Ancient Corinth. My mother works at the Art Gallery of the Municipality of Corinth, and my father runs a conservatory in Corinth. Thanks to their professional and artistic activities, from a young age I had the opportunity to come into contact with concerts, exhibitions, choirs, educational activities, and generally with people who shaped the cultural life of the city. Thus, art and music were not something I discovered later; they were part of my daily life from my early years.

At the same time, people who played a decisive role in the musical life of Corinth have been and remain very close friends of ours, such as Falia Papagiannopoulou, who for many years directed the Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Opus Femina” of the Municipality, and Maestro Alekos Papagiannopoulos, whom I always admire and love, and who for years was the soul of the city’s mixed choir. There I also had my first musical experiences, whether at school or in bands, festivals, bars, and music venues in the city.

Perhaps, then, the simplest way to put it is that in Corinth are many of the people who shaped my first musical experiences and, to a large extent, the person and musician I am today. That’s why I like to return and create things in my city.

The Concerto of Corinth was commissioned by the ASO and the Municipality of Corinth. Is the work related in any specific way to Corinth or Greece in general?

I remember meeting Leo Brouwer for the first time in Mottola, Italy, in 2019. We were both guests at the same guitar festival, but I had a recital on just the first day of this two-week event. Most guests would arrive much later, so I didn’t expect to see anyone I knew. The first piece I played was Leo’s El Decameron Negro (which I had included because it was his 80th birthday). Suddenly I looked down, and in the front row was Brouwer… Those three days we spent in Mottola have been etched in my memory. Among other things, we had discussed my origin, and I had mentioned that I came from Corinth. He was immediately enthusiastic about the city’s history and its significance in the ancient world.

So, it seems that your Greek origin was positively evaluated.

Leo Brouwer is an iconic figure in music, but at the same time, an exceptionally generous person with a special love for young musicians. He also has great admiration for Greece and its culture, and we owe this mainly to Kostas Kotsiolis, who brought Leo closer to Greece. When I released the album with Naxos, he spontaneously sent me an email to congratulate me and suggest some songs he had written, if I was interested in including them in our program with Lotte Betts-Dean. He had really liked Philippos Tsalahouris’s Haikus. Later, when our discussion about creating the work arose, he told me that he wished the new concerto to be dedicated to me, and also to bear the name of the city of Corinth. This in itself is a great honor and a very touching gesture for me.

So, is it a work that describes Corinth and its history?

The work is not descriptive in the strict sense; it does not narrate a specific historical event nor does it use obvious Greek musical elements. However, it could evoke musical material that might have been used in ancient drama. Corinth functions as a source of inspiration and a symbolic point of reference. I think what is most captured is the sense of a city with historical depth, with wars, peace, the birth of great ideas, periods of friction, and even sounds that at times may resemble elements of nature such as raindrops or the wind.

Musically, the concerto bears all the characteristics that have made Brouwer one of the most important figures in contemporary guitar music: rich orchestration, intense rhythmic imagination, lyrical moments of great expressiveness, and a very personal synthesis of different musical influences.

Did you collaborate during the composition or afterwards, to prepare for the performance?

When we started discussing the possibility of a new concerto, we used the Concerto of Toronto as a reference point. We talked about a seven-movement form and an orchestration similar to that work. An important decision we made together was to avoid the use of harp and piano in the orchestra. We wanted the work to be easily presented by different ensembles and to travel without practical difficulties, even to outdoor venues or festivals.

Subsequently, the discussion turned more to Corinth itself. Leo asked me to send him information about the most important monuments and symbols of the city. Among these were the Temple of Apollo, Acrocorinth, the Peirene Fountain, Pegasus, a timeless symbol of Corinth, as well as the Ancient Odeon. I don’t know to what extent each of these elements was directly translated into musical material, but I do know that they formed part of the inspiration and the imaginary world in which the work was born.

Did you also discuss details about the direction the work would take?

At some point, we talked about which references to his older compositions could appear within the new concerto. We discussed elements that I particularly love in his writing, sometimes orchestrational, sometimes rhythmic or melodic, and the idea of them functioning as discreet memories or “shadows” of his previous works within the different movements of the composition.

The duration we had agreed upon was 20-22 minutes. However, he eventually delivered a concerto of 29-31 minutes of music. In fact, in an audio message, he mentioned that he was very happy because he was working well with the material and was satisfied, and that it gave him great joy to write a concerto again after a decade. This concerto is his 13th concerto for guitar and orchestra and ultimately consists of three movements: 1st Peirene Fountain, 2nd Ancient Agora, 3rd Temple of Apollo.

In your opinion, what is the stylistic position of the work in today’s guitar repertoire?

From a stylistic point of view, I believe that the Concerto of Corinth occupies a very interesting position in today’s guitar repertoire. It belongs to Brouwer’s mature creative period and condenses many of the virtues that have made him one of the most important figures in guitar music of recent decades.

For many years, the guitar was somewhat neglected in the classical sphere. Now it is experiencing a boom.

I believe that today the guitar is in one of the most creative periods in its history. First of all, there are now many guitarists who have brought the instrument’s technique to an exceptionally high level. At the same time, we see more and more important contemporary composers interested in writing for the guitar, either solo or in chamber music works or with orchestra. We must remember that the classical guitar, in the form we know it today, is a relatively new instrument, with a history of about 150 years. This means that its repertoire continues to develop and expand. As the instrument’s technique evolves and as more creators turn to it, its presence on the international music scene will be further strengthened.

Another element that I consider particularly important is the continuous expansion of the repertoire through transcriptions. I am very interested in transferring works from the piano or other instruments to the guitar, as well as new combinations of it with voice and with different chamber music ensembles. The guitar has proven that it can stand creatively in many more contexts than we previously believed.

At the same time, technological advancements have solved many practical issues that previously limited the instrument. Today, with appropriate sound support, the guitar can ideally coexist with orchestras, ensembles, and lyrical singers, maintaining its character and expressiveness. That is why I believe that the current flourishing of the guitar is not coincidental. It is the result of a long evolutionary path, and I believe that in the coming years the instrument

will continue to gain ground, both in the interest of composers and in the affection of the public.

The guitar, in its various forms, is used in many musical genres. This is reflected in the repertoire. You yourself play many types of guitar, even electric. You experiment.

The beauty of the guitar, for me, lies precisely in the fact that it does not exclusively belong to any single musical world. It exists in many different musical genres and in many different forms. This is something that has always fascinated me and continues to liberate me artistically.

The guitar allows you to think orchestrally through the instrument itself. You can change instruments, use electronic sounds and pedals, play with a pick or with your fingers, use techniques like strumming, or explore the unique sonic palette of the classical guitar. All these possibilities have begun to be reflected more and more in the contemporary repertoire, which perhaps explains why so many composers are interested in writing for the instrument today.

How did you initially become interested in the guitar? Did that initial stimulus prove true, does it still hold today, or did you find a different path?

Personally, I grew up in a home full of musical stimuli, and at some point, I realized that the guitar was present in almost every music I loved. From folk music to rock, metal, jazz, flamenco, Latin American music, Hatzidakis, the Beatles, pop, and of course, the classical repertoire. Wherever I looked, the guitar played a leading role.

But what ultimately captivated me most was the very way the sound is produced. The fact that you directly touch the string with your fingers, without an intermediary bow or key. There is something very direct and human in this relationship. You feel that you breathe with the instrument, that you yourself participate in the birth of every sound. Also, for me, the most authentic and direct way of storytelling is for the voice to be accompanied by the guitar. It carries a tradition that begins in antiquity, from the lyre and the lute to today’s classical guitar.

Of course, I cannot overlook the fact that my father is a guitarist. I am sure that seeing him play, I, as a child, wanted to imitate him. Perhaps that was the initial impetus. But my relationship with the guitar from childhood very quickly became something deeper. It was always a companion. I could hold it in my arms, sing, accompany myself, play a melody, and at the same time build an entire musical world around it.

And of course, there is the repertoire itself. One of the most beautiful themes ever written, in my opinion, is the second movement of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. The famous Nokia ringtone, Tárrega’s Gran Vals, Albéniz’s Asturias in its guitar transcription, or the music of Barrios and many others.