How was the ensemble formed?
Stefanos: The ensemble was formed in late 2018 to early 2019, as part of an effort to create chamber music ensembles with students from the Heraklion Municipal Conservatory, where I was taking viola lessons and participating in the Youth Symphony Orchestra. As essentially the only stable viola in the orchestra at that time, my participation was a given, as was Kostis’, the quartet’s cellist. The two violinists were also Conservatory students, but they are no longer part of the current lineup.
Regarding the current members, I first met Georgios Chliavoras at a concert of the Heraklion Youth Symphony Orchestra in Myrtia in July 2018. I met Giorgos Daskalakis much later, when we performed Mendelssohn’s Octet and Brahms’ First Sextet at the Heraklion Municipal Conservatory in 2022, by which time the quartet had already been active for some years with Yiannis Mageiropoulos in Giorgos’s place.
Kostis: 2018 was the year the quartet was founded, prompted by Georgios Demertzis’ arrival in Heraklion, and of course, the encouragement from Ioannis Petrakis. The initial composition of the quartet was quite different from today’s. I met Stefanos Simeonidis in 2016 in Heraklion at a concert where we performed together. Georgios Chliavoras and I have known each other and played together since childhood. I met Giorgos Daskalakis in a chamber music class with Giorgos Demertzis, where we were asked to sight-read Ravel’s quartet.
What drew you to chamber music?
Stefanos: Personally, having started viola at 19 and grown up with rock music, I didn’t know much about classical music, and certainly never had aspirations to pursue it professionally, let alone become a ‘soloist’. As I mentioned, the idea wasn’t mine. Nevertheless, through my involvement with the quartet, I soon began to discover a world where the viola’s role is far from secondary. It was a space that seemed to suit my temperament, giving me ample room to develop and play a leading role, but not alone, rather with three other people who were doing the same. Perhaps it suited me because when I was young, I wanted to be in a rock band. In the end, I was won over by the repertoire itself, and the relationship I developed with my bandmates.
Georgios: Creative freedom, the repertoire, the depth one can reach musically. The complete freedom to fully embrace my voice, to give it the personality and colors I desire. And at the same time, the constant and
complete exposure to my fellow musicians, their exposure to me, and the resulting interaction. I believe it’s something that truly completes you as a musician.
Kostis: Initially, the repertoire was essentially the ‘honey’ that attracted me. But very soon I discovered that four people who are called to learn and agree on how a piece will be played is something that personally fulfills me greatly as an artist, and as a person.
What is the cohesive element of the ensemble?
Stefanos: I would say it’s the fact that we are good friends, despite being quite different personalities. We somehow complement each other. We also live together now, which has brought us even closer. Perhaps more than we should be.
Georgios: Our love for music, our largely shared musical experiences and understanding of musical themes and approaches, our friendship, and our (often crude) humor. Since moving to Germany, we also have another commonality, as just mentioned: we live together. Although opinions differ as to whether this is a factor of cohesion or dissolution; time will tell.
Kostis: I would say the desire for a good and constructive rehearsal… and an even nicer pancake break.
What is your strongest common characteristic?
Stefanos: We are a strange mix of people with unusual backgrounds, and I would say a more instinctive, non-academic connection to music. Georgios, for example, was exceptionally talented on various instruments from a young age, with a penchant for various genres of music, from jazz to progressive rock. Nevertheless, he studied and graduated as a Chemical Engineer from NTUA with a master’s, and somehow ended up with the violin after a brief stint with quantum mechanics. Kostis started cello at 16, learned Saint-Saëns’ concerto by ear, and entered the University of Macedonia with a specialization at 18. What can one say? For Giorgos Daskalakis, the youngest member, both in age and integration into the ensemble, words are superfluous. I have never met a more natural violinist, with the sole exception of Giorgos Demertzis himself. Every time we play together, he inspires me to play more beautifully.
Georgios: I think we all love music very much in general, and especially chamber music. And, although it’s not strictly necessary, we are good friends. I also think we have all inherited from our teacher a very healthy relationship with music and its interpretation, which often helps us to seek and find simplicity when we play, both as an ensemble and individually.
Kostis: A lot of love for what we do.
What is the biggest difficulty in making music as a group?
Stefanos: Often, egos get in the way, slowing down the rehearsal process… The biggest issue, of course, at this stage and at our age, is the fact that each of us is called to face fundamental questions about the course
of our lives. Aligning such decisions for four people simultaneously is not the easiest thing and often requires very serious compromises. So far, we’re managing.
Georgios: For me, effective dialogue. No matter how common our musical influences and aesthetics are, there will inevitably be times when opinions diverge. It is very difficult for four people with equal roles to agree on a common outcome, or on a common strategy for solving a problem that arises. There is a very fine line between each person bringing their ideas and having creative pluralism, and the rehearsal getting bogged down because everyone insists on their own opinions.
For this reason, everyone must be ready at all times to set aside their egos and beliefs, to be willing to try ideas other than their own, to have come to terms with the fact that no matter how certain they are about something, there is a chance they might be wrong. All this may sound simplistic, but in practice, when there are tight deadlines and pressure, and this cooperation must exist regardless of each person’s psychological state, there are times when it is truly very difficult.
What is your common inspiration?
Stefanos: That’s easy. Our teacher, Giorgos Demertzis. I would say he has passed on his philosophy of music to us, as well as how to approach and study a work. I’m curious to see what the others will answer.
Georgios: I certainly believe that our teacher, Georgios Demertzis, has played a very significant role and has been a common source of inspiration for all of us. Of course, our aesthetic has also been influenced by other quartets, such as the Ebene Quartet for example, and we try to collectively shape a sound that inspires us to continue.
Kostis: I believe that for all four of us, it is Georgios Demertzis, not only in his capacity as a mentor but also because he remains a tremendous artist with incredible, boundless plasticity.
How did you decide on the ensemble’s name and why?
Stefanos: We didn’t decide it. Haha. The similarity to the New Hellenic Quartet is obvious. As you can understand, Giorgos Demertzis decided the name. The name’s origin is from Aristides Antonakakis’ Cretan Quartet, which was active in the mid-20th century. His string quartet work was one of the first pieces we undertook as an ensemble, and it somehow gave us, to some extent, our identity as successors of the Cretan Quartet, being the only string quartet in Crete.
Georgios: Our name is a reference to the Cretan Quartet, founded by Aristides Antonakakis and active in Crete from 1934-1937. Before I joined the quartet, one of the first, if not the first, piece played was Antonakakis’ quartet “In Modo Dorico,” and when I first played with them, that’s the piece we played. At the same time, of course, our name is also a reference to the New Hellenic Quartet, our teacher’s quartet, and our first common inspiration.
Kostis: Around 1935, violinist and composer Aristides Antonakakis founded the first quartet in Crete (the Cretan Quartet). So, we ended up with the title “New Cretan Quartet,” following the example of the New Hellenic Quartet, which took its name in a similar way.
When and where did you make your first public appearance?
Stefanos: Our very first performance was in early ’19 at the Heraklion Municipal Conservatory, where we played Rachmaninoff’s quartet. That’s where it all began. I can’t say I remember the impressions… Probably that it could have gone better. As always.
Kostis: If I remember correctly, it must have been a concert at the Heraklion Municipal Conservatory in 2019 where, with our then-lineup, we presented Rachmaninoff’s Quartet in G minor. However, I would also like to mention another event a few years later that left me with a very sweet memory, when we presented Beethoven’s Op.18 No.4 at the Historical Museum of Heraklion.
Have you participated in and/or won awards in competitions? Was there any one of them that decisively pushed you into your professional activity?
Stefanos: In 2023, with the help of the amazing Hans Kipfer, we sent some videos for the MERITA platform competition by Le Dimore del Quartetto, where we were selected (among other quartets) from over 60 applications. Suddenly, we found ourselves members of a pan-European network of quartets and institutions whose purpose is to promote and support quartets like ours. This was certainly a turning point, where we realized that what was happening was not something that happens every day and perhaps we should take it seriously.
Georgios: A competition that certainly decisively pushed us was the one for our entry into the Merita platform, a pan-European platform supporting promising quartets across Europe. Until then, Stefanos was living in Germany studying, I was in Athens, and the other two were in Heraklion, Crete, and we would meet and work together whenever we found an opportunity. Personally, at that time, I had decided to do my master’s in the United States, and I was in the process of auditions. Our success then came suddenly, as we had not at all taken it for granted that they would choose us. We then jointly decided to give the quartet
a serious opportunity to develop further, and we all moved to Germany, to be close and work as often as possible. It’s a decision I certainly don’t regret.
Kostis: Not yet. It’s something we’re considering more and more intensely as time goes on. The only distinction so far is the position we secured on the European platform for new quartets, MERITA, in 2023.
Which of your performances to date will remain unforgettable?
Stefanos: For me, I would say our performance at the Athens Concert Hall was special. As Kostis likes to say, ‘the first time I went to the Megaron was when they called me to play.’ He says it humorously, but it’s true. The same almost applied to me, but I had the incredible luck to hear the Quatuor Ebene concert in the ‘Mitropoulos’ Hall where we also played a few months later, so for me it was the second time I went to the Megaron.
Kostis: I think for me it was our first performance as a quartet in the D. Mitropoulos Hall in February 2024.
What are your preferences in choosing your repertoire? Favorite works, composers… Which repertoire do you feel suits you best?
Stefanos: Personally, I have a great love for Beethoven, especially his late quartets. Last year, we also held a series of concerts at the Cultural and Conference Center of Heraklion where we performed the three quartets Op. 59, known as ‘Razumovsky,’ and through the process, I think we observed that these works suit us. Of course, the wonderful works in the repertoire are countless, such as Ravel’s quartet that we are currently playing.
Kostis: It would be very difficult and unfair to name just 2-3 composers, works, etc. Everyone and everything has their charm and beauty in a different way, which makes them unique.
What musical dream would you like to fulfill?
Stefanos: Our dream, I think, is primarily to be able to make a living doing what we love, which is playing in a quartet. It may sound miserable, but in our time, it’s not a very easy feat. We would also like to contribute to filling the gap that exists in Greece regarding the presence of string quartets. Personally, I don’t have any ambition to play with a specific musician or in a specific hall; simply playing in a quartet is enough for me.
However, at our last concert in Heraklion, Franck Chevalier, violinist of the Quatuor Diotima, whom we had visited a few months earlier in Metz, France, to participate in their academy, came and listened to us. He commented that he liked the acoustics of the small concert hall of the PCC. I replied, ‘We should invite you to play here next time,’ to which he responded, ‘Not alone, let’s play Mendelssohn’s Octet together!’ I confess that would be a wonderful experience. As for the piece… perhaps Beethoven’s 131.
Kostis: I think unanimously we would very much like to play at Carnegie Hall and present Nikos Skalkottas’ quartet work.
How would you suggest we approach young people to get them involved in classical music?
Stefanos: I think it’s important to remove the stigma from this music, that it’s elitist and snobbish and not for young people, without considering that this perception has no basis. One way the average listener first comes into contact with the genre is, for example, movie soundtracks, which they often adore. Nevertheless, they find it difficult to approach the broader world of ‘classical’ music, as it is considered to be for the few, incomprehensible, outdated. There, we see that the music itself is not to blame; it simply needs to be disconnected from these concepts. This is exactly what we are trying to do through the MERITA platform, for which we have created a musical theater performance that comically presents the life of the string quartet. We show that it’s not just black suits and seriousness, and at the same time, we break the barrier between the audience and the listeners.
Georgios: I would like to add that, to some extent, musicians themselves are responsible for the ‘stigma’ of classical music. In my opinion, technical perfection should not be an end in itself, but a prerequisite for the essential goal of the musician and artist in general, which is to evoke emotions in their audience. Unfortunately, this relationship is often reversed, not only, I think, in classical music, but also in other ‘highbrow’ art forms. Primary emphasis is placed on technique, with the result that the audience, if they do not have the ‘education’ to converse in the language of technical terms, feels like a child who missed the previous lessons and suddenly understands nothing.
I believe that when music is performed with the sincere intention to express and move, then it can touch anyone, whether they are familiar with the genre or not. Expression through music resembles a deeply human, instinctive behavior. I think it’s no coincidence that the oldest musical instrument found is approximately 50,000 – 60,000 years old, tens of thousands of years before the first examples of writing and cities, even before the domestication of wolves and the appearance of dogs!
Kostis: I think young people already have great access to music, mainly due to the internet. What I would suggest is to find a way to make concert halls more attractive and accessible to young people in an effort to break down all traditional taboos and formalities.
What difficulties does an ensemble face in Greece?
Stefanos: The situation in Greece is difficult in all sectors, not just for a musical ensemble. This is the reality in general, and the lack of ‘classical culture’ certainly only exacerbates the situation. Often, one is called upon to do various things outside of music to make ends meet, or in most cases, simply to leave the country.
Kostis: What artists in Greece generally face. Having an ensemble alongside another more stable job. Otherwise, it’s almost impossible to make a living from it alone.
What are your goals for the future?
Stefanos: Now that we are finishing our studies in Germany, we will try to pursue some opportunity for further education or participation in a competition, but for me, the big next step will be returning to Greece in a sustainable way. Easy to say… We’ll see.
Kostis: New repertoire, competitions, beautiful concert halls, and perhaps some postgraduate study as an ensemble.
New Cretan Quartet
Giorgos Daskalakis, violin
Georgios Alexandros Chliavoras, violin
Stefanos Aristos Simeonidis, viola
Kostis Spyridakis, cello
