Mario Fragoulis
in concert

Mario’s concert at the central square in Yialos was in two parts. The first part of the concert was from the new artistic programme (“Young Artist Programme”) headed by Mario Fragoulis and organised for the first time by the Ministry of the Aegean and Culture, with the support of OPAP. This year, the programme is dedicated to Frederico Garcia Lorca on the 70th anniversary of his death.

The young composer Dimitris Maramis presented the new cycle of songs “Skotinos Erotas” (“Dark Love”) which is based on the poems of Frederico Garcia Lorca, translated by Sotiris Trivizas. Four new singers (Konstantinos Klironomos, Eyi Siamanta, Giorgos Peris and Irini Derempei appeared next to Mario Fragoulis uniting their voices in presenting the Greek interpretation of Lorca’s poems. They also sung songs by Theodorakis, Hadjidakis, Glezos, Mamagkakis and Ksarhakos. The musical arrangement of the performance was by Thodoris Ikonomou while Ilias Malandris directed the show.

During the second part, Mario sung songs from his last album “O kipos ton eyxon” (“The garden of wishes”) including “Ta nisia” (“The islands”), and “Enas hartinos ilios” (“A paper sun”). He also sung songs by Theodorakis Xadjidakis (“Mia poli magiki” – “A magical city”, “Na me thimase” – “Remember me”), Markopoulos (“Ohi den prepei” – “No, we shouldn’t”), Savopoulos (“Karagiozis”) as well as non-Greek popular songs such as: “Canto”, “Ne Me Quitte Pas” and “Granada”. The concert ended with a wonderful interpretation of “Sto ‘pa kai sto ksanaleo” (“I told you and I tell you again”), a traditional song from Asia Minor.


Mario Frangoulis is a world-famous tenor from Greece with an international career.

He has appeared in London's West End as one of the dashing young heroes of Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera. He has studied at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he discovered the operatic side of his tenor voice. He won the Maria Callas Prize and accepted a scholarship for New York's Juilliard School of Music where he won the support and counsel of operatic legends such as Alfredo Kraus and Marilyn Horne. He was the only private student the late Kraus ever accepted.

At the instigation of Horne, Mario went to Rome for Kraus and Nicola Rescigno, who was Maria Callas's favourite conductor. Both were impressed. He became Kraus's student, flying all over the world to take lessons as the great tenor continued to perform. The experience gave Frangoulis a solid vocal technique and good high notes, both hallmarks of Kraus's style. Yet the career Mario has built is anything but a conventional operatic career. He sang the role of Tony in West Side Story in its first performances at Milan's Teatro alla Scala. He has appeared in films and on television, in concerts and even in epic presentations of Greek tragedies.

In his native Greece, Mario has been acclaimed in everything from the role of high-school hero Danny Zuko in Grease to a production of Aristophanes' The Birds featuring the songs of Greek composer Manos Hajiidakis (the Oscar-winning composer of "Never On Sunday") -- in the ancient amphitheater at Epidaurus. As an actor, Mario has played leading roles in King Lear, The Bacchae and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and he created the title role in Kit Hesketh-Harvey and James Mackonnell's Yusupov.