The President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, spoke of a “pan-Hellenic figure and at the same time a universal artist, an invaluable asset of our musical culture”, referring to the loss of Mikis Theodorakis.

“Mikis Theodorakis, whose loss we mourn today, was a pan-Hellenic personality and at the same time a universal artist, an invaluable asset of our musical culture. He was given a rich and fruitful life that he lived with passion, a life dedicated to music, the arts, our country and its people, dedicated to the ideas of freedom, justice, equality and social solidarity”, Sakellaropoulou noted.

She added: “Mikis was tested in all kinds of music – song, oratorio, symphonic music, music for the cinema – with great success. He wrote melodies that intertwined with the historical and social course of Greece in the post-war years, music that functioned as an incentive, as a consolation, as a protest, as a support in the gloomy periods of our recent history.”

Sakellaropoulou said that he has always been a “politician” and linked political action with transcendence and struggle. He described himself as “lonely, independent, self-employed”.

“Dedicated to national dignity, humanity and solidarity, he has never ceased to be a profound, diverse artist, and an artist who insisted to the end on viewing the world with the romance and confidence of an eternal, indestructible youth.”

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