Spyridon Samaras (1861–1917) was the most internationally respected Greek composer of his time, yet it is only in recent years that some of his major works have been edited or orchestrated for performance. Tigra is a major case in point, a ravishing love story set in medieval Venice, and a product of Samaras’s operatic maturity. With its innovative harmonic language set to an Italian text, musical Orientalism and Franco-Italian influences it helped pave the way for the emerging Greek National School. It has been faithfully orchestrated by Byron Fidetzis. Epinikeia is reminiscent of Samaras’s famous Olympic Anthem of 1896, while Chitarrata is a youthful work composed in Paris.

Conductor Byron Fidetzis has been artistic director of the Athens Philharmonia Orchestra since 2016. He has recorded Samaras’s opera Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle (866050809): ‘Fidetzis is to be congratulated for his efforts in restoring this lovely work and for conducting a persuasive recording of it’ (American Record Guide).

He has also recorded Kalafati’s Symphony in A minor, Légende and Polonaise (8574132): ‘Byron Fidetzis conducts the Athens Philharmonia Orchestra with a firm and sensitive baton, and they deliver the music with assurance and strong ensemble’ (Fanfare). He also orchestrated and performed Kalomiris’s Rhapsody no.2 ‘Song to the Night’ (8572451).