biography

on May 10, 1929, and became a U.S. citizen in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1966. He was educated in Greece at the Ioannina, Greek, and Athens Conservatories. He studied violin with the Dutch professor Tony Schultze at the Hellenic Conservatory and with the legendary chamber music teacher Leda Kouroukli, student of Nadia Boulanger, at the Athens Conservatory. He also studied with Marios Varvoglis, Yannis Papaioannou, Olga Menjou, and George Lykoudis.

In the U.S., Constantinides attended the universities of Indiana and Michigan State (Ph.D. in Composition) and the Juilliard School. His teachers in the U.S. included Ivan Galamian, Dorothy DeLay, and Josef Gingold. In 2010, he received an honorary doctorate in music from the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Constantinides' music has been performed around the world by symphony orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Shenzhen Symphony (China), the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, the Bohuslav Martinu Chamber Orchestra, the Black Sea Philharmonic (Romania), the Filarmonica "Oltenia" (Craiova, Romania), the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Distinguished Concerts Orchestra International of New York, La Filarmonica de Montevideo (Uruguay), the Orquestra Sinfonica de Buenos Aires (Brazil) and the New Orleans Philharmonic. The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra of Bratislava, the Ruse Philharmonic Orchestra (Bulgaria), the Dubrovnik Symphony, the Czech Moravian Philharmonic, the Memphis Symphony, the Ku Ming Symphony (China), the Rome Festival Orchestra, the Prism Orchestra of New York, the Polish Radio and TV Orchestra of Krakow, Poland, the Nuernberger Symphoniker and other orchestras in the U.S., Australia and Taiwan also have performed his music. In his homeland, Constantinides' music has been performed by the Cyprus State Orchestra, the Thessaloniki State Orchestra, and the Athens State Orchestra.

The recipient of many grants, commissions, and awards, Constantinides was awarded first prizes in the 1981 Brooklyn College International Chamber Competition, the 1985 First Midwest Chamber Opera Conference, and the 1997 Delius Composition Contest Grand Prize. He also received the 1985 American New Music Consortium Distinguished Service Award, the 1989 Glen Award of l'Ensemble of New York, several Meet-the-Composer grants, and numerous ASCAP Standard Awards. In 1994, he was honored with a Distinguished Teacher White House commission on Presidential Scholars.

Constantinides wrote over 300 compositions for all mediums, including his opera Intimations, winner of two awards, his opera Antigone, and six symphonies, the second of which earned him the Artist of the Year Award of Louisiana. Recordings of his music have been released on over 65 CDs by labels including Centaur Records, Vienna Modern Masters, and Crystal Records, as well as his own Magni Publications.

He served on the Board of Directors of many national societies in the U.S., including the Society of Composers (SCI), College Music Society, National Composers of U.S.A., and Music Teacher National Association (MTNA). He was a member of ASCAP and an evaluator for the MacArthur Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. As the Director of the prestigious Louisiana State University Festival of Contemporary Music for 22 years, he presented the top composers of the continent including Carlos Chávez, John Cage, Milton Babbitt, Karel Husa, Ellen Zwilich, and Ernst Krenek, among others.

Originally trained as a violinist, Constantinides was a member of the violin section of the State Orchestra of Athens in Greece for over 10 years, and played in the Indianapolis Symphony and the Baton Rouge Symphony (concertmaster) in the U.S. for many years. At Louisiana State University, he was a member of the Festival Arts Trio. In addition to performing as a violin soloist with orchestras in the U.S. and Europe, he gave numerous recitals as both a soloist and composer at prestigious halls such as Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Alice Tully Hall.

Constantinides was a Boyd Professor, the highest academic rank, composer-in-residence, and head of the Composition area at Louisiana State University. He was also Music Director of the Louisiana Sinfonietta for 35 years.