Personal life He was born on 13 April 1947 in
Patra. He was the older brother of
Andreas Mikroutsikos, who is also a musician/composer and a television show host. His wife was children's author Maria Papagianni, whom he married in 1996. He died on 28 December 2019, after a long fight with cancer, at age 72.
Music He studied piano and composition in the Philharmonic Society of Patras, in the Hellenic Conservatory, and privately with
Yiannis Papaioannou. In addition, he studied
Mathematics in the
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He began composing at the end of the 1960s but only officially debuted in 1975, with the release of his album
Politika Tragoudia ('Political Songs'). He continued on this compositional path, setting to music the poems of
Giannis Ritsos,
Vladimir Mayakovsky, Manos Eleftheriou and
Bertold Brecht, amongst others. His albums
Kantata gia ti Makroniso (
Cantata for Makronisos),
Fouente Ovehouna (
Fuenteovejuna),
Troparia gia Foniades (
Hymns for Murderers) and
Mousiki Praxi Ston Brecht (
Musical Practice on Brecht) are characteristic of the climate of
Metapolitefsi or Regime Change that was taking place in the period 1975–78. In particular, the
Cantata for Makronisos, a pioneering piece in which Mikroutsikos experimented with
atonality was extremely well received in international music festivals and an interpretation of particular note was recorded by
Maria Dimitriadi. His next album,
Stavros tou Notou (
Southern Cross), set to the poetry of
Nikos Kavvadias, opened up further musical avenues for him, combining
theatre,
electronic music and
atonality (a second album,
Grammes ton orizondon, set to the poetry of Kavvadias was released in 1991). With the same devotion to poetry, he continued to set the works of
Giannis Ritsos, Alkis Alkaios,
François Villon and
Constantine P. Cavafy, amongst others. In addition, he has written an
opera,
Eleni (
Helen) and set to music several children's fairytales. He has worked with many renowned singers such as
Maria Dimitriadi,
Haris Alexiou,
Manolis Mitsias,
Dimitris Mitropanos,
George Dalaras,
Vasilis Papakonstantinou, Christos Thibaios, Miltiadis Paschalidis, Rita Antonopoulou and Giannis Koutras, amongst others. His music has been particularly well received and recognised in Western Europe. During his compositional career, he has managed to liberate the form of Greek song, adding together elements from the modernist and classical
western tradition. He also experimented with the combination of tonal and atonal sounds and with morphological variation. He was artistic director of the New Music Society and the Musical Analogion, whilst he also worked with and directed the Patras International Festival.
Politics He was involved in
Greece's political life since the 1960s. During the turbulent years of the
Greek military junta of 1967–1974, he was persecuted by the regime for his anti-dictatorial activities and ideas. When the junta collapsed, he continued being actively involved in politics as a member of the
maoist EKKE, especially in the first years after the restoration of
democracy. After the
elections of October 1993, he was appointed as Deputy Minister of Culture by the new
Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) government, serving alongside the late
Melina Mercouri who was
Minister of Culture. He was appointed to position when she died in 1994, a position he kept until 1996. He was a supporter of the
Communist Party of Greece. ==Works (selection)==