The Municipality of Chios’ Philharmonic was founded in the decade of 1890 as a club under the name “O Dion”. Its first appearance as a municipal philharmonic took place the 25th of March 1938, under the mayoralty of Leonidas Kalvoresis with the Italian conductor Nikola Martino as maestro.
The founders themselves were also musicians:
Nikola Martino, Periklis Plakotaris, Nikos Kavvadias, Nikolas Mitarakis, George Volikas, Nikolas Berlis, Nikos Chartoularis, Ioannis Daskalakis, Evangelos Vroharis, Nikolas Pekridas, Gregory Rigopoulos, Athanasios Milonadakis, Kostantinos Kalafatoudis, Kostantinos Maliaroudakis, Antonios Loukis, George Sotiralis, Kyriakos Zarganis, Kostantinos Minadakis, Dimitrios Ypsilantis, Pantelis Gialouris, Stefanos Garris, Sideris Benetos, Pantelis Flamos, Mimis Anastasakis, George Kanellos, Stelios Massadis, Vasilios Piras, Ilias Michalakis, Manolis Spanos, Antonios Paidas.
The first musical instruments where donated by the shipowner Stavros Livanos.
From 1941 to 1949, roughly, the Philharmonics’ function halted due to the 2ND World War.
In its return, the retired major of military music, Aristidis Kardamitsis resumed his duties as conductor for a while. His place then took, Periklis Plakotaris who after some years departed for Athens in order to attend music classes at the National Conservatory. During this period hired as conductor the Greek National Opera musician, Stavros Chitiris until August of 1957, when Periklis Plakotaris returns.
Thereafter, in 1989 until 1997, Stelios Pantelogiannis, and from 1997 to 2013, Stergios Neamonitis served as conductors.
From February of 2014, the Philharmonics conductor is Evgenia Vorria.
All these years, the Municipality of Chios’ Philharmonic has worked tirelessly being a part of national and religious holidays and parades and its function is inextricably linked to the traditions and customs of the society of Chios.
It is distinguished for its rich repertoire and on occasions the Philharmonic has performed a variety of music styles at concerts.
During the school year, the Philharmonic operates wind and percussion musical instrument classes, musical theory, solfege, children’s and youth symphony orchestra, music and kinetics classes, and children’s chorus preparation classes with for the purpose of musically educating whoever wants to get involved with the art of music or wants to join the Municipality’s band.
Today, the Philharmonic is composed of 150 members (volunteers, professional musicians, students, schoolchildren).
The active staff of teachers since 2020 includes musicians from major orchestras of Greece, offering seminars to all the members of the Philharmonic.
Specifically, permanent and recurring partners are:
Zach Tarpagos (flute), Spyros Tzekos (Clarinet), Charalambos Vlahos (Saxophone), Christos Kaloudis (Horn), Kostas Nikas (Trumpet), Stavros Klavanidis (Trombone), Sakis Mironis (Tuba), Marios Mouzakitis (Percussion Instruments).
Fedra Giannelou Children’s and Youth Symphonic Orchestra, Musical Theory)
Andrianna Neamoniti (Children’s Chorus)
Eleni Ntouli (Music and Kinetics)
The Philharmonic has its own building on the Democratias Str.