Jani Christou

Greek composer of contemporary music (b. 8 or 9 January 1926, Heliopolis, Egypt; d. 8 January 1970, Athens, Greece). He studied logic and philosophy under Ludwig Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell, music privately with H.F. Redlich (distinguished musicologist and pupil of Alban Berg), and orchestration with Angelo Francesco Lavagnino. He also culminated for a short period in Zurich, where he met and attended lectures in psychology with Carl Jung. Christou was as much a philosopher and metaphysician as he was a composer, and all of his music sprang from his philosophical studies and theories. At the time of his death, his music was being played at some of the most prestigious international music festivals, and he was also preparing to unveil the most ambitious project of his, a contemporary opera based on Aeschylus's Oresteia (1967-70).