Interview with Bampi Velissarios, actor
singer (tenor), musician at
grtraveller
Ο actor, tenor and musician, Babis Velissarios shares with the grtraveller his thoughts on the great honor he felt performing Pindaros’ “Olympioniko” by Giorgos Cheimonas during the ceremony of the Olympic Flame handover at the Kallimarmaro Panathinaiko Stadium, his love for music, and the collaborations that defined his career. In addition, he reminisces about the most beautiful trips of his life around the world as and in the world of music.
You interpreted the “Olympioniko” at the Kallimarmaro Panathenaic Stadium during the ceremony of the Olympic Flame. What does this experience mean to you and what importance do you attach to the Olympic flame handover ceremony itself?
It took me several days to realize what an honor it is to offer to sing at such a great event for my country and the world, in an iconic stadium like the Kallimarmaro. When Dimitris Papadimitriou proposed me to sing at the Olympic flame handover ceremony, the first thing I thought of and I told him was to send me the song immediately so that I could start studying. I didn’t realize the importance of the event, the visibility or anything else.
“through music I have the ability to travel through time,
in the times when the songs I sing were written”
All I was interested in was to unlearn the poem by Pindaros as performed by George Chimonas, to read and learn the notes of the composer, to take care of and wear this wonderful song on my voice and my body. This is a supreme honour, a unique moment, especially for those of us who experienced it in person, a ceremony that showcases the immortal Greek spirit in the best way.
What was it that lit your own “flame” for music and for what you have achieved so far?
The first steps in singing and music were taken at a very young age. No one can learn something unless they know it beforehand, even if they know it wrongly. Everything is present, even in hypnosis. My own flame, however, flickered when I realized that the only way to turn the initial crawl into a walk and much later into a run, is through hard, daily, in-depth study, when I felt that in order for someone to have a reason to listen to me, I had to be so content that people’s instincts would sense that I had something important to say.
Which choices and which collaborations determined your path in the artistic field?
The rehearsals and performances on every stage that hosted me, every musician, singer or actor, all my teachers in singing, acting, music, and the composers who guided me, have defined my artistic path. The no’s I heard led me to strive to be better, but most of all I was defined by the opportunities I wasn’t given and all the times I failed until I achieved my goals. I will mention five names, Vassilis Diamantopoulos, Vicky Moscholiou, Mikis Theodorakis, National Opera, Dimitris Papadimitriou.
What have been the most beautiful trips you have ever taken in your life and why?
Music has given me the opportunity to travel to many beautiful places in Greece and abroad. From the Music Association in Vienna, at Carnegie Hall of Newsς Yorkς, in Cyprus, in Paris and the whole of France, σthe ancient theatre Epidaurus and the ancient theatre at the Δίon Pieria, σThe Old Fortress Corfu, σthe Gyzi Mansion in Fira, Santorini, at my beloved Kefalonia..
More importantly, I believe that through music I am able to travel through time, to the times when the songs I perform were written, from the glamorous world of opera to the songs of the poets set to music by Mikis Theodorakis, Manos Hadjidakis, Attik and so many great popular and scholarly composers, to the Olympionikos by the Theban poet of antiquity Pindaros to the music of Dimitris Papadimitriou.
Babis Velissarios
Actor, singer (tenor), musician, born in Athens in 1979. She studied acting at the theatre workshop of Vassilis Diamantopoulos and at the drama school of Mary Traga Vogiatzis. He received his first singing lessons from George Zervanos and Marina Krilovic, while he received his diploma in singing with George Samartzis. Masterclass in Vienna with Elisabeth Hagedorn. He has already counted twenty-three (23) years of permanent collaboration with the National Opera as a chorus and as a soloist. and has collaborated with big names in the Greek and international art scene.
