Michalis Heliotis
Soloist, Tenor
He was born in Athens in 1929 and died in 1990. He studied voice at the Greek National Conservatoire under Marika Kalfopoulou, Eleni Nikolaidou and Georgia Georgilopoulou, graduating in 1957. He continued his training in Vienna under Elisabeth Radó and in Zagreb under Fritz Luntcer. He debuted at the GNO in 1956 as Sou-Chong (Das Land des Lächelns), while up until 1967 he also appeared in Zagreb and West Germany theaters. During the period 1956-1985 he appeared in approximately ninety GNO productions and/or revivals, including many premieres. He sang starring and supporting roles in 30 operas, such as: Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Hoffmann (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Erik (Der Fliegende Holländer), Alfredo Germont (La traviata), Fenton (Falstaff), Basilio (Le nozze di Figaro), Holy Fool (Boris Godunov, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, 1969, 1972), Pong (Turandot, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, 1969), etc. He also sang leading and supporting roles in seven operettas: Die Lustige Witwe, La Belle Hélène, Das Land des Lächelns, Frederica, Das Dreimädelhaus, Paganini and Die Fledermaus. He sang a similar repertoire in his appearances outside of Greece, which include the Dubrovnik Festival. He was awarded the Athens Festival Honorary Diploma (1996) and the Golden Medal of the Italian Art Institute for the Rossini Year. He recorded excerpts from operettas by Theophrastos Sakkellaridis and Nikos Hatziapostolou. // Last update of the biography: December 2015 - The list of productions below is continually updated.